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First, before anything, I want to personally thank all of you who have been getting in touch. It’s so great to hear from my Boating on the Hudson reader’s. Your E-mail not only gives me insight to what you would like to hear about but they also, always, brighten my day. Thanks!
Ribs: to grill or not to grill
I love BBQ Ribs. It’s as simple as that. No matter what time of year it is, no matter where I go, if there are ribs on the menu, they’re mine. In addition, whenever I get the hankering, I just pull a rack out of my freezer and make them at home. Yes, I know that’s not normal.
I know you’ve heard me say this before, but BJ’s is the way to go when servicing a crowd with BBQ Ribs. They have the industrial packages; they come packed as 2 racks or 4. The price per lb. works out to be much less.
Now, I don’t know about you guys but I always thought that BBQ Ribs meant that you made them on the grill. I mean, it makes sense; it’s in the name. And besides, you all know how I feel about my grill. When making ribs at home I had a standard practice: steam the ribs for 30 minutes using whatever beer I had hanging out in the fridge and then throw those puppies on the grill for a few hours, flipping and slinging BBQ sauce while I worked on the rest of that beer. It was a nice way to spend a sunny day. Sure, I had that kind of time then. Now things are a little different. I have 2 kids, my BBQ Rib quota has suffered incredibly.
Sometimes fate is just on your side. Maybe someone, somewhere knew about my need, maybe something took pity on my hungry state, who knows? All I know is that I turned on the TV one still-dark morning and there they were…Ribs! This show had to be forever old; this guy was wearing bell-bottoms from the first time around. But his subject matter was making ribs at home so who cared? His philosophy was that making ribs was really a slow baking/braising process, not a grilling one. And that if you wanted to achieve that falling off the bone quality, you needed no more than tin foil and some spices.
I loved the cooking method. It was easy and foolproof. My kind of recipe! I played around in the kitchen longer than I am willing to admit and came up with a flavor-cooking combo that is just great. I also had a perfect opportunity to use our special seasoning, ‘Rub All Over’, it worked really well in the Dry Rub. All you need to make this is the capability to plan ahead. This is not a come home from work and make dinner recipe.
You need to start with a VERY large piece of HEAVY DUTY tin foil. If you don’t have any in the house, put this article down right now and go get some. Do not attempt this at home with the wimpy stuff, trust me, you will regret it.
Lay one rack of ribs flat on the tinfoil; make sure that you have at least 6 inches on either end of the rack.
Rub the Dry Rub all over one side, really rub it in good, and don’t be shy with it. You want a substantial amount coating on each side. Try for ¼ to ½ of an inch thick. After flipping the ribs over, repeating the rubbing process fold the foil neatly over the rack. It should look like a long rectangular package.
Place your foiled racks in a baking sheet with the seam of the foil facing up (you don’t want this to leak in the refrigerator) and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat your oven to 225º
Keeping the racks on the baking sheet, put them in the oven, set your timer for 3 ½ hours and go relax.
When the time is up, CAREFULLY open the package (I recommend oven mitts here) and twist a bone. If it moves freely or comes right out, the ribs are done. One important note here, there is going to be A LOT of liquid, hot steaming liquid, so be careful!!
Close up the tin foil and move the whole kit n’ caboodle over to the sink. Cut a small hole in one end of the foil to drain all the liquid out.
Once emptied, open the packets and eat!
My husband likes to top them with a little BBQ sauce and put under the broiler for a few minutes. You know me, that’s almost too much work, besides, smelling all that yummy brown sugar for the past three hours, I’m hungry! But if you want to look like the BBQ-er of the century, place them on a piping hot grill just before your company comes. Brush them with a little sauce and Voila !
It may sound like a lot of time to make dinner, but, the rub process takes less than a half hour and how hard is it to turn on an oven? All you need to do is plan ahead.
Ivey’s BBQ Dry Rub
1 lb. Brown Sugar (one box)
4 Tbs. Kosher salt
1 Pinch Cayenne Powder (that is the equivalent of 2 shakes)
2 Tbs. Dried Thyme
1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
3 Tbs. Rub All Over
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