Great tasting BBQ Baby-Backs

My all time favorite BBQ Ribs will always be at Houston’s Restaurant in Pasadena. This recipe, however comes close to the their popular Knife and Fork ribs with Cole Slaw and String Fries at a fraction of the price. It takes some prep work, but if you are planning on being home for most of the day it’s a great lazy Sunday meal for friends and family.

Here’s what you’ll need for a party of 5-6:

Ribs

• 3-4 slabs of Baby Back Ribs (I get mine at COSTCO where a pack of three goes for around $24)
• Enough Aluminum Foil to wrap each slab individually

Dry Rub

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder (or 2-4 large cloves minced fresh garlic)
• 1 Tsp French Thyme
• Dash Paprika
• 1 Tsp Salt

BBQ Sauce

• Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ Sauce
  

Cole Slaw

• 1-2 heads of White Cabbage
• 1/3 Cup Best Foods Mayonnaise
• 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
• 2 Tsp Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 2 Tbsp White Vinegar
• 1 Bunch of Green Onions (Scallions)
• 1 Bunch of fresh Parsley
• 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard (Optional, I’ve substituted some Inglehoffer Honey Dijon Mustard with great results).

Fries

• 1-2 Bags of Frozen Shoestring Fries

NOTE: You will need to prep the ribs 12-24 hours before cooking them and store them in the refrigerator overnight. For best results your ribs should slow cook in the oven for about 5-9 hours, so the next day be sure to put them in the oven early enough so they’ll be ready for dinner.

[step 1] Prepare the ribs. Combine the Dry Rub ingredients in a bowl and mix them well with a fork. Tear off a large sheet of aluminum foil (enough for a slab to lie on lengthwise with 3 inches extra on each side).

[step 2] Place a slab of ribs onto the foil (dull side facing up) and rub liberally with Dry Rub on both sides.

[step 3] Liberally apply Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce using a brush to both sides.

[step 4] With the slabs meat side facing towards the dull side, fold the aluminum foil up and over to cover the slab.

NOTE: It’s easy to miss holes in your foil at this point, so you may want to put your ribs on a cookie sheet or some kind of serving tray inside the fridge. This will help catch any dripping so you don’t have to spend an hour cleaning the fridge afterwards.

[step 5] Set your oven to 210 degrees (some say as low as 190 but 210 has always worked for me) and put your foil covered slabs on a cookie sheet in the center rack of the oven. I use a cookie sheet because the ribs will drip and you don’t want to have to clean the oven afterward do you?

[step 6] Meanwhile as it gets closer to dinner time (say around 4pm) you can get started preparing your coleslaw. Peel off some of the thinner outside leaves from the cabbage and discard them. I have a SaladMaster which lets me quickly shred the cabbage into small pieces. If you don’t have one, simply dice the cabbage like an onion.

[step 7] Chop only the dark green parts of the green onions and add them to your shredded cabbage it should be about 1-1.5 cups. Finely chop about 1 cup worth of fresh parsley and add it to the cabbage.

[step 8] To make the dressing combine Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, salt, sugar, mustard, vinegar in a bowl and mix until uniform. Store both dressing and cabbage mix in the refrigerator and combine just before serving.

[step 9] After ribs have slow cooked in the oven, remove them from the oven and aluminum foil. This can be messy and hot, so be careful. Also if you’re baking your frozen french fries now is the time to crank up the oven to 450 and stick em in. If you have a deep fryer, they’ll take just 10-15 minutes.

[step 10] Your ribs should be very tender at this point and almost fall off the bone by simply handling them. Fire up your BBQ grill to medium high, put the slabs on and liberally dab on lots more Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce. The goal here is to caramelize the sauce on the ribs, not to really cook the ribs any further. You can alter the temperature of the BBQ slightly to get more or less BBQ look and taste, just be sure not to burn them. The ribs will be oily which can quickly drip down and cause flames if you’re not careful. BBQ turning the ribs and lathering on more sauce each time you turn them for about 10-15 more minutes.

Now simply gather your friends and family and enjoy.