I wouldn’t say that BBQ is my forte. Or grilling. I’m not as unfortunate as I used to be – I specifically recall a camping trip with my college boyfriend where I flipped all four of the burgers we had brought, and with each flip somehow completely missed the very large grate over the fire and sent them directly into the embers, leaving us to subsist on boxed wine and cheese slices – but since it’s not something I did much of until we moved to California, the learning curve has been a steep one.
Like with ribs, for example: I make decent ones, but they’re not great. My friend Alisa makes great ribs. So I asked her to teach me her secrets.
Apparently it all starts with the rub.
ALISA’S RIB RUB (covers approx 3 racks of ribs)
- 1/2 c. Brown sugar
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 1 tsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Mustard powder
Measure into a mason jar and shake to mix.
BROWN SUGAR & GARLIC BBQ RIBS
- Rub both sides of ribs really well with the dry rub.
- Preheat oven to 250 F. (You can also make these on the grill; just place them over indirect heat. All the other instructions are the same.)
- Place a large sheet of heavy duty foil on top of a jelly roll pan.
- Put your seasoned ribs meat side down, and cover with another large piece of foil. Crimp the edges all the way around to form a tight seal.
- Bake for 2-2 1/2 hours. (Be careful when removing the pan from the oven because there will be a lot of accumulated juices.)
- Heat up your BBQ nice and hot and grill the ribs on both sides, basting as you go with your favorite BBQ sauce. This should only take about 10 min, just enough to caramelize the sauce.
