I actually did this Tuesday night, but I’m just now getting around to writing about it.
Let’s say you don’t have a smoker, and you forgot to put your ribs on for that slow-cooking, fall-off-the-bone flavor. That’s what faced me Tuesday with the pork spare ribs Laura had purchased for dinner, so I had to improvise…
Ingredients:
- 3-4 lbs of pork spare ribs
- 3 parts molasses
- 3 parts bourbon
- 2 parts vinegar
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons (or more, to taste) of chilli powder
- salt
- pepper
- 18 oz BBQ sauce of your choice
Procedure:
I first salted and peppered both sides of the ribs. Then I mixed everything else but the BBQ sauce into a mixing bowl. I basted the ribs with this mixture, then wrapped them in aluminum foil with a cookie sheet to catch any drippings. This went into an oven preheated to 325 degrees for 45 minutes. At the end of the 45 minutes, I checked the meat and basted with more mixture. Into the oven again for another 45 minutes.
At the end of this first cook cycle, I took the ribs out to the grill. I had one burner going at medium low heat. Once on the grill, sans aluminum, I basted with the BBQ sauce. 20 minutes, flip, and more basting. This process continued until a meat thermometer read 165 degrees internal temperature.
OK, so it’s not quick. However, you still get tender ribs without having to smoke the ribs for 12 hours. Plus, finding rolling papers that large to smoke them is just difficult.