James Martin’s beef ribs with barbecue sauce poaches Jacob’s ladder beef ribs for three hours in aromatics until the meat is falling-tender, then dips them in a homemade chipotle barbecue sauce and blasts them in the oven until sticky and lacquered. Served with baked potatoes and a chive soured cream made from scratch. It serves four to six.
The recipe comes from BBC’s Home Comforts, and Martin pitches it as the authentic taste of the deep south. His barbecue sauce is built from scratch: onion, garlic, chilli, fennel seeds, star anise and muscovado sugar cooked down with tomato ketchup, chipotle ketchup and dark soy, then blitzed smooth. It’s sweet, smoky and properly spicy.
The two-stage cook is the whole technique. You poach the ribs low and slow for three hours so they’re meltingly tender throughout, then coat them in sauce and roast at 200°C for 15-20 minutes to set a sticky, caramelised glaze on the outside. Trying to get both results in one stage, tender inside and sticky outside, doesn’t work, which is why the split matters.
James Martin Beef Ribs With Barbecue Sauce
Course: Dinner, MainCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4-6
servings20
minutes3
hours10
minutes1350
kcal3
hours30
minutesJames Martin’s deep-south sticky beef ribs from BBC’s Home Comforts: poached for three hours until falling-tender, then coated in a homemade chipotle barbecue sauce and oven-blasted until lacquered. With baked potatoes and fresh chive soured cream. Serves four to six.
Ingredients
- For poaching:
4 Jacob’s ladder beef ribs
1 onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 star anise
4 baking potatoes
a little oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200ml/7fl oz double cream
1 lemon, juice only
3 tbsp chives, finely sliced
- For the barbecue sauce:
25g/1oz butter, plus extra to serve
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 red chillies, finely sliced
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
2 star anise
150g/5½oz light muscovado sugar
300g/10½oz tomato ketchup
150g/5½oz chipotle chilli ketchup
150ml/5fl oz dark soy sauce
Directions
- Poach the ribs:Place the ribs in a large, wide pan, cover with water and add the onion, garlic, fennel seeds and star anise. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a very gentle simmer and cook for three hours, until the meat is tender, skimming any scum occasionally.
- Bake the potatoes:Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Rub the potatoes with oil, sit them on small piles of sea salt in a tray and bake for 1-1½ hours until tender.
- Make the sauce:Melt the butter in a sauté pan, fry the onion and garlic for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the chillies, fennel seeds, star anise and muscovado sugar and cook for 3-4 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Add both ketchups and the soy sauce, bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened. Cool slightly and blitz in a blender to a smooth purée.
- Glaze the ribs:Dip the poached ribs into the sauce, place in a roasting tray and spoon more sauce over the top. Roast for 15-20 minutes alongside the potatoes until sticky.
- Make the soured cream:Whisk the double cream, lemon juice, chives and a pinch of salt in a bowl until thickened.
- Serve:Serve the sticky ribs with the baked potatoes, a dollop of butter and the chive soured cream.
FAQs
What are Jacob’s ladder beef ribs?
They’re short ribs cut from the top of the rib section of the cow, still attached in a rack, with layers of meat and fat running between the bones. BBC Food describes them as more indulgent than pork ribs but still relatively inexpensive, with more meat on them. Your butcher will know the name, since it’s a traditional British cut.
They need long, slow cooking because they’re full of connective tissue that breaks down into gelatine over hours, giving that meltingly soft, fall-apart texture. That’s why Martin poaches them for three hours rather than trying to rush them. If your butcher has individual short ribs rather than a rack, those work the same way with the same timing.
Why poach before roasting? Can’t I just oven-braise them?
You could oven-braise them in the sauce for a similar result, but Martin’s two-stage method gives you more control. The long, gentle poach gets the meat perfectly tender without any risk of the sauce burning or reducing too far, since the ribs are simply sitting in water with aromatics.
Then the short, hot oven blast with the sauce concentrated on the outside creates that sticky, lacquered glaze without overcooking the meat. If you braise from raw in the sauce, you have to manage both at once, and the sauce can overcook long before the ribs are tender. The split approach also means you can poach the ribs well ahead and glaze them to order.
How spicy is the barbecue sauce?
Moderately hot, with a smoky rather than sharp heat. The chipotle ketchup is the main spice driver, bringing that distinctive smoky chilli warmth, while the red chillies add a fresher note. The muscovado sugar, ketchup and soy sauce balance the heat with sweetness and savouriness, so the finished sauce is gently spicy rather than fiery.
To dial it down, use less chipotle ketchup and replace with more regular tomato ketchup. To push it hotter, add an extra chilli or a spoonful of hot sauce. The sauce is blitzed smooth, so the heat distributes evenly, and you can taste and adjust before coating the ribs.
Why make soured cream from scratch?
Because it takes two minutes and tastes noticeably better than shop-bought. Martin whisks double cream with lemon juice, chives and salt, and the acid in the lemon thickens the cream into something like soured cream but fresher and tangier. It cuts through the rich, sweet, sticky ribs beautifully.
If you’d rather use shop-bought sour cream, it works fine, just stir through the chives and a squeeze of lemon. But the homemade version is one of those small details, like Martin baking his potatoes on salt rather than just pricking and oiling them, that elevates the whole plate.
Can I finish them on a barbecue?
Yes, and Martin says so in the recipe. After the three-hour poach, coat the ribs in sauce and grill them over hot coals for a few minutes per side until the sauce caramelises and chars at the edges. The real flame gives an extra smokiness the oven can’t quite match, and the charred sauce is spectacular.
Keep the heat medium-hot rather than blazing, since the sugar in the sauce burns easily. Turn and baste with more sauce as they cook. It’s the same approach he uses for his chargrilled T-bone steak: fierce heat and sticky caramelisation are what make a proper outdoor feast.
Can I make the sauce ahead, and how much does this serve?
The sauce keeps well: make it up to a week ahead and refrigerate, or freeze it for up to 3 months. It actually improves for sitting, as the spices mellow. Warm it gently before dipping the ribs. The poached ribs themselves also hold in the fridge for a couple of days, so the whole dish can be prepped in stages.
Four Jacob’s ladder racks serve 4-6, depending on size and appetite. Beef ribs are generous, meaty cuts, so two hungry people could share one rack, while a bigger table might want a rib each with all the sides. Serve it as the centrepiece of a proper feast, and follow with something lighter like his mango sorbet to cleanse the palate.
