Sometimes I call myself a Porkatarian. I love pork. Nothing like a good pork eatin' Jew to fully relish the fruit of the pig.  In the summer, we savor bacon, avocado and tomato sandwiches, sometimes pork tenderloin sandwiches slathered* with ketchup and relish. I love bacon -- I like mine fatty (and my hash browns crisp). I'm cooking Miller's Sweetheart ham for Thanksgiving. Oakland's own Everett and Jones is a mainstay for slurpy, fatty, spicy, falling-off-the-bone delicious racks of pork ribs, and Madagascar Man wields a mean dry rub, but my favorite of all, my go-to recipe, my personal Best of the Best is my Baby Back Ribs with Rosemary and Garlic.

Years ago, I waitressed in a Berkeley restaurant called Augusta's. That's another story -- but suffice it to say that I regularly make at least three of the many recipes I learned there: these ribs, Angels on Horseback, and Fudge Pie.

Last night I made these ribs for me, Annie, and a friend of hers. As the meat roasted, I resembled my dogs, pacing in front of the oven and drooling. The friend ate five ribs. I ate six. And Annie ate eight and a half.

Baby Back Ribs with Rosemary and Garlic
This recipe, awesome for Porkarians and meat eaters in general, takes three minutes to assemble and an hour and a half (sometimes less and sometimes more) to cook.

Ingredients:
Baby Back ribs, ½ slab per person (but make extra as they're awesome the next day)
Olive Oil
Fresh Rosemary sprigs
Garlic cloves
Sea salt (big crystals best)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place ribs in roasting pan (cut racks in half if necessary to fit well).

Drizzle well with a good quality olive oil.  

Sprinkle well with salt. Cut several garlic cloves in half and stud ribs with them.

Tuck sprigs of rosemary under each rack, and generously sprinkle ribs with rosemary needles.

Roast in a slowish oven (300-350) until fat is rendered and meat separates easily from the bones. The garlic and rosemary will blacken and mmmmmm.... (Sorry, my sense memory is sending me into a blissful state again...)

*Ding! (It's my deep belief that every recipe/food blog entry requires the use of the word "slather.")