perfect ribs

It’s taken me years. Years, I tell you, to develop the perfect rib cooking method. And this, is one, that is not exact. It’s a lot of sprinkle this, sprinkle that, rub this in, etc. Ribs are different. They come in different sizes, and you use different amounts depending on if you are cooking for a group, your family of 4, or my family of six.

I typically do three full racks at a time. Most families would do one or two. A potluck bbq? would most likely do 6. So this is more of a methodology to cooking ribs, rather than an exact recipe. but trust me, it’s the best method and flavor profile you’ll find for ribs out there.

Ingredients:

1-6 racks of ribs ( I typically use 3 racks of baby backs. but this method will work for different types of ribs — but not short ribs, or korean ribs… those we treat differently).

brown sugar

paprika

garlic pwder

salt

pepper

your favorite bbq sauce (we like kinders or tessamae’s matty’s bold)

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

Caveat: this is an all day recipe

On the day you want to eat your ribs… take them out in the morning. Place on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet. Rub ribs all over with brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper - not a ton, but enough to color the meat when you rub it in. Then cover with another layer of tin foil and let sit in the fridge for four hours.

Remove ribs from fridge, and let sit and get close to room temp.

Preheat oven to 325.

Remove top layer of tin foil and rub 1 Tbsp of your favorite bbq sauce on both sides of each rib rack.

Place ribs meat side down on foil and add chicken stock and apple juice to bottom of the pan.

Place foil back on top, and seal top and bottom tin foil together to form a packet.

Place ribs in oven for 3-4 hours.

Ribs should break apart easily using the back of a wooden spoon to test.

Remove foil. Remove ribs from oven.

Set oven temp to broil.

Baste ribs with bbq sauce. Return to oven. Cook each side for 5 minutes. Watching closely so it doesn’t burn.

As an alternative to broiling, at this point, you can remove ribs from oven, baste both sides with bbq sauce, and place on grill for 5 minutes per side.