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Costillas en salsa roja (or verde)

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I recently fell in love with this dish of what seems to be pork baby back ribs cross -cut across the bone and separated into riblets. Its stewed in a deep red sauce until meltingly tender.

Oddly chowhound searches yielded no recipe -- only a few raves as 'favorite dish.'

Does anyone make this or has tried it? I am helpless for mexican stews/guisados.

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  1. Haven't made it, but here's a photo (scroll down to last frame) of the version served at a Oaxacan restaurant in Seaside. I don't think those were baby backs though.


    1. There are as many versions of this dish as there are mujeres in Mexico, but the ones I see around here are set in a sauce of tomatillos and chiles, probably a combination of guajillo or california with ancho. You could search for "mole (a catch-all term for "sauce" in some parts of Mexico)," "chile," or "guisado" and find something to your liking that would work just fine with pork ribs. If you don't want the mild tang of tomatillos, look for a recipe that uses tomatoes or just chiles. The basic drill is to cook your tomatillos/tomatoes, soften your chiles, blend them all together with garlic, water or stock, various spices and possibly herbs depending on your intent, sometimes a splash of vinegar, and then cook your proetin in the sauce.
      As a side note, a crumble of anchiote rojo brick can really deepen the flavor of your Mexican red pork dishes.