Homemade, Fall off the Bone, Oven Smoker, Babyback Ribs

Well, Lauren is usually the one who makes the post so I am trying my hand at it for the first time. To celebrate Valentine's day I decided to makes us a tasty dinner. I found inspiration in the meat aisle of Wegman's in the form of beautiful and affordably priced ($10.50 for a 13 bone rack) baby back ribs. Having done a lot of research on how to cook ribs from outdoor to indoor cooking methods and combination of both I think I have found a method that produces ribs that  are so tasty you would think they came from the kitchen of a competition barbeque professional. Any way here is how I did it.

First, the preparation of the rack:
1) Trim the fat from the sides and top of the rack.
2) On the under side of the rack there is a two part membrane. There is an outer layer  that you have to remove. It is a little tricky but work your fingers between the ribs bones and the membrane. Once you have a little pocket gently start to lift it off the bones. Then you can carefully peel the membrane off the bones. Ideally it will peel of in one piece.
3) With a sharp knife gently slice in between each rib. Be careful not to go all the way through the meat. You just want to slice the inner layer of the membrane.

Second, the rub:
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (reduce or leave out if you don't like heat)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix the rub with a utensil, I prefer my fingers that way I can break up any clumps of brown sugar. Once it is all mixed rub it on both sides of your meat. DO NOT be gentle or stingy. It is called a rub for a reason! Give the ribs a good massage with the rub.

Photo 1: (The rack rubbed down ready cook note wire racks on top of the wood chips)

Third, the cooker:
To build your oven smoker your will need four things:
1) Large aluminum rectangular roasting pan
2)  2 Cooling racks (like you use for cookies)
3) Wood chips (I used mesquite)
4) Roll of aluminum foil

Dump the wood chips into the bottom of the pan a spread them out into a thin, even layer. Place the cooling racks on top of the chips with the legs folded up. Dump in about 2 cups of water over the chips. Let this sit about 15-20 minutes so the chips absorb the water. You can set this up before you trim the ribs and make the rub that way you can slap the ribs in once they are ready. After the ribs are in build a tent around the roaster with the aluminum foil. Make sure the peak of the tent is 6-7" over the top of the roaster. Also make sure that there are no gaps. Every thing must be sealed up tight.

Fourth, the cooking:

This is the easy part... Pre-heat the oven to 275 and then put the smoker in the oven for 5-6 hours. Don't peak! It is like Christmas when you open the tent, just be very, very careful because the tent is filled with steam!

Photo 2: (The Cooked Rack note the "bark" or skin made by the rub)

Five, the eating:
I served this with homemade fries (see the fish and chips recipe) and green beens with shallots and garlic olive oil sauce (see the Wegman's frozen food aisle). We sauced the ribs with Wegman's Memphis style BBQ sauce warmed up a little. We enjoyed the meal with Manage  a Tois, a blended, red, California table wine.

Photo 3: (Fixin' to eat these delicious ribs)

Photo 4: (The meat fell right off the bone and melted in my mouth)

I know what you are thinking...5-6 hours that is a long time...You didn't sauce the ribs while you cooked them...They must have tasted like you were eating a campfire... Well let me reassure that while 5-6 hours is a long time you don't need to tend to these in any way, so you can go about your business around the house while these cook, but don't leave them unattended (you know the whole fire safety thing). Again the research suggests that the best BBQ is sauced after it is cooked. The sauce is a condiment, not an ingredient. You don't put ketchup on your hotdog while you cook it so so don't sauce your ribs while you cook them. And as for the smoke taste, it is very mild and not over powering in the least.  This is a very easy way to make great ribs and the results are worth the little bit of effort. ENJOY!