My Barbecued Country Style Ribs

Photo: flickr user TheBusyBrain

Ingredients

ounce boneless country style pork "ribs" about 8 per serving

penzey's gelena street rub see note

apple juice

lemon juice

sweet baby ray's barbecue sauce original style, see note

inch apple wood prunings at least ½" thick, soaked water

Preparation

This is not so mush a recipe as a documentation of the most successful barbecued ribs I have tasted. The day after I made these, we went to a party where some ribs were made by a professional chef. These were better by far.

The grilling directions owe much to Stephen Raichen's "How to Grill." I can't recommend this book enough.

Trim the excess fat off of the "ribs" and rub them with a generous amount of the Galena Street Rub. Place them in a zip-lock freezer bag and refrigerate overnight.

About four hours before starting to cook, add four parts of apple juice and 1 part lemon juice to the bag, enough to cover the meat. Reseal the bag and refrigerate.

Prepare the barbecue for indirect cooking at medium heat. I use an old Weber kettle with rails to keep the coals on either side of the middle. I find that using a lower layer of lump charcoal cover with a layer of briquettes seems to light up reliably. Once the coal are started, close down the vents to half open or less, depending on weather conditions.

Remove the "ribs" from the bag and shake off the excess marinade - do not blot the ribs dry. Reserve the marinade (boil it briefly if you are concerned about bacteria); you will use it to baste the ribs during the early part of the cooking.

Add some of the apple prunings on top of the coals or in a metal tray set over gas flame. Cover the grill and let cook for 30 minutes.

Baste the meat generously and add more apple wood after 30 minutes and again after one hour. At the one hour point you will probably need to add some more charcoal briquettes to the fire.

After 1 1/2 hours, baste the meat generously with the barbecue sauce, turning it over so that the top side becomes exposed to the heat.

After another 15 minutes, baste the meat again with barbecue sauce and continue cooking for a final 15 minutes.

Serve with a bit more sauce if the meat is too dry. That's it!

NOTES:Penzey's Galena Street Rub last the following ingredients (presumably in order): flake salt, sugar, black pepper, paprika, nutmeg, sage, cayenne and crushed red pepper. I suspect that it could be duplicated with some experimentation, but life is short ant it is available at www.penzeys.com.

Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauces have just hit the Boston area supermarkets at about $1.50 per bottle. The is easily the best barbecue sauce I have ever tasted. The honey flavored sauce is very nice also; I haven't tasted the others yet. Their web site (www.sweetbabyrays.com) lists stores all over the country, so it should be available locally.