This recipe go around we chose Crown Roast of Spareribs. Pork has been on sale and I have been taking advantage of spectacular deals. We have never, ever, cooked ribs in the oven, they usually go on the smoker. My husband about fell out of his chair when I told him what we were going to do with the spareribs defrosting on the counter. This recipe is from McCall's Great American Recipe Card Collection (1973), The Midwest.




When we embarked on this recipe, I felt it might be too complicated for my daughter. However, she is a trooper and really managed it well.

The first obstacle was trimming the spareribs. I thought sure we need a hacksaw to cut through them. To my surprise they trimmed up beautifully. Forming the crown was surprisingly easy as well.


We opted to cook our crown roast in a large tall lidded casserole rather than wrapped in foil on a shallow pan. I figured this way more juices would be retained. I think I was correct.

We popped the spareribs in the oven and moved on to preparing the stuffing. This came together quite easily and the aroma was spectacular.


Once the crown roast recipe called for us to stuff the center of the spareribs we discovered we had more stuffing than the crown would hold. We just put the remainder in a smaller lidded casserole for cooking.

From start to finish this recipe was ready in about 2 1/2 hours. The end result was way beyond my expectations. And, my husband was astonished we could produce ribs as tender as these cooking them in the oven for such a short amount of time.

I think this would make a wonderful dish for any occasion. Here's how ours turned out:

One note I would like to add: The recipe calls for you to form your crown with the meaty side facing out. I believe they faced the meaty side in for the McCall's version. See how their spareribs have a different sway outward:


You can also see the membrane. I did not notice this until I saw our finished product. Next time we prepare this recipe I will be reversing the crown to see if it makes a difference.