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Whether you’re celebrating a graduation, Father’s Day or a summer holiday, a barbecue fits the bill. How about kosher spare ribs? Miriam Pascal offers her take in “Real Life Kosher Cooking: Family-Friendly Recipes for Every Day and Special Occasions.” The recipe also works well with short ribs. Of course, the secret to savory ribs is in the sauce.

Speaking of crowd-pleasers, Pascal covers parve Churro Waffles with a warm chocolate dipping sauce.

Make the ribs ahead and refrigerate, skimming off excess fat. Then reheat in the sauce. To make the waffles ahead, freeze before spraying and coating. Reheat in oven, uncovered, then proceed with the recipe instructions. I’ve adapted both recipes from Pascal’s book, published by ArtScroll.

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Apple BBQ Spare Ribs

Serves 6-8

• 3-4 lbs. beef spare ribs (see notes)

For the sauce:

• 12 oz. apple ale, hard cider or nonalcoholic cider
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. hot sauce, optional
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground mustard

For the spice rub:

• 2 Tbs. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. dried sage
• 1 tsp. paprika
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all sauce ingredients together in a bowl until well combined. Combine rub ingredients in a small bowl and stir well.

Heat a grill pan (or a heavy fry pan) over high heat. While grill is heating, rub spice mix on all sides of ribs. Sear ribs 1 minute on each side in hot pan, just until outsides are browned. (Work in batches to avoid overcrowding.) Transfer to large baking pan. Pour sauce over meat. Cover pan tightly with foil. Bake, covered, for 3 hours (timing will vary), until ribs are fork tender and falling off the bone. Serve with sauce.

Note: Beef spare ribs, also known as back ribs, were not available so the butcher recommended short ribs. I used a thick flanken (cross cut) style but English style (with ribs cut parallel to the bone) works, too.

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Churro Waffles with Warm Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Makes 8-10

For the waffles:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup unflavored soymilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup oil

For the coating:

• 2 Tbs. cinnamon
• ½ cup sugar
• Oil spray

For the dipping sauce:

• ¾ cup parve unflavored, nondairy creamer (see note)
• 7 oz. parve dark chocolate, chopped

In large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined. Add soymilk, vanilla, eggs and oil. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth. In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar.

Cook according to waffle maker’s instructions, using ¼ to 1/3 cup of batter per waffle. (Amounts and yield may vary for Belgian-style waffle makers.) Spray each cooked waffle with oil spray, then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mix. Flip and repeat on other side. Keep cooked waffles warm as you continue making more.

Prepare the dipping sauce by heating creamer in small pot until it starts to simmer. Turn off heat, add chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Keep warm to use immediately or gently reheat if made in advance. Serve waffles warm with chocolate sauce on the side.

Notes: Pascal’s recipe for the dipping sauce calls for liquid, unwhipped nondairy creamer. I substituted refrigerated soy parve creamer.