Kansas City Style BBQ Ribs

Well, of course I'm going to talk to you about ribs, but first...

I got an interesting phone call yesterday as I was cleaning my house. I had a whole schedule worked out, with the little brother winging in from Portland on Thursday. I was cleaning the house (spring cleaning, ugh) Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday would be grocery shopping. Thursday I was going to make pesto, salsa, cookies, muffins, and Danish. Ha! The call I received yesterday was from my brother to let me know that him and his wife were on their way to the airport!

My emotions ranged from thinking he was joking to full-fledged panic when I realized he was serious. Maybe a true blonde at heart, I must have wrote down the wrong dates for his trip. I kicked my butt into high gear and managed to accomplish everything on my list except the making of the treats. Treats can wait, I've got a whole week to cook. The hubby and I left our house for Cincinnati at 9 pm last night, and we timed our arrival perfectly. If the little bro's plane didn't fly over us as we were pulling up to the airport, we were pretty close to that being the case. The Cincinnati airport has planes flying over the highway at a pretty low clip before landing. It was really cool (and really creepy) being that close to a moving plane. I'll admit, my stomach did a flip-flop at the sight of that plane seemingly right above our windshield. No bother, we were able to collect the brother, the sister-in-law, and hit the road. We all arrived back here at our house at 3 am, and everyone was in bed ASAP.

So today will be our first full day with everyone, and I think it's going to be a good day. I was up early (why? I must be crazy) and was greeted to a clear blue sky with the sun rising in the distance. There's something so magical about waking up to the sun. But back to the topic at hand...

Ribs. We don't eat ribs often, but when we do, we do it right. I think we have ribs twice a year, at most. We had a lovely sunny day last weekend however, and I knew it would be a perfect day to put a rack of ribs on the barbie and let them slow cook for a couple of hours. And then sit outside by the grill with a margarita and smell those delicious ribs cooking all afternoon. Heaven, I tell you. The secret to these ribs is in the dry rub, and that spicy-sweet Kansas City Style Barbecue Sauce.

That sauce! I could eat it with a spoon. I love it so much. We like to baste the ribs with the sauce in the last 30 minutes of cooking. It never fails to char itself to the ribs, creating a lovely crust around the meat. The meat that's so tender it falls of the bone, by the way. Is it bad that it's 8:45 am and I'm wanting BBQ now? Hehe.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Ingredients (for 1 rack):

1- rack of pork ribs

Dry rub-

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp celery salt

3 tsp onion powder

3 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp dried mustard

1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Barbecue sauce-

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp onion powder

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

Directions:

1. Prepare ribs 2 hours ahead of time. Trim ribs and dry them. Place on a cookie sheet.

2. Prepare dry rub- in a small bowl, combine sugar through cayenne pepper. Stir to mix. Completely coat ribs in mixture, rubbing mixture into the meat. Cover ribs closely with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 2 hours. 

3. Prepare the grill. We have a gas grill, so the hubby places some soaked wood chips in a container on the grill along with a pot of water to steam. We set the temperature very, very low. At about 200º. Put the ribs on the grill, and slow cook for 2 1/2- 3 hours. The ribs are done when the meat seems to have shrunk back from the bone.

4. While the ribs are cooking, make the barbecue sauce. Place ketchup through soy sauce in a small sauce pan, and cook over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, then remove from heat.  

5. When the ribs have 30 minutes left to cook, completely coat the ribs in a good coating of the sauce. Cook for another 30 minutes, then remove from heat. Place a piece of tented foil over the ribs, and allow them to rest 10-15 minutes. 

6. Dig in, serving with any extra sauce you may have.

Dry rub adapted from Fabulous Foods. Sauce recipe adapted from Simply Recipes. 

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Cunning Ladies' Friday Party.