Ribs and cornbread is a classic childhood pairing of mine whenever we would go to Chicago For Ribs in Redondo Beach growing up. It’s unfortunate because Chicago For Ribs is closed now, but it featured a variety of barbecued ribs, barbecue or steakhouse dishes, and steakhouse sides like mac n’ cheese, baked potatoes, waffle fries, and cornbread. My friends and I decided to do a summer barbecue-themed dinner, and we had to each cook with a random ingredient. I landed on jalapenos, and while I could do a fun chili-chocolate dessert with that, I wanted to venture into something savory, and really just go for it with one of my personal barbecue favorites – ribs and cornbread. Jalapeno cornbread is already a thing, so that is a no-brainer, but I wanted to have even more fun with it by adding in some cheddar and baking the cornbreads into madeleines. The additional surface area allows the cornbreads to get double the golden brown-ness with crispier edges. While the ribs themselves, I went with a generally common route of roasting them, low and slow, before bathing them in sauce and broiling them to finish. However, I also marinated them overnight using a chili paste made with the jalapenos, and then garnish the tops of my ribs with herbs and more jalapenos, just to give the entire dish a lighter, fresher feeling. All in all, this dish was a loving homage to my childhood, but taking some global influences to breath new life into it.

Like I kind of alluded to, the ribs will take the longest to make out of any component here. The marinade for them is a chili paste made by pureeing ginger, shallots, garlic, and jalapeno together, cooking that out, rubbing it all over the ribs, and letting that sit overnight. This allows the flavors of those aromatics to really permeate the meat, while also tenderizing it. After an overnight sit, I coat the entire rack with spices and brown sugar, and then low and slow bake them until the meat basically can fall off the bone. With the sauce, it is made by cooking down shallots with oil first, then reducing into that beef stock, soy sauce, sugar, hot honey, fennel, and liquid smoke. The hot honey adds a nice kick, the soy and liquid smoke add a smokiness, while the fennel pollen is being used to tie in with some of the herbs and spices that are being used throughout the dish. With the madeleines, I make a corn buttermilk-situation by blending down creamed corn into a corn milk, then culturing that with vinegar(you can use lime juice here too). That is then mixed with fresh roasted corn, brown butter, sugar, seasonings, and flour to form your cornbread batter! I used little seashell madeleine pans to form my cornbreads, but you can totally just use a cupcake mold too if you don’t own madeleine pans. All in all, I would say it was a time-consuming but rewarding recipe, and again with the herbs and lime, it eats fresh and light, despite being a heavy barbecue dish!

For the baby back pork ribs:
2oz peeled ginger
1 shallots, peeled
8 cloves of peeled garlic
1 jalapeno, seeds removed
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
1 12-pound rack of baby back pork ribs – bottom membrane removed
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp fennel pollen
1 salt salt

In a blender or food processor, puree the ginger, shallot, garlic, jalapeno, olive oil, and salt until a smooth puree forms. In a pan, heat up the mixture while stirring it on medium-high heat until it cooks down into a thick paste – open your windows and have your fans going, because cooking the paste could pepper spray you if you are aren’t careful. Allow the paste to cool before smearing around your ribs. Allow the ribs to marinate in the paste, covered in the refrigerator, overnight, for at least 6 hours. In a bowl, toss together the spices. Rub both slices of the rib rack with the spices and cover the ribs in lightly oiled aluminum foil. Bake at 275 degrees F for 3 hours before uncovering from the foil.

For the sauce:
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1 tsp oil
a pinch of salt
1 cup beef stock
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1oz dark brown sugar
1oz hot honey(can substitute with 1oz honey + 1 tsp chili flakes)
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 tsp fennel pollen

In a pot, start by sweating out the shallot in oil with salt. Once the shallots are translucent, add to that your other ingredients, and begin reducing everything down by half. Puree everything together, and continue to reduce the liquid by about a third, until you have a thick, shiny sauce. Brush the sauce on top and underneath the rack of ribs, and then roast the rack for 10 minutes at 375 degrees F. Re-apply another layer of the sauce on top of the ribs, and roast again at the same temperature, but this time for 15 minutes. Reserve any leftover sauce to serve.

For the cornbread:
8.5oz creamed corn
1 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter, browned, plus more for baking
1 ear corn, shucked, roasted, and kernels removed from the cob
a pinch of salt
a pinch of black pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

Brush the insides of a madeleine mold with brown butter. In a bowl, puree the creamed corn until smooth and add to that the vinegar first. Then after letting the cream corn puree sit for 2-3 minutes, add in the sugar, brown butter, corn kernels, salt, and pepper. If you are adding the jalapeno and the cheese, do so now, and fold into that the flour and baking powder to form your batter. Fill the madeleine molds about 3/4 the way full and bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes. Allow the madeleines to cool before removing. Repeatedly fill the pans, bake the batter, and cool the madeleines until you have used up all the batter – I made roughly 28 with this recipe.

To garnish:
Fresh cilantro
Fresh mint
Jalapeno, thinly sliced
Lime wedges

Garnish the top of the ribs with the herbs and chilies. Serve with a lime wedge to finish.