Barbecued Pork Spareribs

You know what makes for a good Sunday in my house?  Kids not fighting, a little bit of football - preferrably our team winning, a good dinner and Bailey baking something as I type this post.  So far, most of that has happened, we are just waiting for our team to take the lead.  The kids have not been bickering all day, which is a blessed relief.  Our Sunday dinner was Barbecued Pork Spareribs, Garlic Parsley Potatoes and Spicy Kale Chips, and it was WONDERFUL!  And, Bailey is happily making Snickerdoodle Blondies.  Life is good!

Which brings me to one of my all-time favorite foods - barbecued ribs.  Seriously, I think I could eat them every day of the week.  I prefer pork ribs, just slightly, over beef ribs, but I'm not going to turn either down.  I know we are not supposed to eat, or like, red meat as much anymore, but if loving ribs is wrong, I don't want to be right!  Obviously, I don't really eat them every day, but I would if I could.  If my health and waistline wouldn't suffer, I would be chowing those down non-stop.

The thing is, until about 6 months ago, I had never made really good ribs.  I had made ribs that tasted good, all slathered in barbecue sauce, but were nothing spectacular.  No one complained about them, but they weren't stark-raving mad for them either.  Then, my husband and I found some nice pork spareribs on sale, and I brought them home thinking that I had to find a better way to prepare them.  So, what do you do when you want to find an answer to something?  You Google it, of course!  What did we ever do before Google?  It is one of the greatest things known to man, and I use it about a million times a day.  Once again, Google came through for me.  I found a few recipes that promised the secrets of the "Pitmasters."  Although there were a lot of differences, one thing was a constant - smear the ribs with yellow mustard PRIOR to the dry rub.  I know, crazy, right?!  Well, I gave it a try, and was not disappointed!  What all of those websites said, was that the mustard and rub would work together to give the meat that brown and crusty outside, while keeping the meat juicy and tender on the inside.  With using a brown sugar based rub, you get a caramelized coating that doesn't require it drowned in sauce.  You can use a little sauce if you want, but it certainly doesn't need it.

This recipe does take a little planning, though, because you have to let the ribs sit overnight with the mustard and dry rub doing its thing.  But, otherwise, it's very simple.

Here's your Cast of Characters.

 

 

Rack of pork spareribs
Yellow mustard
Anita's Sweet & Spicy Barbecue Rub or your favorite dry rub

Here's a picture of my dry rub, once the ingredients have all been combined.

 

 

 

Put ribs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet.  Squirt a generous amount of mustard and smear all around.

 

 

 

Sprinkle half of your rub over the mustard and press it in.  Don't mix it with the mustard.

 

Flip over and repeat.  Cover loosely with foil, and refrigerate overnight.  This is what it will look like the next morning.

 

 

Keep covered loosely with foil, and put in a 275 oven for 3 hours, removing foil after 2 1/2 hours.  After that, turn oven to 350, and cook another hour (total cooking time is 4 hours).

 

 

Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting into servings. 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Served with Garlic Parsley Potatoes and Spicy Kale Chips - Yum!

*Note:  If you like your ribs saucier, you can add your favorite barbecue sauce, but, again, it doesn't need it.

*One last note:  Our football team didn't win, but on the other hand, Bailey's Snickerdoodle Blondies were fabulous, so an almost perfect day!