Get ribs grilling on the backyard barbecue, with a homemade rub
and sauce
Spareribs are not an easy thing to cook at home. It is a dish
that takes a long time to get just right, starting with at least
two hours for a dry rub to marinade the meat before cooking them
slowly with indirect heat for close to three hours. Then, if all
goes well the meat will be charred on the outside while staying
tender on the inside, with a nice smoke ring along the edge of the
meat.
Get ribs grilling on the backyard barbecue, with a homemade rub and sauce
Spareribs are not an easy thing to cook at home. It is a dish that takes a long time to get just right, starting with at least two hours for a dry rub to marinade the meat before cooking them slowly with indirect heat for close to three hours. Then, if all goes well the meat will be charred on the outside while staying tender on the inside, with a nice smoke ring along the edge of the meat.
For Fourth of July, my mom decided that we should grill up some spareribs at home. The recipe we found had two options for a homemade dry rub and two options for barbecue sauce. We went with a Memphis Shake, for which we had most of the ingredients already, and a Kansas City-Style barbecue sauce that had a tang of vinegar in it to balance out the sweetness of the ketchup.
We let the ribs sit with the dry rub for two and a half hours while a friend prepared the charcoal for the grill, keeping it on just one side of the grill, and made a drip pan out of aluminum foil. He added some water to the drip pan to keep the ribs extra moist as they cooked with the lid on, checking on their status every hour or so. At the very end of the cooking time, he moved them over the coals to get a nice char on them.
In addition to the spareribs, we used the rub and the sauce on a few chicken breasts and it proved to be a great flavor combination on both types of meat. Enjoy this main meal on a weekend with a lot of free time.
Backyard BBq’d Spareribs
Recipe courtesy of “Food Network Kitchens Get Grilling”
2 racks pork spareribs (about 3 pounds each)
1/2 c. Memphis Shake or Cajun Rub, recipes follow
3 c. wood chips, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes and drained
2 c. of one of the following: Kansas City-Style BBQ Sauce or Chile-Coffee BBQ Sauce, recipes follow
Trim the membrane off the back of the ribs and rub ribs all over with spice blend. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Soak wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes before grilling.
Prepare an outdoor grill with a medium fire for indirect grilling. Place a drip pan, half-filled with water, under the cooler side of the grill grate. Open bottom vents of the grill.
Set the ribs over the drip pan. (If you have a rib rack, use it.) Toss 1 cup of the drained wood chips onto the coals and cover the grill. Rotate the lid so that the vent holes are directly over the ribs. Add about 1 cup of hardwood charcoals to the fire about every hour during the cooking time to maintain a medium to medium-low fire (a temperature of about 250 degrees F to 275 degrees F is ideal). After 3 hours the meat should pull back from the bones and will have turned a reddish brown. Baste the ribs with some of the barbecue sauce of your choice and cook over direct heat until lightly glazed. Cut the racks into ribs and serve with extra sauce on the side.
Shopsmart: Spareribs always mean pork from the belly. A rack of 11 rib bones ideally weighs between 2 and 3 pounds. Spareribs are often sold with a meaty section of the flank attached; when trimmed, they are known as “St. Louis style.”
Cook’s Note: If you like your ribs dry, skip the sauce or simply serve it on the side.
Memphis Shake:
1/4 c. sweet paprika
3 tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. granulated garlic
1 tbsp. ancho chili powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. celery salt
Whisk paprika, brown sugar, oregano, garlic, ancho powder, salt, and celery salt in a small bowl. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 2 months.
Makes about 3/4 cup
Shopsmart: Ancho powder is simply finely ground dried ancho chiles. Anchos are the sweetest of the dried chiles and are not terribly hot, so don’t be put off by the amount used in this recipe.
Cajun Rub:
1/4 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. dried parsley
2 tbsp. granulated garlic
2 tbsp. onion powder
2 tbsp. sweet paprika
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 bay leaves, crumbled
Mix brown sugar, oregano, parsley, garlic, onion powder, paprika, thyme, black pepper, salt, celery salt, white pepper, cayenne, and bay leaves in a bowl. Pulse in a spice grinder in two batches to a medium-fine grind. Seal in an airtight container and store in a cool, dry place for up to 2 months.
Know-How: If your spice grinder doubles as your coffee grinder, make sure you clean it well after making this rub. Place a handful of uncooked rice in the grinder, pulse to a powder, and wipe or brush the grinder clean. The rice will absorb the flavors from spices left in the grinder so your morning cup of coffee won’t taste like the Bayou.
Makes 1 cup
Kansas City-Style BBQ Sauce:
2 tbsp. neutral tasting oil, such as grapeseed or vegetable
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 slightly heaping tablespoon chili powder
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
Pinch ground cloves
2 c. ketchup
2 c. water
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/4 c. dark molasses
1/4 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. English-style dried mustard
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, paprika, red pepper, allspice, and cloves and cook, stirring, until paste is dark brick red, about 3 minutes. Add the ketchup, water, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, salt, soy sauce, Worcestershire, mustard, black pepper, and bay leaf. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the flavors come together, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf before using.
Makes about 1 quart
Chile-Coffee BBQ Sauce:
3 guajillo chiles
3 mulato chiles
1/2 medium onion, cut into wedges
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 tbsp. corn oil
1 c. tomato puree
1 c. strong black coffee
1/4 c. turbinado sugar
1 tbsp. kosher salt, plus additional for seasoning
1 tsp. dried oregano, preferably Mexican
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch ground cumin
2 tsp. cider vinegar
Split, stem, and seed the chiles. Toast the chiles in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, turning and flattening with a spatula, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Put the chiles in a heatproof bowl, cover with very hot water, and set aside until soft, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserve soaking liquid, chop chiles roughly, and set aside.
While the chiles soak, char the onion and garlic in the same dry skillet over medium heat until the onion blackens slightly and garlic softens in the skin, about 8 minutes. Cool, squeeze the garlic out of the skin, and put in a blender with chiles and onion. Puree to a paste, adding soaking liquid as needed (about 3/4 cup) to help the mixture break down.
Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chile mixture and cook, stirring, until thick and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add the tomato puree, coffee, sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, oregano, cloves, and cumin. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.
Stir in vinegar and season with salt to taste.
Cook’s Note: For this recipe, we prefer Mexican oregano. It’s stronger than Italian oregano, so it can hold its own with the other assertive flavors in this sauce.
Makes 1 quart
