Corcoran Street Kitchen: Heavy Duty Pork Spareribs

I grew up thinking that ribs came from Chinese Buffets and were covered in the sticky sweet teriyaki sauce. As much as I still love those beefy little treasures, my heart belongs to pork ribs. This time I bought a rack of regular pork spareribs (not baby back) and rubbed all over with a sweet and spicy dry rub that will form a flavorful crust on the meat. I don't have a smoker so I make my ribs in the oven which has always turned out just delicious. When they are wrapped up tight in heavy duty foil, they cook slowly in their own juice and get fall-off-the-bone tender. These ribs are meaty enough to require a fork, but you certainly won't need a knife!

Heavy Duty Pork Spareribs
Ingredients:
Pork Ribs
1 rack (5-6lbs.) pork spareribs
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup ground mustard
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne powder (or to taste)
A few ounces of your favorite BBQ sauce

1. Make a dry rub by combining all of the spices together in a bowl.
2. Rub it all over the ribs, top and bottom and try to get a thick layer all over every part of the meat.

3. Allow to sit for a few hours (up to overnight) in the fridge so that the flavors can penetrate the meat.
4. Wrap the ribs tightly in two layers of heavy duty foil.

5. Bake them upside-down at 225 degrees for 4 hours.

6. Very carefully (the steam will be HOT) open the foil package, drain off the liquid and fat, and transfer the ribs to a baking sheet. The ribs will be falling apart so I basically used a spatula and flipped them over using the foil to the baking sheet.

7. Brush a small amount of BBQ sauce (someone gifted us a little bottle, so I used it) on the ribs.

You only need a thin layer of sauce that will caramelize in the hot oven. You don't want to compete with all of the flavors that you already developed in the meat.