Art & Inspiration Easy, Quick and Tasty Ribs

Off topic?

I don't think so.
The HAMB has its own published cook book.

This recipe and the side dishes incorporates BBQ, beer, veggie and bread.
Everything a HAMBr needs to finish off the day.

There's a lot of cooks here on the HAMB and they aren't all from the female side of the gender gap.

Heck, in my experience, guys can cook as well as the gals can.

Except for Denise's chocolate chip cookies.
Geez, even the little broken pieces are worth retrieving from the bottom of the bag.

Just don't let anyone see you sucking up the cookie dust with a straw . . . granted, a worthwhile endeavor, but it could be tough to explain.

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Easy, Quick and Tasty Ribs


Quick prep time anyway.
Cooking takes a little time, but it doesn’t tie you down a great deal.
Heck, go peruse the HAMB for a while or spend the in-between times in the garage.


I’ve noted before that one of my interests is cooking - much to my wife’s delight - and in particular I’m a real fan of BBQ.
To the tune of owning five different BBQ’s.
A bit of overkill perhaps, but each has a particular specialty and I like to BBQ certain things in a particular BBQ.

One of my favorites is the Orion cooker.
More of a convection oven with smoke enhancement capabilities than a regular BBQ, but it does run on charcoal.

Problem with the Orion, I don’t like to light it off in windy weather since the charcoal is in a ring around the oven section and exposed to the wind.

With the wind cranking up yesterday, 40-50 mph in parts of the state from what the weather guys said, running the Orion isn’t the best idea in the world.
Winds about 30-40 mph here.


With two packs of Baby Back ribs defrosted and marinated, the kitchen oven was elected to do the cooking.
A new one for me since I’ve never cooked ribs inside before.

Besides, I have a couple of new Pyrex baking dishes.
A real bargain at WalMart, one 9" x 13" and the other 9" x 9".
About $9.00 for the package of two dishes with lids.
What’s cool about these is they come with a Tupperware style snap on lid for refrigerator storage.
And foil works fine for Enchilada’s and the like so no lid required.


Here’s the drill and it turned out to be easy.

Since the ribs were to be hung in the vertical cooking area of the Orion they were cut into 4 rib units.

Marinade was Kraft Honey BBQ sauce in a half full 28 oz bottle cut with 3-4 oz of beer.


After deciding to do the oven bit, I sliced them into single ribs.

Two freezer packs of Baby Back ribs cut into singles fit perfect into both the big and little Pyrex dishes.
Add some cut with beer BBQ sauce to the bottom of both dishes, put the ribs in so they lie flat on their cut sides, pour some more cut BBQ sauce on top.

Put the dishes into a 250 degree F oven and set the timer for three hours.

Check and baste each hour.

At the end of three hours, the meat should be starting to pull away from the bone.
Kick the oven temp up to 350 degrees F.
Baste at that time with some non-thinned BBQ sauce - same flavor.
Set the timer for 30 minutes.

Check at 15 minutes.
At that time the little dish was looking done and the big dish was almost there.
Probably cuz the little pan wasn’t packed as tight as the big dish.

Turn off the oven, leave the ribs to ‘sog’ in the heat and start the cool-down process.
About ten minutes at the max here, then remove the pans to a cooling rack.

Finish up the side dishes - this time around, corn on the cob with a touch of sugar added to the boiling water and several slices of thin sourdough garlic/cheese bread.
And daughters sauteed mushrooms - minced garlic, touch of salt and some butter for the cooking oil, done in a skillet.
The mushrooms will cook down to about half of what you started with.
Cooked in a small skillet, about medium - high heat.

Serve with cold beer or the beverage of your choice.

Perhaps a little strange having thinned and as-sold BBQ sauce on hand.
I like to make my own BBQ sauce, but the market had a killer sale on Kraft BBQ sauces and I probably bought ten bottles of the stuff.
I’m a sucker for a bargain.
About three different flavors fwiw.

The ribs were a hit with the girls.
The meat was falling off the bone good.

I’m afraid the girls stuffed themselves a touch and I ate my share.

Good part is, enough left over for BBQ sandwiches for lunch.


To summarize.

Baby back ribs.Kraft Honey BBQ sauce.
3-4 oz of beer to cut the BBQ sauce.
Another bit of BBQ sauce, uncut, nice and thick for basting.


I think one reason the ribs came out so nice and tender was that the cut with beer BBQ sauce ends up boiling the ribs on the lower half and the moist air in the oven from the boiling BBQ sauce/beer tenderized them quite well.


If you’re interested, I’ll post the garlic bread recipe - another real easy one.

 

I like to make a rub of New Mexico chili powder, paprika, Comino(cumin, to the gringos), Sea salt and black pepper. Rub the rub on the ribs and cook bone side down. Then flip them and baste with your favorite BBQ sauce to glaze them a bit. Simple but good.

 

do you think it would be about the same on a gas grill? try to
get it around 250 and keep an eye on it? I Haven't tried to burn up ribs yet

 

Yup, it works fine on a gas grill.

 

Then you'd be "grilling" instead of BBQing.

Get a smoker. Home Depot has a decent one that's around $100.
Use good charcoal,the "chunk" type is best.
I also use a "Dry Rub" (secret mix from my Memphis buddy!)
For the smoke flavor,I use wood chips(oak or apple) soaked in water.
Don't go overboard with the chips or it wil overpower the meat.
I use the disposable foil trays under the ribs filled with Red Tail Ale.

here's the smoker I use. It has a temp gauge so I can keep it at 250 degrees.