The Moonshine BBQ South Coast O'Rib Sandwich

Pulled pork is so yesterday. The Rib Sandwich is our new go-to pork dish because it’s a meal in itself. We’d been working on this for a while, but our final push came from an ABA competition to see who could out-do the McDonald’s version (not hard…).

The key to the sandwich is to overdo the ribs during the wrap stage. You want the meat tender enough to pull the bones clean out. We doubled (actually tripled) down on the pork in this one, also including chopped belly and the crackling.

Why the South Coast O’Rib? Well, we crafted this magnificent beast while on holidays in Jervis Bay on the south coast of NSW, in the kitchen of my wife’s family, the O’Reilly’s.

You’re welcome, world.

INGREDIENTS

• Pork belly with ribs and skin attached (if you can, get your butcher to remove the skin and separate the belly from the ribs)
• Moonshine BBQ Spiced Heat Rub
• A good BBQ sauce to glaze (we used Nomad Kitchen‘s BBQ sauce)
• Sitck of butter
• Honey
• Vienna loaf
• Mayonnaise
• Culley’s Chipotle sauce (or any chipotle sauce will do)
• Red onions
• 5 slices cheese (we used Monterey Jack)
• Bread and butter pickles

METHOD

1. The day before cooking, score the skin in a diagonally and rub liberally with salt and put in fridge on a rack uncovered
2. Prepare your smoker to 275F and separate the pork ribs from the belly if your butcher has not done already
3. Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs with a paper towel and trim the belly and ribs of any excess fat. Square up both cuts. You want to make sure you also get the rib tips out
4. Rub both with Moonshine BBQ Spiced Heat rub (or any good rib rub of your choosing), and smoke until a nice mahogany colour
5. Prepare a double layer of foil with butter and honey and lay the ribs bone side up on top and wrap them tightly. You can also add sugar to the wrap, but our rub already has some sugar in it, and as you’re overdoing the ribs in the foil you don’t want it to burn and caramelise too much. Also wrap the belly in foil and return both to the smoker for another two hours
6. Take your pork skin from the fridge, rinse off salt and pat dry, and then while still on the rack in the sink, pour boiling water over it to open up the cuts. Pat dry and rub with more salt and a little oil and place on the top shelf in the oven at 400F.
7. While the pork components are cooking, prepare the rest of your ingredients. Slice the onion with knife or mandolin and separate out the rings, and make your chipotle mayonnaise by combining half a cup of whole egg mayonnaise with 2 TBS of chipotle sauce (or adjust to your liking)
8. Check your ribs in the foil, you want them overdone so the bones can wiggle out cleanly, but not so they’re mushy
9. Remove all the bones and then glaze the ribs with your sauce. Remove the belly from it’s foil (it should be soft) and also glaze and return to the smoker to set the glaze
10. Once our crackle has formed and firmed, remove from the oven to cool

ASSEMBLE

1. To assemble the sandwich, slice the Vienna loaf in half and drizzle your mayonnaise from a squeeze bottle in a criss-cross pattern on the bottom half
2. Place the sliced onions along the edges and middle of the loaf
3. Lay your deboned ribs on top
4. Place three slices of cheese on the diagonal down the sandwich
5. Top with pickles
6. Chop the belly and lay on top and drizzle with more mayonnaise
7. Add more onions, and two more slices of cheese
8. Crumble the crackling and add to the top, and then top with the bun

Depending on the number of people you’re feeding, cut into slices with a bread knife and serve.