Baby Back Pork Ribs
2 or 3 slabs of ribs
Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and chili powder
You can use additional herbs and spices, too, such as: curry
powder, thyme, sage, oregano
Put the ribs in a covered roasting pan with at least a half
inch of water in the bottom of the pan.
Bake at 325 for at least 3 - 4 hours. Check periodically to
see that there is still a half inch of liquid in the bottom of the
roaster. (If you do a larger batch, say
5 or 6 slabs, bake them for 4 - 5 hours.)
At 3 ½ hours, coat the ribs with barbecue sauce. Use your
favorite brand or make your own.
At the end of 3 or 4 hours, the ribs will be falling apart,
so you will want to handle them carefully when transferring them to the grill. Brush on more barbecue sauce and grill 10 to 15 minutes
on each side. You might need an additional BBQ screeen to keep the pieces
from falling through the grate.
If you want to cook these a day or two ahead, you can
refrigerate them when they come out of the oven rather than grilling
immediately.
Homemade Barbecue Sauce Recipe*
1 small can tomato paste
1 tablespoon molasses
¼ cup brown sugar or honey
1 tablespoon mustard – any kind
1 teaspoon of any smoke flavored spice
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 large cloves pressed garlic
3 tablespoons olive or sesame oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black or white pepper
2 tablespoons sautéed onion or 1 tablespoon minced dried, onion
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
*MORE ABOUT BBQ SAUCE
The ingredients for a delicious barbecue sauce are not all
that specific. The recipe can work with a wide range of ingredients. You will need -
1. Some fruitiness: Tomato paste, apricot, peach or mango
sauce or any combination of these
2. Some spiciness: Chili powder, curry powder, pepper
flakes, sautéed chilies, mustard
3. Some smokiness: Any salt or spice mix that has smoke
flavoring. These can get overpowering very quickly, so this is one ingredient
to add carefully.
4. Some sweetness:
Brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or whatever you have on hand
5. Some umami: Roasted garlic, sautéed onions or fennel or
shallots or leeks, anchovy paste or fish sauce
You can also use wine, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil,
salt, and butter in your sauce.
Specific ingredients are not as important as the combination
of these five flavor categories. Based on these categories, you can use
whatever you have in your kitchen to create a fabulous sauce for your barbecued
ribs (or chicken, steak, or fish).
Once you make your own sauce, you will realize that it is truly easy to do and tastes much better than the commercial kind, which very frequently has a chemical taste.
