Finish & Eat! Ribs Part 4!

After an hour of cooking with sauce, time for the final finish.
If the sauce is a little thin (happens sometimes if there's a lot of liquid still steaming), I add a little.
I just pull off the foil, turn the oven to broil, and broil each section of ribs for 4-5 minutes each, flip, then broil again.
This gives the rib a nice, hard coating with the sauce, so it's not mushy sauce.
We like it just a touch blackened. It doesn't have a burnt taste, it's from the Brown Sugar carmelizing, and adds extra sweetness.


Here's the final product. 5 ribs with a side of Collard Greens & Bacon, and a Garlic-Herb mashed potatoes and gravy.
Dinner time. Yum!

Ribs: Part 3:

Now that you've softened the ribs up, time to finish them.
Here are the ribs after 8 hours. Just right, ready for the sauce.


I use a semi-homemade sauce, starting with Sweet Baby Ray's as a base, then build off of it.
Some of the other ingredients include lots of Brown Sugar, Mustard, Worcestire Sauce, Garlic & a dash of Liquid Smoke


Liberally sauce the ribs, and put back in the oven (foil top still on) for one more hour, and you're almost there.
Ribs ready for the last hour.

Ribs: Part 3

All righty, now we're ready to cook the ribs!
Cooking is a 3 stage process.

First is LOW AND SLOW.

I pour one bottle of beer over the ribs, first meat side up, then inside up.
I like a hoppy beer, you want to pull the flavor of the hops and malt into the beer. Go for an I.P.A., or something from East Europe.
You want to pour it slowly, just so it adds a little flavor, you don't want to wash off the rub!
Leave the ribs bone side/inside of the rib up, so that each rib holds a little pool of beer.

Next to the bottom of the pan I add about 1/2 cup of orange juice, a cup of water and a teaspoon of liquid smoke.
This mixture keeps the ribs moist and sweet, by steaming the ribs. Steaming means we won't need to turn them as often, or baste until the very end.


Oh, it's important to note that the ribs aren't on the bottom of the pan, it's hard to see, but I crumple up enough aluminum foil, so the ribs are 1 to 1-1/2 inches from the bottom of the pan.

Finally, tent the ribs, to keep the moist goodness in.
Here are the ribs, ready to go in!


Like I said, LOW and SLOW.
265 degrees for 6-8 hours for this phase, with a total of 8-10 hours.
Flipping the ribs over after 3-4 hours, then every hour and a half or so.

Back in 8 hours for step 2!

Rib Time- Part 2!

Now the rub and the rib are ready to get together!
I massage the rub onto each rib, cover in foil, and place in the fridge to soak overnight.


And here's happy Caiden, ready for Ribs!


To be continued tomorrow morning!

Rib Time!

Well, Jenn is 9 months pregnant, and ready to give Austen the eviction notice. With Caiden my famous ribs worked- she went into labor just 4 hours after dinner... (We say they're soooo good they're labor inducing). So we're going to give it another shot, and i decided to let everyone in on how it's done. It's a 20 hour process, started tonight, and we'll finish tomorrow with some good Southern Sides.

MEAT:
We like to start with a nice Pork Loin Rib. Beef ribs don't stand a chance next to a well prepared pork. Pork Loin gives a bit more meat on each rib, and ends up extremely tender. We do 3 racks of ribs at once. We've found great ribs at Sam's Club, excellent price and excellent quality. Look for one with a good amount of marbling. You may have to cut off some extra fat chunks, but it's worth it.

Key is to remove the Silverskin off the inside part of the rib. The Silverskin gives the rib a watertight seal, and doesn't let the flavor soak in from the rub and sauce.

I also chop mine into 4 or 5 rib segments. Makes them easier to work with, and extra flavor!

Wet or Dry? I say Both!:
That's right, I do both, although i guess that technically makes me a wet-rib lover. So be it.
I start with a heavy rub, comprised of a whole lot of spices.

The base is a lot of Brown Sugar, Garlice and Paprika.
Some of the more unusual ingredients are Dry Mustard, Cinnamon, Parsley and a touch of Allspice.


Here's the final Rub, almost ready for application.


It's not technically a Dry Rub, I mix in a little bit of Orange Juice (to add sweetness) and enough Apple Cider Vinegar to make a thick paste.
The paste method gets more rub to stick to the meat, and allow it to soak.
The Vinegar raises the PH enough to let the spices soak in and through the meat.