Let me start with a bit of a disclaimer. Whenever I post meat things, I get a lot of feed unsubscribes. True, I eat a lot of vegetables and post many vegetarian & vegan dishes here – but I do love me some meat even though we don’t make it often. But give this a chance before hitting delete because this post includes a barbecue sauce that is finger licking delicious and just as tasty on a grilled vegetable skewer as it is on the ribs. It had my vegetarian friend’s stamp of approval and she wanted the recipe. So here you go and thank me later. I’ll be posting plenty of veg things soon, don’t worry.
About a month ago, we had a little party with more people than we had chairs for. But I wanted to make something special so that our friends wouldn’t be bothered by floor sitting while eating. The answer was barbecuing up some ribs. I should point out that my rib history is pretty non-existant. I’ve never ever made ribs in my life. When I was little my mom baked some pretty fantastic oven sweet and sour pineapple ribs, but she made them only twice because they were so fatty. And I’ve had some good rib eating experiences lately – like sharing a couple ribs in Kansas City at the famous Oklahoma Joe’s. But that’s about it for me and ribs.
I got the idea from Tracy at Shutterbean who recently made some balsamic ribs. Once I saw those, I decided to head out and buy a slab for myself. While I didn’t use her recipe, I definitely I picked a good one. There’s a few steps involved, but nothing a rib noob can’t handle. First, mix up a dry rub which gets smeared over the meat. The rub is full of spice, sweetness and heat, though you’re welcome to tweak it to your own tastes. It then gets a sit in the fridge for a few hours – I did 4 hours but overnight would be great.
While the ribs are being infused with goodness, I set about making the barbecue sauce. Vegetarians, listen up! It’s got a long list of items and I had to send my husband out to the store for hoisin sauce, but don’t skip out on the ingredients. It’s fantastic and probably the best barbecue sauce I’ve ever eaten. Sweet, sticky, tangy and a little bit spicy. The recipe makes a ton and that’s a good thing because once I tried it on the ribs, I tried it with pretty much everything I ate the next week: vegetable stir fries to baked chicken. And I still had enough leftover to freeze.
The ribs, all rubbed up get a go in a low and slow oven for nearly 2 hours. The ribs pictured above were baked in the oven a bit too long. I used the same length of time for 2 small racks as I did for 4 large ones. Regardless of how much fat melted away (you can see too much of the bones here), they were still ridiculously tender. After the oven, they got a quick grilling for those lovely looking grill marks – and to get crispy around the edges. I didn’t want to sauce these up while on the grill since I wanted the dry rub flavours to shine through. Cornelius ate them dry and loved them as is. I love sauce and liberally poured it all over.
My friends all exclaimed how amazing the ribs were and many said that they were the best ribs that they had ever eaten. I agree completely. These are some damn fine ribs.
elsewhere: At Poppytalk today check out my post for salt and vinegar potato salad – it’d be great with these ribs!
spicy southern-style dry rub
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1/2 c sweet paprika
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c chili powder
1/4 c salt
1/4 c cracked black peppercorns
1 T powdered garlic
2 T cayenne
2 T ground cumin
1 t freshly ground nutmegMix up the rub with a fork and then use your hands to cover your ribs throughly. Let them sit at least for an hour in the fridge, but the longer the better – overnight is best, but 4 hours worked well for me.
ina garten’s barbecue sauce
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1 1/2 c onion, chopped (about 1 large onion)
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 c canola oil
1 c ketchup
1 c cider vinegar
1/2 c honey
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c Worcestershire sauce (the vegetarian kind if you’re vegetarian)
1 c Dijon mustard
1/2 c soy sauce
1 c hoisin sauce
2 T chili powder
1 T ground cumin
1/2 T crushed red pepper flakesIn a medium sized saucepan, heat the garlic and onions in the oil until soft and fragrant, but not brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer 30 minutes until thick. Use immediately or store in the fridge. This freezes well. Makes 6 cups.
the main event: super tender grilled ribs
I purchased a big ol’ pack of ribs at Costco. I cut 3 ginormous slabs into 6 manageable-sized racks. I seasoned them all with the dry rub and then took the 2 smallest racks and froze them for later grilling since I didn’t need all of this meat all at once. If you’re cooking for a crowd, 1lb of meat per person is more than enough – I might even go less, but leftovers are certainly nice.6-8 lbs baby back pork ribs, dry-rubbed (see rub recipe & notes above)
1/2 c ina garten’s barbecue sauce + additional sauce for serving
1/2 c waterPreheat oven to 300°F with rack in the middle.
Mix the water and the bbq sauce together and pour into 1 large roasting pan. The water sauce mix should cover the bottom of the pan. Place the rubbed ribs into the pan and tightly cover with foil. Bake ribs, switching the position of the pan halfway through, until meat is very tender, about 1 3/4 – 2 hours. Remove from oven and transfer ribs to a platter and let sit at least 15 minutes.
