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This weekend in The Lord of the Rings Online, I was working on my recently Aria’d Guardian on the Crickhollow server, and I did what I always do for easy virtue points and cozy, de-stress gaming: I played through many of the starter quests in The Shire. When I arrived at The Great Smials, I found Adelard Took, complaining of ghosts in his library and a loss of appetite. You see, the “Old Took” (shock) had also lost his appetite after a particular incident with a “ghost” in his library (a rogue squirrel), and only Adelard Took’s niece, Edilina Proudfoot’s spiced boar-ribs would do (“The Old Took’s Favourite”).
I am especially fond of this quest and the way it reveals all hobbits’ number one priority: food. In a bit of inspiration, I put together the below spicy rub and got to work making The Old Took’s Favourite. I hope you will too!
The Old Took's Favourite: Spiced Boar Ribs
This recipe is inspired by the quest, "The Old Took's Favourite" from The Lord of the Rings Online. Begin first with a dry rub of sweet, salty, and tangy spices. Mix, then rub your ribs and refrigerate them overnight. After 24 hours in the refrigerator, you're ready cook. Use a low temperature and a slow cooking method for fall-off-the-bone spicy ribs.
Ingredients
- Dry Rub:
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 Tbl. kosher salt
- 1 Tbl. dry mustard
- 1 Tbl. + 1 tsp ground fennel
- 1/2 Tbl. freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 Tbl. white pepper
- 1 Tbl. smoked paprika
- 1 rack pork ribs (about 3/4 lb.)
- For the Barbecue Sauce:
- 1 1/2 Tbl. butter, melted
- 1 small onion, minced fine
- 3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 2 tsps. fresh thyme
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup chicken or beef broth
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 3 Tbl. honey
Instructions
1) Whisk together your dry rub: light brown sugar, kosher salt, dry mustard, ground fennel, black pepper, white pepper, and smoked paprika. Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper and layout ribs. Liberally sprinkle and rub dry ingredients all over ribs, flipping, occasionally to coat the other side. When you are done, you should have used all of your dry rub.
2) Cover ribs and refrigerate overnight.
3) Preheat oven to 250F and remove ribs from oven. Throw away plastic wrap and drain your baking sheet of any juices. Cover in aluminum foil and roast for 3 hours.
4) While your ribs roast, melt one and a half tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and thyme, stirring occasionally until tender and see through (about 5 minutes). Whisk in your remaining ingredients: ketchup, apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, chicken broth, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and honey. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat.
5) When ribs are done, turn off oven and set broiler to high, making sure your rack is at least 10-12 inches below the broiler. Brush ribs with barbecue sauce and place under broiler until well-browned with some crispy edges and spots (about 7-10 minutes). Remove from oven and rest for at least 5 minutes.
6) Cut up individual ribs and serve with extra barbecue sauce on the side. All hobbits love potatoes, and these go lovely with a fresh batch of mashed potatoes.
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