{rec}BBQ Sauce and Baby Back Ribs

[mitchell]

BBQ Sauce

1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
3 beef bouillon cubes
2 c. water
1/2 c. prepared mustard
1/4 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
3 c. tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, use more if you like it hot and spicy
1 heaping T. chili powder

Combine all the ingredients in a heavy pot and simmer for approximately 2 hours uncovered or until desired thickness is achieved. Watch that the sauce does not burn. Stir often. Sauce may be stored in the refrigerator for a long time, frozen or canned. (Makes 1 quart)

Baby Back Ribs

3 or 4 whole slabs of baby back ribs, cut in half *
1 large onion, cut in half
6 garlic cloves, cut in half
1 T. whole black peppercorns
1 T. whole green peppercorns
1 T. whole white peppercorns
1 T. whole juniper berries
1 T. whole coriander seeds
2 whole bay leaves

Full a 12 or 16-qt stock pot with water to within 3 inches of the top. Add in the ribs, garlic cloves, onion, spices and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 40-45 minutes until the ribs are fork tender when pricked with a fork. Remove the ribs and brush with the sauce on both sides. Place on a hot grill (with a few pre-soaked Jack Daniels or Hickory chips if desired) and brush the top with the a little more sauce. Cover the grill and let them cook for 6-8 minutes and then turn and coat other side and let cook for another 5 minutes with the lid on until the sauce is nicely browned. Serve with extra sauce on the side if desired. If your grill does not have a lid the smoke flavor will be slightly less, but it will still work okay.

* St. Louis baby backs are the best (small ones) also the best slab weigh for least amount of fat and more meat is as close to 1 3/4 pounds as you can get. Under is no meat and over 2 pounds per slab they get too fatty...

 

[AnitaS]

[sigh]

I asked for this recipe, ya know, figuring that if ANYONE knew how to do it, Vip would.

Here we go again on the utensils: A heavy pot! I don't OWN a heavy pot. 12 or 16 qt stock pot. I don't own a pot large enough to hold 12 or 16 qts, I don't think.

I DO have two of those navy blue with little white speckles roasting pans. Is that heavy enough? Mebbe I could use the smaller one for the sauce and the large one for the ribs? I don't consider them heavy pots, though.

Peppercorns? Will these be used for any other recipe in my lifetime? Juniper berries...coriander seeds...same question.

I'm stilll considering this, but I can't afford to buy new pots and spices that will never be used again.

If I can squeak through with what I have, I'm game to try it. Can I do that?

 

[mitchell]

Anita,

Any 2 or 3 qt. sauce pan or pot you have can be used to make the BBQ sauce, you will need to stir it more though than with the heavy pot as it will burn easier since the heat will not be distributed as evenly....

Your blue enaml roaster if standard size would hold about 12 qt's is my guess. You could use it, but use it on two burners preferrably with the flames set to low once it boils. Again you'll have to stir this to keep the ribs from sticking to the bottom every 20 minutes or so with a spatula or large spoon.

As for the spices buy the McCormicks green peppercorns and juniper berries kinda high priced this way (I buy bulk at The Home Economist), but you will not end up with too many left and it's about $4 or $5 for the bottle and you can add the peppercorns to any brown gravy mix you use to make a peppercorn gravy just soak them in the water you'll use in the mix for about 15 minutes before your gonna make it. That would use them up. The juniper berries I use to make corned beef, german dishes and roasts a lot. Freeze what you don't use now in the bottles and they will keep for a long time. The other spices can all be bought really cheap in bulk bags (Capoto's brand are almost everywhere now days) from any store like Dominick's, a local Mom and Pop place usually has them also. The black peppercorns can be used with out the white ones if you want just 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the black ones. The corriander seeds can be used in many roast recipes and mexican dishes, just put them in a freezer in a glass jar and use them whenever they will keep for years this way.

Hope this helps....

 

[AnitaS]

I just got a yank on my leash, Vip...

which means I won't be making the ribs this Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for the recipe, however, and I'll try it at a later date, but SO truthfully pointed out that I was OVERDOING it again for the benefit of only ONE person! He suggested that we simply buy some already-made ribs for that one person, which would probably be a lot cheaper than buying all those peppercorns. Heh.

