I love barbecue and I love ribs. Put them together and you have barbecue ribs! I started out with cooking by merely following recipes I found online. After finding my way around the kitchen and developing a sense of technique I've started experimenting. I look at different recipes and techniques and combine stuff that I think might work well together. One of those experiments was this dish.
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| Dry rubbed ribs |
I made a dry rub containing black pepper, sea salt, brown sugar, chili powder, cinnamon, and paprika. I didn't measure the spices and just estimated the amounts of each. I rubbed the dry rub mixture all over the ribs and placed them in the fridge overnight, uncovered.
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| Beginnings of a barbecue sauce |
The next day I placed the ribs in a preheated oven and baked them, dry rub and all, for 2 hours. This creates a caramelized crust around the ribs. Before the 2 hours were up I whipped up a small batch of barbecue sauce, which I used in one of the dishes I made before.
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| Already looking and smelling so good even without the barbecue sauce |
After 2 hours in the oven it was time to slather the ribs with the barbecue sauce. The pre-sauce ribs already looked and smelled so good that I was tempted to grab one and start munching on it. Patience is a virtue! On goes the barbecue sauce, on goes the cover on the ribs, and then 2 more hours in the oven. The low temperature and long cooking time is what allows the meat to become really tender.
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| The side dish |
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| All done! |
The experiment paid off and the ribs tasted great! The side dish, despite the mushy potatoes (because I overcooked them), really went well with the ribs. I'd definitely do this whole combo again. One thing we noticed about the ribs was that they had a bit of a tough crust. After some Google-ing the next time I make ribs I will be tweaking the dry rub and changing the initial cooking time of the ribs. The tough crust might be because I applied too much dry rub on each rib. I might also have put too much salt and sugar in the dry rub mixture. The salt possibly drew out too much moisture and dried out the outside of the ribs and too much sugar might have made a thick caramelized crust. In the meantime you can refer to the recipe and steps I used to make this meal below. Happy cooking!
Dry Rub
| Black pepper | |
| Sea salt | |
| Brown sugar | |
| Chili powder | |
| Paprika | |
- Amounts of all spices were estimated
- Place all spices in small bowl. Mix until well combined.
Barbecue Sauce
| White onion, finely diced | 1/4 of whole onion |
| Garlic, finely diced | 1 large clove |
| Olive oil | For cooking onion and garlic |
| Ketchup | 6 1/2 tablespoons |
| White vinegar | 1 tablespoon |
| Brown sugar | 4 teaspoons |
| Worcestershire sauce | 4 teaspoons |
| Chili powder | 1 teaspoon (or more, if you want) |
- Heat a small saucepan with a small amount of olive oil over medium heat.
- When oil is hot enough add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are soft, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
- Let simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or until desired sauce thickness or consistency.
Barbecue Beef Ribs
| Beef spare ribs | Around 500 grams |
| Dry rub | See recipe above |
| Barbecue sauce | See recipe above |
- Wash ribs and pat dry.
- Apply a thin layer of dry rub all over the ribs.
- Place ribs in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Pre-heat oven to 250 °F / 120°C.
- Place ribs in a baking pan or dish (lined with foil or baking parchment).
- Bake ribs, uncovered, for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours bring ribs out from the oven and spoon barbecue sauce over the ribs.
- Cover the ribs with foil or baking parchment and bake for an 2 more hours.
Potato, Mushroom, Spinach Side Dish
| Onion, chopped | 1/2 onion |
| Potatoes, cubed | 2 medium-sized potatoes |
| Fresh button mushrooms, roughly chopped | Handful (around 2/3 cups) |
| Fresh spinach | |
| Water | 1/8 cup |
| Olive oil | For sauteing |
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.
- Cook onions in pan until soft, around 3 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and cook until brown and soft, around 3 minutes.
- Turn heat up to medium-high and add a little more oil, if needed.
- Add potatoes to pan and sear and allow to brown on sides for a bit.
- Lower heat to low-medium heat and pour water in pan and cover. Let cook for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked but still firm when poked with a fork.
- Add spinach to pan in handfuls. Gently stir around until leaves are wilted and remove from heat.
I'm getting hungry at this hour, this is so bad.
