Ingredients
1.25kg (2lb 12 oz) whole watermelon
Small knob of fresh ginger, peeled, grated
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
5 whole all-spice 1 piece of cinnamon stick
150ml (5 fl oz) pomegranate molasses
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
2 bay leaves 1 tsp chilli flakes
100ml (3½ oz / 1/3 cup) sugar
3 kg (6 lb 12 oz) square-cut beef ribs on the bone
Instructions
Start by cutting the watermelon in half. Working over a large bowl, use a spoon to scrape out all of the watermelon flesh, removing any seeds as you are going along (a few seeds left are fine).
Use a large whisk to mash the watermelon, all the while adding the ginger, garlic, all-spice, cinnamon, pomegranate molasses, tomato, bay leaves, chilli flakes and sugar. (Give it a taste – it should be slightly salty, slightly spicy and have a good balance between sweet and sour. You will get a much better result if you perfect the flavour now and allow the flavours to cook into the beef.)
Add your beef ribs to the marinade. Place in the fridge for at least 8 hours (24-48 hours is ideal).
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). You will need to have the following: a roasting tin that has a tight-fitting lid big enough to cover your meat, a small wire rack that you can fit in the bottom of the tin to keep the meat off the woodchips, and some woodchips.
Start by soaking a couple of big handfuls of woodchips in water until they are nice and wet, then line the bottom of your roasting tin with foil. Spread out your moistened woodchips in the base of the tin, about 1cm (½ in) thick.
Place your roasting tin on a high heat on the stove and get your woodchips smoking quite hard. Turn off the heat and add the wire rack so it sits over the woodchips.
Remove the ribs from the marinade and place on the rack. Spoon a small amount of the chunkier marinade pieces over the top of the ribs.
Cover with the lid and then put straight into your oven. The cooking time is around 2½ hours and you need to check your meat about every 30 minutes to spoon over a little more marinade as it cooks.
Jared Ingersoll is the founder of Sydney's Danks Street Depot. This recipe is an extract from his book, Sharing Plates (Murdoch Books).
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
