Recipe: BBQ ribs, a summer classic

Posted by James Sechrengost on 06/03, 2014 at 08:53 AM

Ingredients

- 1 rack St Louis cut ribs

- 4 tbsp. dry rub (recipe below)

- 1 cup BBQ sauce (recipe below)

 

Steps

- You can have your butcher do this if you like but remove the membrane or silver skin from the bone side of the ribs. This gets tough as it is cooked and is not very appealing.

- After you remove the silver skin, trim the ribs so there is not any loose fat or meat that can fall off or burn causing flair ups.

- Once done rinse the ribs off and pat dry with paper towels.

- Now sprinkle the ribs with the dry rub and massage it into them liberally.

- Place in a pan and cover and let rest in the fridge for at least half an hour but not more than an hour or the salt starts to pull moisture out of them.

- While the ribs are resting fire up the grill and bring the temp up to about 300-315. I place a small foil pan of water close to the direct heat to add and maintain moisture. Some people use apple juice but I have found it give the surface a slight flavor but doesn’t penetrate the meat so why waste it.

- Once up to temperature place the ribs over indirect heat bone side up. Close the lid (no peeking) and cook for about 1- 1 ½ hours depending on size of ribs.

- Turn the ribs over and cook for another hour until the meat is pulling away from the end of the bones and is tender. If you use tongs (and why would you damage these ribs by using anything else) and lift the ribs from the middle you should see cracks appear in the bark as the meat starts to bend and separate. This means they are ready. You don’t want the meat fall off the bone done but tender enough that a bite comes away clean from the bone. Not all of the meat at once.

- Remove from grill and brush on BBQ sauce and return over direct heat for 5-10 minutes until the sauce starts to caramelize. Brush ribs again and flip over and cook another 5 minutes.

- Remove ribs and place on plate and cover with foil tent until ready to serve but let rest for a few minutes so the juices get to redistribute in the meat.

Dry Rub Ingredients/Steps

- 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

- 3/4 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup paprika

- 1/4 cup kosher salt

- 1/4 cup garlic powder

- 2 tablespoons ground black pepper

- 2 tablespoons ground cayenne powder

- 2 tablespoons onion powder

- 2 teaspoons celery seed

Mix all ingredients together with a whisk in a large bowl. I store my mix in a table shaker which you see in pizza restaurants and can be found for like 2-3 dollars in most kitchen sections of stores.

BBQ Sauce Ingredients/Steps

- 2 cups ketchup

- 1 cup water

- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

- 5 tablespoons light brown sugar

- 5 tablespoons sugar

- 1 clove of garlic grated

- 1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

- 1/2 tablespoon onion powder

- 1/2 tablespoon ground mustard

- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

- Several dashes of hot sauce to taste (Optional)

- Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan.

- Bring to low boil then reduce to a simmer and let cook for about an hour or so stirring often, or the sugar will caramelize on the bottom of the pan and burn, until it reaches a nice consistency that you like.

- Set aside and let cool. I like to make mine the day before and put it in a large canning jar and then put it in the refrigerator to cool and the flavors marry overnight.

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