The great rib experiment

A few years back, on the eve of a friend’s wedding, I found myself quickly organizing a rehearsal dinner of sorts. In need of fast and plentiful food, I turned to a supermarket butcher.

“Spare ribs. They’re cheap, easy, and everybody loves ’em.”

All I had to do, he said, was drop a bottle of Dale’s seasoning into a pot of boiling water, drop in the ribs, let them burble for 45 minutes, then wrap them in aluminum foil and toss them on the grill for another 45 minutes.

It worked, and it became my SOP for ribs. But I could never remember the times…was it really 45 minutes each? Was it 25 boil and 45 grill? More importantly, the meat never really fell off the bone the way I would have liked.

So after consulting with my friend from the aforementioned wedding, I tried something a little different this weekend. And the results, my friends, were wonderful.

In short, I converted Alton Brown’s baby-back rib recipe to work with the tougher (and more rewarding) spare ribs. And I added some grilling. Oh, and some beer.

So here it is:

Griner’s Beer-Braised BBQ Spare Ribs

1 jumbo slab o’ pork ribs, cut into two sections
Chaka’s Mmm Sauce (or similar marinade)
1 bottle beer (I used Dos Equis)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs.honey
8 Tbs. Brown sugar
3 Tbs. Salt
Some cayenne, chili powder, other stuff you like.

1. The dry rub: Mix up the brown sugar, salt, and other assorted spices (enough to equal a tablespoon or two) in a medium bowl. Use it to coat the ribs liberally. Let them sit in the fridge, wrapped in foil, for a few hours.

2. Set the oven at 250.

3. The braising liquid: Mix the beer with about half a jar of Mmm Sauce (it’s just a soy sauce-based marinade…I’m sure anything similar would do). Add the honey and garlic. Microwave for 1 minute and stir.

4. Open foil packets of ribs at one end and pour half of the braising liquid in each. Tilt the ribs back and forth to spread out the liquid. Make sure the packets are secure and not leaking. Put each on a cookie sheet and bake for 2.5 hours. I rotated the cookie sheets half-way through.

5. When there’s an hour left on the oven, fire up the charcoal grill. Let the coals cook down a bit with the lid on, then push them to the center, to form a line bisecting the grill.

6. When the braising’s done, drain out the liquid from each into a medium sauce pan and start it simmering.

7. Toss some soaked hickory chips onto the coals. Close the foil packets back up and drop them onto the grill, bone-side down. Try not to let them sit directly over coals. Grill with the lid on for 1 hour.

8. In the time it takes to grill the ribs, the braising liquid should thicken nicely into a fantastic sauce. Unwrap the ribs when they’re done, braise them, and grill them naked for a few minutes to caramelize the sugars in the glaze.

Hope you enjoy.