Backbone & Rice (Sweet Rice)
 Recipe){kind=link}
Nutritional Info
- Servings Per Recipe: 16
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories: 188.6
- Total Fat: 9.3 g
- Cholesterol: 37.0 mg
- Sodium: 1,096.5 mg
- Total Carbs: 12.6 g
- Dietary Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 11.4 g
View full nutritional breakdown of Backbone & Rice (Sweet Rice) calories by ingredient
Introduction
Mild twist on a long-held family recipe. This pork-rib and rice dish is greasy and delicious. You need to have a care for your health with this recipe due to the fat and salt content, but eaten in moderation, it is a wonderful taste of old southern cooking. Mild twist on a long-held family recipe. This pork-rib and rice dish is greasy and delicious. You need to have a care for your health with this recipe due to the fat and salt content, but eaten in moderation, it is a wonderful taste of old southern cooking.Number of Servings: 16
Ingredients
-
1.5-3 lbs. pork ribs (country style/backbone)
5 qts. water and 16-20 chicken bouillon cubes (or your choice of 5 quarts of chicken broth not stock)
3-4 large yellow onions (sweet onions)
3 cups of white rice (jasmine rice is a nice twist and adds a mild but interesting flavor, but any white long grain will work nicely)
Tips
The alternative meat amounts in the recipe allow for different preferences of "greasy." Some meat also has more bone/fat in it as compared to other examples. The general rule is about 1 pound of meat to 1 onion to 1 cup of rice. I've found it to be more flexible than that. And since you lose onion in the straining, I err on the side of more onion.
If it's your first time trying the recipe, I'd recommend going heavy on the pork until you know what you like. If this recipe ends up dry because you used too little pork or didn't take the time to let the broth sit and see the fat rise to the top while prepping the rice, you're not going to like it. This is greasy rice. Fat is our friend.
Directions
Fill stock pot with chicken broth or make your own with your choice of bouillon or other method. Bring to boil. In the meantime, rough chop the onions and the pork short ribs. Add them to the stock pot.
Cook on low boil for at least 2 hours.
Remove all meat and bones and set aside to cool. At this point, you will want to strain the broth remaining in the stock pot (some of it will have boiled off - a lot of it if you aren't careful to moderate the boil over the 2 hour cooking time). The broth is strained to be sure that it is free from small bones and bone fragments. Unfortunately, you'll also be straining the now-completely softened onions--and we want those. The next part is easy, but there's a trick to it. You need to cook the rice in the strained broth. You need to cook the 3 cups of rice in 6 cups of the broth, but the fat content doesn't count towards that total. So, you need to allow the broth to sit for a few minutes after you've measured it out so that the fat can rise to the top. YOU WANT THE FAT. Don't remove it. Just make sure that you have 6 full cups of the broth to cook the rice.
Add the rice and the 6ish cups of broth back to the stock pot. Bring to a boil uncovered. Stir maybe once. Once it comes to a hard boil, turn the heat down to as low as you can get it and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes (don't dare open the lid).
While the rice is cooking in the broth, turn your attention back to the pork. You need to debone it. It should be completely falling off the bone at this point. Be very careful and remove every single piece of bone. Some very small bones are in this part of the pig, so don't rush this. When you have separated all the bones, shred the pork (I just use two forks and pull it). Go back to your strainer and retrieve as many softened onions as you can and add them back into the pork. Perfection is having all then onions you started with end up in the finished product, but be careful of bones.
Once the rice finishes, add the deboned pork and recovered onions to the rice and stir to combine. Unless you have used a low-sodium broth, you should NOT need any additional salt. However, depending on your taste for pepper, now's the time.
That's it. Plate and serve. When we eat this in my family, it's the main dish served with rolls and southern vegetables as sides. Depending on how much meat you use, this will be in the neighborhood of 190-290 calories per cup of finished rice. High fat content, so go cautiously.
Serving Size: Makes 12-16 cups of sweet rice
Cook on low boil for at least 2 hours.
Remove all meat and bones and set aside to cool. At this point, you will want to strain the broth remaining in the stock pot (some of it will have boiled off - a lot of it if you aren't careful to moderate the boil over the 2 hour cooking time). The broth is strained to be sure that it is free from small bones and bone fragments. Unfortunately, you'll also be straining the now-completely softened onions--and we want those. The next part is easy, but there's a trick to it. You need to cook the rice in the strained broth. You need to cook the 3 cups of rice in 6 cups of the broth, but the fat content doesn't count towards that total. So, you need to allow the broth to sit for a few minutes after you've measured it out so that the fat can rise to the top. YOU WANT THE FAT. Don't remove it. Just make sure that you have 6 full cups of the broth to cook the rice.
Add the rice and the 6ish cups of broth back to the stock pot. Bring to a boil uncovered. Stir maybe once. Once it comes to a hard boil, turn the heat down to as low as you can get it and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes (don't dare open the lid).
While the rice is cooking in the broth, turn your attention back to the pork. You need to debone it. It should be completely falling off the bone at this point. Be very careful and remove every single piece of bone. Some very small bones are in this part of the pig, so don't rush this. When you have separated all the bones, shred the pork (I just use two forks and pull it). Go back to your strainer and retrieve as many softened onions as you can and add them back into the pork. Perfection is having all then onions you started with end up in the finished product, but be careful of bones.
Once the rice finishes, add the deboned pork and recovered onions to the rice and stir to combine. Unless you have used a low-sodium broth, you should NOT need any additional salt. However, depending on your taste for pepper, now's the time.
That's it. Plate and serve. When we eat this in my family, it's the main dish served with rolls and southern vegetables as sides. Depending on how much meat you use, this will be in the neighborhood of 190-290 calories per cup of finished rice. High fat content, so go cautiously.
Serving Size: Makes 12-16 cups of sweet rice