Rum ‘n’ Ribs Barbecue

rum ‘n’ coke ribs

April 23rd, 2013

On Sunday the sun shone (for a bit) and the temperature rose to about 14ºC. Trusting the forecast, my friend Rabina had a barbecue with a distinct rum theme – somehow we got away with good weather – spring has sprung!

Above are Rabina’s rum ‘n’ coke marinated ribs, which were delicious.

jackfish

I bought a kilo of Jackfish from Golborne Road Market – I was looking for sardines, which were thin on the ground, but the man at the fish stall recommended Jackfish as having a taste somewhere between mackerel and sardines.

flaming jackfish

I cleaned and gutted the fish before cooking them whole on a charcoal barbecue.

falksalt

The fish were drizzled with olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon, then sprinkled with Wild Garlic Falksalt and cracked black pepper. Falksalt is put together in Sweden, but the sea salt itself comes from Cyprus.

barbecued jackfish

The Jackfish turned out to be delicious – I’ll definitely be using Falksalt again. I’d be inclined to fillet the fish next time – they have lots of little bones like their mackerel cousins.

guacamole

Rabina mixed up a guacamole with avocado and spring onions to snack on, while the food cooked.

ribs in barbecue sauce

Robert arrived with a second set of ribs,

home made barbecue sauce

marinated overnight in his homemade barbecue sauce, which, among other things, contained tomato, thyme, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. It was very good and far more like an American barbecue sauce than its tamer English cousin.

robert’s ribs

The ribs turned out beautifully.

red coleslaw

On the side we had a red cabbage coleslaw and

barbecue fries

home made oven fries,

barbecue rub

sprinkled with Robert’s ground barbecue rub

crispy fries

to give them a hot and spicy flavour.

sweetcorn in the griddle pan

Last but not least, we had sweetcorn cooked in a cast iron griddle pan,

sweetcorn and butter

which turned out better than if it had been barbecued!

Before and during eating,  we got through a bottle or two of Cava, Prosecco and Rioja. Afterwards Rabina put together some rum cocktails: Burnt Oranges – rum, blood orange pulp, lemon, Angostura Bitters and Guinness, followed by Dark and Stormy – rum, lime, Angostura Bitters and ginger beer. If I remember correctly, Dark and Stormy was the favourite.