Baby Back Ribs

As I said earlier today, tonight was going to be baby back rib night. And so it was.

My rib recipe is very simple. Take baby back ribs at room temperature and sprinkle them liberally, top and bottom, with the barbecue rub recipe posted earlier today. Bake them slowly in a 250 degree oven for about two and a half hours.

On the grill...

Near the end of the oven baking time, preheat the grill 400 degrees. When done in the oven, slather the ribs top and bottom with a sweet barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's original recipe). The sweetness of the barbecue sauce is the perfect complement to the spiciness and mild heat of the dry rub. Start the ribs meaty side down for about 5 minutes, then flip to the bone side down for another 5 to 7 minutes, re-slathering the meaty side as necessary. The ribs are fully cooked at this point, and the only thing you are looking to do by putting the ribs on the grill with the barbecue sauce is to caramelize the sauce a little bit over a medium high heat. At the end of about 10-12 minutes total cooking time on a pretty hot grill, remove the ribs to a platter and let them rest for another 5 or 10 minutes. I like to slice them down and serve them on a platter as individual ribs (as shown below).

The finished product

Preferred accompaniments are corn on the cob and homemade spicy slaw. My favorite recipe for cole slaw is from Emeril Lagasse's first book, which I will write about soon. Tonight we slummed it a bit and went with store bought, but with good ribs I am not sure anybody noticed...