So, I’ve been doing this for six years now. This May was one for the weather books – we nearly didn’t (couldn’t) bbq outside. In the last week we’ve had flooding, tornadoes, and damage all around us. But today, the Sunday before Memorial Day, it was partly sunny and 90 degrees. It’s time to bbq ribs.
We had the usual suspects – with a twist: this year it’s baby back ribs, my variation of Memphis Dust rub, Barbie’s potato salad, beans, and a dessert.
Ingredients
(Meat)
2 slabs (~8 lbs) of baby back ribs
(Rub)
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons paprika
4 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons cumin powder
(Sides)
Potato salad
Baked beans
Barbie’s potato salad was delicious! I didn’t try the dessert she made, but by the “yumm” and “this is good” comments I gathered it was delicious too.
The ribs were good, but it took a while to repair them. First off, they were the largest baby back ribs I’ve ever seen (3.7 lbs and 3.8 lbs). Second, I had the oven at 250 the whole time. I started cooking them at 12:30 PM, wrapped up without the rub in an aluminum pan; I brined them but forgot to rub them. I uncovered them at 2:30 and added rub. I covered them again at 3:30. I uncovered them at 4:30 and covered them again at 5:00. I left them covered until 7:00, when they finally showed signs of tenderness. I left them open while I started the grill. I put them in the grill from 7:30 to 8:00. We finally ate around 8:30. That was a long day of tending to ribs.
I think where I went wrong was the double cover of aluminum: foil in a pan. I think last year I put them on a baking sheet. Also, I thought last year I started with uncovered for 2 hours, then sauce, then covered for 2 hours. Also, I think these ribs were closer to St. Louis cut then baby back size.