HOW TO: cook baby back ribs in the oven (low and slow)

I bought raw ribs once before. It was a disaster. I had no idea what I was doing. I figured my george foreman wasn't up to the task, so I think I tried boiling them and then doing something else. It didn't work. That was enough to put me off until today.

I bought a full rack of baby back ribs from Trader Joe's. There it was only 3.99/pound so the full rack was just under 8 bucks. Cheaper than those pre-cooked ones that come bathed in bland sauce.

I read that you should remove the membrane and even found a video that showed me how. (and I love the way that guy introduces his website) Yet when I flipped my slab over, I didn't find a membrane. I guess Trader Joe's gets rid of that for you. That's nice.

So with that out of the way, I rubbed my slab with a "smokehouse bbq rub" that was made out of sugar, salt, paprika, pepper, and onion.


I applied the rub on both sides and refrigerated the slab in aluminum foil for almost 24 hours. Here's what it looked like when I took it out of the fridge:


I gave it a second coat of rub, since the first had been absorbed into the meat. So of course, true barbecue is low and slow, not on the grill. My plan was to not only use low temperatures, but to use steam to my advantage, ensuring a moist rack of ribs. So I filled my pan with an inch of water and added another piece of foil on pretty tight on top. (I used foil on bottom to prevent sticking and make cleanup easier.)

Here's what it looks like about to go into the oven, just imagine another piece of foil on top:


So the total cooking time is six hours for a slab like this. I cooked it for 5.5 hours covered with foil at 200 degrees F. This is how it looked after five and a half hours of steaming:

The water had turned to grease. And notice how the meat tightened up, exposing some of the bones. In fact, the whole slab fit into the pan a lot easier now that it shrank. This is the home stretch. I dumped the grease, and gave another dusting of rub on top. If you want wet ribs, this is the point at which you can add sauce. I wanted to compare dry vs wet so I only added Trader Joe's Kansas City sauce to half, and put it back in uncovered for about 30-45 minutes. Here's what it looked like when I removed it from the oven, over six hours after putting it in:

Yes, the sauce side turned a beautiful color with the sauce carmelizing, but notice how even the dry side took on a beautiful color in that last uncovered phase. It was still glistening on the outside, so I removed it from the pan and let it rest on a board for about 15 minutes to ensure the juices would settle back into the meat.


And then it was time to cut into them, the moment of truth.

They turned out perfectly. Cooked all the way though, superbly tender and juicy. Falling off the bone, yet not mushy at all. I served them with a side of Bush's baked beans, kicked up with the bbq rub and sauce I was using.

And what about the taste?

Far be it for me to say that I'm a better barbecuer than professionals, using just my oven and not a real smoker, but these were some of the best ribs I've ever had. Part of it is that there is something special about doing it yourself, plus you know that you're using premium meat and a sauce without corn syrup. Also, I assumed I would like the wet more than the dry, but I loved them both the same, even the wet had all the spice of the dry side, the dry held their own just fine.

Does that mean there's no room for improvement?

Burnsy and I agreed that the texture was perfect, but the rub was perhaps a little simple. Not bland, but that it wasn't as bold as it could be. I felt like I used enough, so I could try a different one, perhaps Emeril's, or perhaps the way to do is just to make your own. Although I don't know that I want to buy 10 different spices just to make one serving of rub. It's also possible that finishing them on a grill would increase the flavor, but that's not an option right now. At any rate, today's ribs were delicious, so it's not like I need to do anything drastic.

But for 8 bucks these ribs served a dinner for three that would impress the toughest guests (unless they're vegetarian). And to think Matt turned down the dinner invitation. Although next time, I would allot 1/2 a slab per person, and truth be told, I could put away 3/4 and save a couple bites as leftovers.

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Previously I bought a Trader Joe's BBQ pork roast, I think about 24 ounces for 7 bucks or so (roughly the same price per pound as the ribs) and that was even easier to make. Just half an hour in the oven and then shred it with a knife, cover with sauce, and cook for another ten minutes. Between the homemade shredded pork and the homemade ribs, all of a sudden it seems that I don't need to go out to satisfy my BBQ fix.