Perhaps it’s a sign of longing for warmer weather, but lately I’ve been cooking things in the oven and under the broiler that I ordinarily cook only on the grill during the other three seasons. One of these most recent indoor cooking efforts involved spare ribs, which I usually cook all day in the smoker.

My husband, who feels sort of proprietary about his ribs, was deeply concerned that I was planning to cook them indoors. His hopefulness outweighed practicality, and he initiated a brief and rather hysterical conversation about the feasibility of cooking them in the smoker on that particular day — when the high temperature topped out in the teens and the wind chill wasn’t even worth mentioning.

When it came right down to it, one of his primary concerns was that I was gearing up to use fresh ginger, which can indeed be overdone. However, sliced ginger packs less of a punch than minced, so it’s easy to regulate the amount of flavor. When he tasted the final product, he conceded that his fears had been misplaced.

My approach to cooking ribs or any other grilling meat in the oven is pretty basic. Cooking over coals or flame produces a distinct flavor that cannot be duplicated — though the misguided makers of products like Liquid Smoke have tried. In the case of ribs, I look at this as an opportunity to prepare this particular piece of meat in a way that might not work as well outdoors.

The issues that must be resolved before you put a slab of ribs in the oven are heat and cooking time. I’ve seen various recipes that call for oven temperatures ranging from 275 to 400 degrees and cooking times from one hour to three or four. To me, the question is whether you want the meat to fall off the bone or you want to have to give it a little tug with your teeth.

Personally, I will go for tenderness every time, so I generally bake the ribs, covered, in a roaster pan at 300 to 325 degrees for about three hours or until a rib can be pulled loose easily.

I’m not crazy about overly sweet spareribs when they are the main course, but if the soy and ginger combination seems too flat, add 1/4 cup honey to the soy sauce in the recipe below.

Gingered spare ribs

1 slab of spare ribs

salt and pepper

6 cloves garlic

1 3-inch finger of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced (approximately 1/4 cup)

2 onions, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 1/4 cup soy sauce

2 sprigs rosemary (optional)

Liberally salt and pepper the ribs and place in a roasting pan or large rectangular baking dish, with the meatier side up. Press the garlic into a paste and rub it onto the top side of the ribs with a spatula. Arrange the pieces of ginger so that they are spread out at intervals across the length of the ribs. Arrange pieces of onion on top of the ribs and alongside them in the baking dish. Drizzle soy sauce over the ribs, lay the rosemary sprigs across the top, and then cover the dish and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cook, covered and basting occasionally, for 2 to 3 hours, or until the ribs reach desired tenderness. Pour the pan drippings, including any extra onion, over the top of the ribs before serving, if you like.

Makes 4 servings.