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Andy Hart, Delegate’s Chief Executive Officer, has always had a passion for cooking. Now, after months of finetuning his favorite recipes, he has discovered a great cooking secret that he would like to share just in time for summer gatherings:
You can prepare the most delicious ribs to enjoy with friends or family, and you don’t need to spend hours outside with a smoker to do it! All you need is Andy’s recipe.
ANDY’S BBQ RIB RECIPE
Note: While Andy’s family prefers Texas-style ribs with lots of glazed BBQ sauce, if you prefer dry ribs, with rub and no sauce, you can use the same recipe without the sauce. He gives you both below.
INGREDIENTS:
- Rudy’s BBQ or Salt Lick Dry Rub
- Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce 18 OZ (you can add cayenne and black pepper for some “heat”)
- Cayenne and Black Pepper
- Chicken Broth
RIB PREPARATION: Do this up to 3 days before your cookout!
Preheat the oven to 350°. Get your Rudy’s or Salt Lick Dry Rub ready. Place each rack of ribs on a double layer of heavy duty foil; dust the ribs all over, on both sides and rub it in. Wrap each rack individually and place each rack (meatier side up) on baking sheets. Don’t stack the racks! Bake ribs until very tender but not falling apart, about 2 hours for baby backs and 3 hours for spareribs. Add ~20 minutes of cooking time if you have more than 4 racks in the oven at the same time.
Set the ribs aside, leaving them in the foil and let them cool completely. Don’t drain the juices…you’ll learn why in a moment. After they cool, put the racks in your refrigerator until an hour before your cookout. You can stack the ribs when you put them in the refrigerator. Ribs can be baked up to 3 days ahead. They’ll have more flavor and cold ribs hold together better on the grill as they heat up.
Note: Be sure there are sides on the trays used to refrigerate your ribs. If you use flat baking sheets, you may end up with leaking juices congealing on the shelves of your fridge…yes, that happened to Andy, but only once!
BEFORE YOUR COOKOUT
Empty the entire 18 ounces of Sweet Baby Rays sauce into a mixing bowl. This is enough for 3-4 racks of ribs. Add 1 teaspoon each of cayenne and black pepper to the sauce and mix thoroughly. Add more of each pepper to taste. Andy likes to create two mixes: “spicy” and “hot.” He uses the “spicy” sauce to glaze the ribs and offers both spicy and hot sauce on the table when he serves the ribs. If your friends don’t like “heat” in their sauce, you can prepare a glaze without the added peppers.
Put a cup (8 oz) of the “spicy” sauce and an equal amount of chicken broth into a pan. Stir over heat until the mix is consistent. Turn off the heat and set aside. You’ll use this mix to glaze the racks on the grill.
AT YOUR COOKOUT
About 30 minutes before you put on the big show, light your charcoal (or if you have a gas grill, you can fire things up when you’re ready). You’ll want all the heat on one side of your grill, so bank the coals on one side of your grill or fire up the burners to high heat on one side of your gas grill.
Line the unheated side of your grill with heavy duty foil. The foil is where you’ll glaze the racks, away from the direct heat. It also saves you a ton of clean-up time.
Next comes the fun part! With the coals white hot (or the gas on high), unwrap the ribs and place the racks directly over the flames, meatier-side-down, letting the congealed fat and juices serve as fuel for the flames. Turn the ribs until the fat has burned off. As the congealed fat and juices flame up, your friends will be wide-eyed! It’s a good show.
You’ll want to flame the racks to the consistency you like. Andy’s family enjoys ribs just a little crispy on the outside, but not burned or dry. So, pay attention when you’re flaming the racks.
Once the racks have just the right amount of flaming, place them meatier-side-down on the foil. Generously paint each rack’s undersides with the “spicy” glaze (that you cut with the chicken broth). Andy likes to use a 2-inch paintbrush as a sauce brush. Once you have all the racks painted, close the grill for 2-3 minutes, then check to see if the sauce has glazed. Andy’s grill runs hot, 600+ degrees, so it doesn’t take much time for his sauce to turn into a nice dark brown glaze.
Once you have a nice glaze on the underside, turn all the racks over and generously paint the meatier side of each rack. Close the grill for another 2-3 minutes. Then paint the meatier side. Andy’s family likes the ribs to have a nice glaze all over the meatier side. You can add as much or little glaze as you like. Close the grill one final time for 2-3 minutes.
Total cooking time on the grill depends on the heat. To confirm that the ribs are ready, cut out a center rib and taste it. Offer a taste to your friends…they’ll ask for more! It should be hot and ready to serve.
For dry ribs, simply set them on the foil after you flame the congealed fat and juices. Place them meatier-side-down first, then 3-4 minutes later, turn them over and let them heat up for another 3-4 minutes, meatier-side-up.
Remember, the meat was fully cooked in your oven. All you’re doing when your friends come over is reheating the ribs while you glaze them with sauce…putting on a good show the whole time!
Transfer the ribs to a cutting board and cut between each rib to separate them into individual pieces. Place them all on a big serving platter and remind everyone that you have extra “spicy” and “hot” BBQ sauce on the table. If you have friends who don’t like heat in their sauce, you can always cook a rack without adding pepper to the glaze. You can also offer the sweet sauce at the table.
Enjoy!
RUDY’S BBQ DRY RUB RECIPE: Use the ingredients below to make your own dry rub.
- 1 pound salt
- 4 ounces chili powder
- 3 ounces black pepper, coarsely ground
- 3 ounces black pepper, finely ground
- 2 ounces hot paprika
- 2 ounces garlic powder
Directions: Mix