Monday, May 23, 2011

Baked Beef Ribs with Dry Rub

There is something you definitely don’t know about me... just yet. I really enjoy BBQ food. I love the smokiness, sweet and spicy and delicious BBQ sauce that smothers your entire dish. One of my favorite BBQ items is beef ribs. Yes, beef ribs. I like a HUGE rack smothered in sauce, lots of meat and I enjoy part of the fattiness because that is where all the flavor is. Now if I ate these all the time, I’d be in trouble. Since it is a once in a while event, I enjoy every little bit of it! My hands get dirty, sauce on my shirt until they bring me a bib, and I enjoy every bit of it. I love cleaning that bone dry. ;)

It has been almost 4 months since I’ve had some beef ribs and I was starting to get that itch. Yes, I get an itch when I’m craving something. Don’t you?

Living in an apartment we could use their local grills but how clean are they really? Plus who wants to lug all the cooking tools and meats to the grill? Not me! I did some online research and saw you could bake beef ribs. I could definitely do that and that I did. I found a rub in a free Sam’s Club cookbook but tweaked it with the spices I had on hand. It made SO MUCH I have leftovers of this rub. I’m sure it will be good on some chicken breast cooked on my cast iron skillet.

Surprisingly this meal was very easy to put together. I rubbed my ribs the night before and wrapped them in foil and placed them in a glass baking dish, so all that had to be done the next day was to place them in the oven. I was working till 5pm and was afraid we wouldn’t eat dinner till almost 8pm if I put them in the oven after 5pm. So I gave my boyfriend strict orders. Preheat the oven at 4pm at 350 degrees F. By 4:15pm place the ribs in the oven. Once I came home, I started to glaze my ribs with BBQ sauce. I did this about every 20 minutes, until they were done at around 7pm. Sweet potato fries and corn bread muffins baked, dinner was done!

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The outcome? For baked beef ribs, they were actually really good. Moist and tender. I was worried they would be dry but that was not a problem at all. We both missed the charred/ smoky flavor from the grill but for our current situation it does the trick. I might of rubbed my ribs with a little bit too much rub, so I’d use less next time. We have a favorite sauce we buy from the store but homemade sauces are always better. As for the dry rub, it was really tasty. It had a little spice, little sweet and boldness all around.  I would definitely leave the cumin out next time because it was too overpowering for us.

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BBQ Dry Rib

Adapted from Fresh, Fast and Fabulous

Ingredients

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup garlic salt

1/4 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup sweet paprika

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin (optional or go 1/2 tbsp)

1 tbsp black pepper

1/2 tbsp salt

Direction

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Rub ribs, steaks, chicken or pork. Store leftover dry rub in a glass or mason jar.

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So now you know something new about me. I love beef ribs. :)
Fallon

PS: That is probably one of the best free cookbooks ever.

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With my dad sporting a bib! This was probably taken summer 2009!

1 comment:

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Ooh, good to know baking is an option when the grill's not available. I imagine I'd need a huge bib like that, too. It's my trademark to wear my dinner home.