Ribs on the third of july

(Should I back date a blog?)

I had set my alarm for 5am. Anything worth BBQing is worth cooking for 7 hours, and Silas's flight to Basel was going to be at 7pm, so we were planning on eating a little after 12. 7 hours had sounded right the night before, but at 5am, and with the alarm going off, well, it was easy to convince myself that ribs were thinner than pork shoulder and should thus be cooked for less time. Snooze it was until 8am.

Like all BBQ recipes the story really begins the day before. I put together some cole slaw and Keri was in charge of making her family recipe for potato salad. I'm pretty sure French's yellow mustard is the main ingredient, but Keri's usually refined palette has a soft spot for a few recipes she grew up with. But this blog is about the meat, and all meat starts with a rub.

I found this nifty site online and decided to go for the following dry rub:

Kansas City Rib Rub

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup paprika

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cayenne

I had picked up two slabs of St Louis style ribs from whole foods. The butcher explained that these were a deeper cut than the traditional baby-back ribs (which were twice the price!) and that they would be a little fattier. This didn't bother us one bit.

I brought the ribs home and slathered on the rub, I made sure to coat the entire ribs, but in retrospect, I could have gone a little heavier. I still have plenty of the rub left over.

Fast forward to 8 am. I put the ribs in the oven at 250. I know, I know, what am I doing using an oven? Well, my landlady confiscated my grill, so this is what I have to deal with. Someday I'll buy a smoker. I went back to bed until 10.

Around 10 I started making the BBQ sauce. Last fourth of July I was not impressed with my Memphis style sauce, so I figured I'd try a little North Carolina style. My only problem, I didn't have a recipe I liked, so I looked over the web and decided to wing it. The white vinegar was done because I know Keri hates cider vinegar. Who knows if it did anything.

Impromptu Carolina Sauce

One cup full of apple cider vinegar

A splash of white vinegar

Dried Chili flakes

Cayenne Pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

I let that sit, stirring it every time I walked by. My oven was busy, so I didn't have any space to bake beans, but I had dried red beans that I had soaked overnight. I used my old standby baked beans recipe

Baked Beans

8 slices bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup tomato puree
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

This makes the sauce. Add it to the beans. bake. Only i couldn't bake, so I put them on low on the stove for about an hour. In retrospect, I probably should have boiled the beans with the onion but I'll do that another time. It probably doesn't matter though. anything that starts off with 8 slices of bacon is bound to taste pretty good. I would like to find a slightly better baked beans recipe though, so if anyone reads this and has suggestions, I'm all ears.

The one big mistake with the meat. I took it out around 1. It was a little overdone, but the big problem was that we were all starving and dove right into it. We should have let it sit about 20-30 minutes to let the flavor really soak in. The Carolina BBQ sauce went very well with the Kansas city rib rub. Hope they don't mind the cross-pollination.