Everything a heavy barbecue plate wants at the end: cold, tangy, and only faintly sweet. The base is a press-in shortbread that needs no rolling, the filling sets in the fridge while you're out tending the fire, and the pecan praline goes on at the last minute so it stays glassy. Made in the morning, sliced after dinner.
Heat the oven to 175°C. Spread the pecans on a sheet pan and toast until they smell warm and nutty and have darkened a shade, about 8 minutes. Tip them out to cool — they will crisp as they do. Turn the oven down to 160°C.
8 min · until fragrant and a shade darker
Using: Sheet pan
Line a 22 x 32 cm baking dish with baking paper, leaving an overhang on two sides so you can lift the slab out later. Whisk the flour and half the brown sugar with the fine salt in a mixing bowl. Pour in the melted butter and stir until it looks like damp sand with no dry flour left.
Using: Baking dish, Mixing bowl, Whisk
Tip the mixture into the dish and press it flat with the back of a spoon or your knuckles — firm and even, especially into the corners, or the edges crumble when you cut. Bake until pale gold and set to the touch, about 20 minutes. Leave to cool completely in the dish.
20 min · until pale gold and set to the touch
Using: Baking dish, Wooden spoon
Whisk the cream, buttermilk, yolks, remaining brown sugar, cornflour, vanilla and lemon juice until completely smooth — no streaks of yolk, and no cornflour left in the corners of the bowl. The lemon is not for flavour; it keeps the buttermilk from tasting flat against the smoke. Pour over the cooled base and smooth the top.
No buttermilk? 200 ml whole milk with 2 tsp lemon juice, left 10 minutes, behaves the same.
Using: Mixing bowl, Whisk
Bake at 160°C until the edges are set and the centre still wobbles like a set custard when you nudge the dish, about 30 minutes. Do not bake it until it looks firm all over — it will crack as it cools and turn to rubber.
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30 min · until edges set, centre still wobbling
Using: Baking dish
Cool on the counter for 20 minutes, then refrigerate, uncovered, at least 3 hours or until fully cold and sliceable. Uncovered matters — a lid traps steam and beads water on the surface.
Then wait — at least 3 hours, or until after dinner.
Using: Baking dish
Roughly chop the cooled pecans. Put the caster sugar in a small saucepan with 2 tbsp water and cook over medium heat without stirring — swirl the pan if it colours unevenly — until it is a deep amber the colour of old ale, about 7 minutes. Stir in the pecans and a pinch of flaky salt off the heat. Work fast; it sets in under a minute.
7 min · until deep amber, the colour of old ale
Using: Saucepan, Chef's knife, Cutting board, Wooden spoon
Pour the praline onto baking paper and spread it thin with the back of the spoon. Let it cool hard, then snap it into shards.
10 min · until cooled hard and brittle
Using: Wooden spoon
Lift the slab out by the paper, cut into 8 bars with a hot knife, and press the praline shards into the top of each one just before serving — they soften if they sit. Eat cold, straight after ribs.
Any leftover bars keep 3 days covered in the fridge; add the praline per portion.
Using: Chef's knife, Cutting board