Ribs and BBQ: a match made in heaven

Can there be anything better than barbecued spareribs? Not!

A couple of weeks ago I picked up about 25lbs of St. Louis-style pork spareribs. Got an awesome deal on them as well: $0.99/lb. Can't beat that with a stick. I saved $4 a pound on these. Can you blame me for buying every pack of ribs in the display case?

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I mixed up a big ol' mess of dry rub and started prepping the ribs on Saturday morning. We were having the family over on Sunday for BBQ'd ribs and I had a lot to do.

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I got to try out my new vertical rib rack for the first time. It works well and is quite the space saver. I also used the opportunity to try out some new BBQ techniques that I read about in Adam Perry Lang's book, "Serious Barbecue". I started all the ribs over indirect heat in my BBQ. After about an hour or two, I sprayed the ribs with a mix of apple juice and cider vinegar and wrapped them in foil. They went back on the BBQ in the foil. Wrapping the ribs in foil allows them to baste in their own juices as they slowly cook. After a couple of hours the ribs are cooked through. The meat is nearly falling off the bone. At this point you remove them from the foil, brush them with BBQ sauce and put them back on the grill to finish. Putting them back on the grill sets up the sauce and gives the ribs a nice shiny finish. I used a hybrid BBQ sauce for this batch of ribs. I started with Chris and Pitts sauce and added honey, spices and all the cooking juices from the ribs.

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Were the ribs well-received? I guess.........................

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They sure didn't last long.

Those ribs were so good, we had an encore rib dinner again last Sunday. This time we went all out with the Southern BBQ glory. We had mac n' cheese (two types), corn bread, beans and potato salad.

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I suggested that we have a salad or some veggies, but Lupe just scoffed at the idea. She looked at me with absolute contempt and said; "Why would you want vegetables with ribs and mac and cheese?" I couldn't argue with that sentiment. Why, indeed? Who needs healthy when you've got the best damn BBQ around? So that's what we had: pork fat and carbs. Oh, but it was soooo good.

I had to stop stacking ribs on this serving platter when the pile got too steep. I wasn't out of ribs; there just wasn't any room on the plate.

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There was plenty of food to go around. By the way; look at the smoke ring on those ribs. Woooo-doggy! Might fine.

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Who'd a thunk that such a skinny kid could eat so much?

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Good stuff.

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