Fall Off the Bone Baby Back Ribs

I love baby back ribs. There, I said it. But I also hate baby back ribs. What?? There is one place back home (Rib City) that has the best, hands down, ribs ever. I’ve tried ribs in the South, and they’re awful. Okay, they’re clearly not awful because everyone else seems to love them. So here’s what I’ve learned about my bi-polar opinion. If the ribs aren’t cooked in sauce, then I’m not going to like them. I used to think it was smoking – I don’t like the Liquid Smoke that is really popular in the South and find my taste buds to be very sensitive to it.  I think if the ribs are coated in sauce while being baked/grilled, then it softens the harsh smoke flavor. Disclaimer: I’m no BBQ Pit Master, the above statements are my personal opinion.

The first time I made ribs at home I did them in a slow cooker. The meat was cooked perfectly, but the recipe I followed seriously messed with my head. I tried Asian ribs. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t right! Every time I took I bite I was expecting the sweet, tang of barbecue sauce.

I promised myself that the next time I made baby back ribs, I’d do it right. I made a very simple dry rub and used the Neely’s recipe for barbecue sauce.

These babies looked like restaurant quality when I pulled them out of the slow cooker – I actually didn’t want to cover them up in sauce! (But I did eat them that way!)

Stuart said this meal was his second favorite, almost edging out Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas.

Fall Off the Bone Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:

• 3 lb baby back ribs
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 2 1/2 C BBQ sauce, plus extra for serving

Steps

1. Make dry rub with paprika, salt, and pepper.
2. Cut rack of ribs into mini-slabs of 3 ribs each. Pat them dry with a paper towel. Rub all sides of ribs with the dry rub from Step 1.
3. Place ribs in slow cooker so the the meaty side is facing the sides of the slow cooker, but not touching them. Pour barbecue sauce around the ribs. Cook on LOW for 6 hours. Flip the ribs halfway through the cooking time.

This blog post also comes with a bonus recipe for my Smokey Sweet Potato Fries.

Ingredients:

• 2 small sweet potatoes, cut into fries
• 3 egg whites
• 1 C panko bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until it looks like soapy dish water.
3. Combine panko, paprika, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
4. Dredge potatoes in egg white and then the panko mixture.
5. Bake potatoes for 25-30 minutes.

Update July 2016: These ribs are definitely one of my favorite meals and whenever they’re on sale at the grocery store I stock up! Every time I made them I said I needed to take a new picture, but I’d get so excited and completely forget about the camera, the blog, and the internet, and before I knew it I’d have a plate of empty bones and a little bit of barbecue sauce. But not this time! This time I snapped some pictures. I’m not sure how happy I am with the results, but they are better than those originals up there. I guess I’ll have to continue making these ribs and trying to photograph them again. Darn.