Homemade McRib

Yep, that's right. A homemade McRib. After being harassed by McDonald's for weeks now about the return of the McRib, we finally had to cave in and make it.  Have you not felt that same temptation? Well, move to Texas. Everything with barbecue sauce will start to make your mouth water. And quite frankly, it intrigues me. What the $%$#^%$^% is a McRib made out of?

The answer is: who knows (or according to this website, 70 different ingredients). Sort of gross.  But if you make your own, you know exactly what's in there.  I found and followed this recipe, and it tastes just like it.

I went to Central Market and got boneless country style pork ribs instead - about a pound and a half. I think you could probably just ask the meat man to remove the ribs on a regular rack, but they might ask you to never come back.  Then you simply puree the meat in a food processor with a bit of sugar, water and salt (sorry to use the words 'puree' and 'meat' in the same sentence), form them into patties to fit your buns (long but fatter than hot dog - Cobblestone hoagie rolls were perrrrfect), use your fingers to create little ridges for ribs (this was my own sneaky little personalized step for authenticity), freeze them for a while to get them to hold shape, then grill and slather with barbecue sauce! Easy.  We used Rufus Teague's Honey Sweet BBQ sauce, but use whatever your fave is.  For the record, I can't figure out what my favorite is. At any given time we have 4-5 bottles of barbecue sauce in our fridge. Since moving to Texas, I can't get enough. Put it on my sandwich, put it on my tortilla, put it on my nachos, put it on my pizza. Sweet, tangy, hot, mild. Love it.  Love it all. 

Anyway, if you want to impress the man in your life, make these. If only just to offer something year round that McDonald's can only offer annually.