A couple years ago, after my husband and I bought our barbecue, we decided to break it in with spare ribs. Of course, we didn’t know anything about barbecuing spare ribs, like how long it takes until they are so perfectly done that the meat falls right off the bone (apparently it takes hours and hours). So our first attempt was a miserable failure. A few weeks ago we were watching an episode of Sam the Cooking Guy, a show local to the San Diego area, and he made these ribs that looked to die for. About a week or so later we were grocery shopping and passed the rib section of the meat counter. And our memories harkened back to that episode of Sam the Cooking Guy. All we had to do was wordlessly lock eyes, and my husband grabbed the best looking rack of the bunch. The ingredient list is my own creation. But I followed Sam’s vinegar-baked methodology, which takes considerably less time to cook than the regular way.
Ingredients:
brown sugar
paprika
chili powder
ground mustard
red pepper flakes
cinnamon
nutmeg
white vinegar (the cheap kind)
barbecue sauce (plain, unflavored)
honey or apricot jam
Instructions:
1) Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Rub into both sides of ribs. Allow to marinade in the frig 3-5 hours.
2) Preheat oven to 400°F. Place ribs, in a single layer, in a jellyroll pan or casserole dish. Pour vinegar into dish until filled about 1 to 1½ inches up the side. Cover tightly with foil. Cook at 400° for an hour and a half. About one hour through, check the level of the vinegar to make sure it hasn’t all evaporated. If it has, add more vinegar.
3) Right before ribs are done, combine barbecue sauce and honey or jam in a bowl. Heat your barbecue grill to medium heat. Place ribs on grill, then baste the face-up side with barbecue sauce. Grill for about 3 minutes, then flip ribs over. Baste more sauce on the face-up side. Grill for 3 minutes. Flip one more time and cook another minute longer. Remove from grill and serve immediately.
pure ingredients 