 

[AnitaS]

Scratch that last post of mine.

I can't think of anyone coming for Thanksgiving who DOESN'T like good BBQ'd ribs, so I might just as well "over-do-it" again and have a sortof smorgasbord.

 

[ExitMisery]

Anita... you seem to be one of the cooking impaired
Those old speckled "camp looking" pots are probably from your college days... mine was a thin imitation to start with, of course I keep it for nostalgic reasons... I only had one pot to start with - and of course, I smoked a lot of pot!

While not an end all and be all, I would throw those ribs in an aluminum "roasting pan" you can get for a buck or two. I would put just a little water in the bottom of the pan (say 1/4 cup) I would liberally use onion powder, some black pepper, cover with aluminum foil, and let it rip for say an hour at 350. Then, I would dump some barbeque sauce on those ribs, and let cook for maybe 15 more minutes.

You can throw a couple of baking potatoes in the oven about 15 minutes after you put the ribs in, then heat a can of corn on the stove top, and serve with some applesauce from a jar.

Yum, yum, good!

 

[AnitaS]

Where does one buy juniper berries?

Since I needed a few other things, and wanted to check out that manual chopper with my neighbor, I went to the store today. <i>4 Seasons</i> has a jar of pepper corns that include red, green white, black. Unlike M&M's the colors seem quite well distributed, so I figure I can use this for the peppercorn. It was $3.59. I couldn't find juniper berries, however. Are they in the spice aisle or the produce aisle? I found all the other ingredients [I think], so I just need a little help on the juniper berries. I'm hoping to make the BBQ sauce next week and freeze it. I'm actually hoping to make quite a few things beforehand. Last year on Thanksgiving I was so exhausted that I couldn't even eat.

 

[Migraine]

juniper berries

Might be too late to order for Thanksgiving, but thought you might like to see this. The recipe sounds awesome and I think ribs might be just the thing for an open house during the holidays...I guess I could just cut them into individual ribs on a platter, right?

Click here for juniper berries online...

(hope I did that right...)

 

[AnitaS]

Thanks, Migraine.

I checked Albertson's yesterday and they didn't have juniper berries either. Tomorrow I'll check Whole Foods, and Monday I'll check out some other stores known to carry the exotic. I suspect you're right and that an online order wouldn't make it here in time, simply due to the season.

 

[AnitaS]

I finished up this week's shopping today.

I even found the Juniper Berries. [Yeah...that was me laying on the store floor trying to read the labels on the spices on the bottom shelf.]

Early next week, I'll get the produce items. I'd rather let it rot in the store than rot in my frig.

I only bought one slab of ribs. We WERE talking pork ribs, right? The butcher was really pushing beef ribs, but where *I*'m from, it ain't ribs unless it's pork. Rather than try and cut the recipe down, I'm going to get two more slabs next week. It will be too much for Thanksgiving, but we can reheat this somehow, RIGHT? I'm hoping I can have leftover ribs for dinner say next Saturday?

I chose easy meals for this weekend and before the kids roll in. Brats, liver and onions, ham slice, porkchops. The kids want to try SO's catfish Wednesday night, and I think I can get away with salmon patties next Friday night. They're not turkey people. They prefer fish. SO and I can finish up the turkey leftovers after they leave on Sunday. HE goes back to work on Monday, so I'm hoping I don't have too much left over.

 

[AnitaS]

Bumping this to get answers to my two questions.

<i>I only bought one slab of ribs. We WERE talking pork ribs, right? The butcher was really pushing beef ribs, but where *I*'m from, it ain't ribs unless it's pork. Rather than try and cut the recipe down, I'm going to get two more slabs next week. It will be too much for Thanksgiving, but we can reheat this somehow, RIGHT? I'm hoping I can have leftover ribs for dinner say next Saturday?</i>

 

[mitchell]

Yeap... Pork is the only way to go for this recipe... I have a totally different way of cooking beef ribs

You can re-heat in the oven at 325 put in your roaster on a rack and add a little more of the bbq to the tops with a basting brush and some water about 1 cup to the bottom of the pan (you don't want it touching the ribs though). Cover and steam for about 20-25 minutes until heated through....

Kath

 

[AnitaS]

You're the greatest, Kath.

n/t