OK, so I don’t know about your husband, but there’s something about Father’s Day that brings out Mike’s inner cave man. And when I say “inner cave man” I am referring to the innate, undeniable desire for a big ‘ol piece of meat on his plate for dinner.
We eat meat. I like it too. I’m just sayin’ that it seems like guys like it a whole lot more than we do.
Funny enough, although I’m not a big meat eater, when I do eat meat, I really prefer it on the bone. Cooking meat on the bone always yields more flavor; any foodie can tell you that. But I like the bone there too. Can’t really explain it but there you go.
Over the past few months I’ve been checking out some fun Southern Foodie blogs and playing around with different rub situations. There are many ways to make tasty meat rubs that include everything from coffee grounds and dry mustard, to celery salt and paprika. ‘Round here we have agreed that the one I’m posting today is a real winner in the taste department, and I love it because all the ingredients are likely in everyone’s cupboard already (or, if not, they’re not so exotic that they’ll go untouched after you whip up these babies.)
As a Midwestern transplant to the west coast, I will admit to having a very limited rib background. My journey thus far have taught me a few things: First off, the key to yum-ola ribs is definitely slow cooking them on a low heat. Smoking them over hickory and coals would likely be ideal, but I hardly have the time–or, let’s face it, the inclination–for that kind of rib action. My oven does the trick just fine. Secondly, rubs ROCK. I really love the voodoo they do to ribs and other meats too. You can use today’s recipe on chicken, a pork roast, etc…
So as we are not even close to getting into a summer groove yet, allow me to get right to the point and back to a bunch of tasks that, for whatever reason, have yet to be completed in my home.
Michelle’s Caveman Ribs (These are super easy to prepare, but they do need 3 1/2 hours to cook.)
Ingredients: (which, by the way, I do not actually measure. Big shocker, I know.) your basic rack of pork ribs–3 or so pounds, 1/2 cup loosely packed cup of brown sugar, 1 tbsp. chili powder, 1 tbsp. oregano, 1 tbsp. garlic powder, 1-2 tsp. cayenne, few healthy shakes of salt and black pepper.
Directions: grab yerself a cookie sheet. Place a piece of aluminum foil on it. Pat rack of ribs quick-dry with a paper towel. Spread/pat rub on both sides of the ribs and place them on the foil. Sprinkle any last rub on top with the “u” shape up so that all that yummy stuff can rest there and turn into a de-lish glaze when all is said and done. Should look something like this:
Wrap the foil around the ribs and cook all cozied up like that at 250 for 2 hours. Then open foil up and cook like that for another hour and a half. When they’re done they will look something like this:
And they will taste like heaven. At least I hope they have these in heaven…
I recently served my ribs up with some cole slaw, as pictured above (see my recipe under salads) which was pretty much the tastiest dang combination we’ve had in a while. Cave man happy = good Father’s Day.
Play around with your rub. It’s cool and very “in” right now! Try things like onion salt, cumin, celery salt, paprika, chipotle powder… Hope you enjoy!
Kickin' it in the Kitchen 