Jacks Best-est Ribs and Homemade BBQ Sauce

Tue, 7 September 2021

Chef: Jack O'Keeffe

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

For the ribs
4 racks of pork ribs
2 tbsp Sea salt
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
1 tbsp coffee beans
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
100ml apple juice or cider

For the BBQ sauce
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups of ketchup
4 tbsp molasses
4 tbsp muscovado sugar
4 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp American mustard

Method
Preheat an oven to 150°c.
Place all the spices for the ribs into a spice grinder, blender or pestle and mortar and blend until coarse.
On the bottom side of a rack of pork ribs is a tough and chewy membrane called sliver skin, save yourself a couple minutes by asking your butcher to remove it for you.
Rub the ribs all over in the dry rub, place on top of a sheet of parchment paper and drizzle with apple juice. Wrap each rack in parchment paper followed by too layers of tin foil. This will keep in all the tasty juices.
Place in the oven and cook slowly for 2.5 to 3 hours or until soft and tender.
While the ribs are cooking lets make the BBQ sauce, grab a large saucepan, and place it on a medium heat. Add the butter followed by the onions and garlic. Cook this gently for 3 minutes before adding the spices, sugar, and molasses. Bring the sugar to a simmer and add the vinegar, ketchup, and mustard. Stir in and bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes being carful not to let the pot burn.
Using a stick blender, blend the sauce until it is silky smooth. This will last in the fridge for a week.
When the ribs are cooked remove them from the oven and brush all over with plenty BBQ sauce. I like my ribs to be charred and crispy as if they were BBQed. What I do is, turn on the oven up to 250°c or put the grill on full whack. Pop the ribs onto a tray and place under the grill for 6 minutes then flip over and cook for another 6 minutes or until your happy with the colour.
These ribs are killer served up slaw and mac n cheese!