A good deal--Grilled Racks of Baby Backs, Kansas City Style

Grilled Racks of Baby Backs, Kansas City Style
The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking & Entertaining Copyright 2006

Four 1 ¾ to 2 pounds slabs pork baby back ribs

Smoky Rib Rub:
1/ 4 cup smoked paprika
2 tablespoons smoked salt or coarse salt I used kosher salt
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar or 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar I used the brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried chipotle chilies or, for a milder rub, additional smoked paprika I used the dried chipotle
1 tablespoon chili powder

At least 2 cups sweet tomato-based barbecue sauce

( I only made two racks so I halved everything.)

Strip off the thin membrane on the ribs’ lower side. Preheat the oven or covered grill to 275 degrees F. Combine the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the rub. Coat the ribs liberally on all sides with the remaining spice mixture.

Wrap the ribs tightly in 2 layers of foil, place on baking sheets, and bake for 2 hours. The meat should be beginning to shrink away from the ends of the bones, exposing them a bit, and if you tug a rib, it should pull apart with little resistance.

(You can cool and refrigerate the ribs at this point. Bring them out about 30 minutes before grilling which is what I did.)

Heat the grill to medium. Sprinkle the top side of the racks of ribs evenly with the remaining rub. Grill the ribs uncovered over medium heat for a total of about 20 minutes (7 minutes on each side, then coat with sauce and cook for 6 minutes).
__________________________

I don't usually paraphrase recipes but the authors of this cookbook must have been paid by the word. I just didn't have it in me to transcribe the several paragraphs this recipes consisted of so I just gave you a shortened version.

I picked up some baby back ribs for about $1.69/lb a few weeks ago. My original plan was to put my smoker together and use that but I decided to be realistic (putting the smoker together is way down on my to-do list) and I made these in the oven and on the grill. I made two racks, not knowing how much meat would really be on these ribs after cooking, figuring I could freeze the leftovers.

The rack we ended up eating was perfect. Perfect. The rack held together but the meat pulled clean away from the bone with slight tugging. I decided to just try a bit of the second rack and it wasn't as perfect. The meat needed a bit more cooking to come cleanly off the bone which is good I guess, since I can reheat them in the crockpot after freezing them and they won't be overcooked. It was just blind luck that we ate the better rack first.

These ended up being much simpler to cook that I imagined they would be. I baked them off on a Sunday evening and did the grilling after work on Monday. They weren't smoked but they got their smokiness from the smoked paprika and dried chipolte powder. I used cheap, cheap barbecue sauce (Kraft) but you know it was as good as anything I've had in a chain restaurant which is really the only other place I've had baby back ribs.

So a success although they're a bit too heavy and normally a bit too expensive to make very often.

Blast From The Past: Creamy Cole Slaw from October 2005. I've been making a loose version of this cole slaw and my son LOVES it. He wasn't big on these ribs but he ate two servings of cole slaw.

Question of the Day: Do you like baby back ribs?