Preheat an outdoor grill for direct heat. Grill ribs for 3-4 minutes per side until grill marks appear. Cut down large racks into serving size bits – about 2-3 rib bones per serving. Serve with barbecue sauce for dipping. Serves 8 hungry people.
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Yum! I love ribs, and these look great. I have never made them myself before…perhaps with this recipe I will try. What IPA is in the photo? I don’t recognize the bottle.
hag, it’s Propellor IPA from Halifax. It’s tasty and you can find it in specialty shops. And yes on the ribs – i’ve never made them before and look how awesome they turned out. Just ask Dan and Pam – they LOVED them!!
I’m listening to that delicious-sounding barbecue sauce, but it’s not actually vegetarian — Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies.
Your post reminds me that I haven’t made ribs this year! Sad! They are so fun to enjoy with friends, good friends that won’t mind seeing a little barbecue sauce on your face. These look fantastic. I’ve made the Ina Garten sauce before and I love the flavor. Good choice!
Do people really unsubscribe to your blog because you post about meat? Wow!
Coincidentally, I just inhaled a rack of saucy southern style ribs today. I picked them up ready to go from the take- out counter at the supermarket. They were mighty fine! Since my husband refuses to eat fatty meat, I buy just enough ribs to devour on my own. I’d like to try and make my own one day but lately I’ve been all about instant gratification and the house is too hot to turn on an oven unless it’s for 20 minutes or less.
What else did you serve with the ribs?
BA, I always buy the vegan worcestershire sauce from Annie’s! I forgot to make a note on the recipe, but now have, thanks! Hope you decide to try it out.
Ribs are so good, Nicole! So good to enjoy with friends and economical for a huge group. I’ll be making these again.
It’s true, Bijoux. I think new people sign up and think I’m a vegetarian blog and when I post about meat, I tend to get a few unsubscribes. It’s just a hunch, but I’m pretty sure that is it. The sides were potato salad, coleslaw, vegetable skewers and a cucumber red pepper salad. Yum!!
These look so delicious! I’m always up to try new ways to cook ribs and new bbq sauces to try. Thanks for sharing!
This looks grand. If you want to try another ribs recipe, look up the sweet and spicy chipotle-glazed ribs on Epicurious. You get to buy fun things like redcurrant jelly and pomegranate molasses. I make them about once a year. And I bought my ribs at Costco too! I know, obviously they’d be better from the farmer’s market, but when you need quantity and you’re not a millionaire…
I just made a really great roasted potato salad you’d probably like. Just add in some sour cream or plain yogurt so it’s not 100% mayo- http://www.deandeluca.com/recipes/recipe_garlic-roasted_new_potato_salad.aspx
Eeeeeee, where in Vancouver did you find the Propeller?! I can’t get it anywhere in SK and I miss it from my Halifax days–when i worked down Gottingen st, we had Growler Fridays!
Dixie, I hope you try this one out – it’s sooooo good!
Lydia, thanks for the rips recipe and for the potato salad one. The costco ones were actually really good 🙂
Trefoil, I found it on Commercial Drive at Liberty Wine Merchants. I bought a 6-pack because I tried it in Halifax when I was there a few years ago 🙂
I think it’s so weird that people unsubscribe! It’s not like you ever claim to be a vegetarian anywhere…
Sounds good to me!
Thanks! I’m heading your way in a couple weeks and intend to stock up. 🙂
I’m so sad I just moved from my apartment with a grill because these look SO good right now. Super tender and mmm mmm good 🙂
Thanks Joanne, I find it a bit odd too, but whatever 🙂
Oh, trust me, Sharyn, it is!
trefoil – good luck! You should have no problem finding a six pack or two!
Sues, a good grill certainly helps. One day!!
I tried this recipe and it was wonderful! Talk about lick-the-plate-clean-good! I bought beef Maui ribs that were on sale at our local butcher and they were fabulous. Would highly recommended this recipe.
Lori, so glad you loved these ribs!!! I’ll have to try them with beef ribs next time. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This looks amazingly delicious! But is there an alternative method of cooking the ribs, other than using a barbecue, that retains the same taste? I ask this since I have no access to a barbecue. 🙁
Bene, I think you could just cook them in the oven and if you have a grill pan, use that on the stove to get the grill marks. If you don’t have a grill pan, then turn on the broiler and let them roast for a few minutes on each side! Let me know how it goes!
Hi! I’m trying out this recipe and I don’t mean to sound so..stupid but are the ribs in the water/bbq sauce mix? Or do I need the rack in the roasting pan?
Hi Lana, I didn’t use a rack in the roasting pan, I just let the ribs sit at the bottom with the water/sauce mix. Hope you enjoy the recipe!