Southern Style Cheat Ribs with Raspberry-Tobasco BBQ Sauce

First of all, I need to apologize in advance to all of the true blue BBQ pit masters rolling their eyes and clutching the pain in their chests when they see the word "CHEAT" next to their beloved "RIBS". I have so much love and respect for their fine art of true BBQ that takes years and sometimes even generations to master. This recipe is not a replacement to your talent, just an at home method for those of us not blessed enough to have a smoker available and a pit master to supervise.

 Nothing is better for a red-blooded American carnivore to devour, than a stack of Q'd meats piled high with finger licking sauce poured all over the top. It's messy, unapologetic and fills a carnal hunger buried inside each modern man. The vegetarians out there will surely skip this post. Let them eat their Tofu in peace and let's talk ribs for a minute.


I prefer beef ribs over pork. They are generally more tender and I prefer their flavor. Ribs are located between the chuck and the loin on the cow and account for short ribs, back-ribs, as well as rib eye steak, prime rib or stood up and presented in style in the form of a standing rib roast such as beef wellington.

That being said, this last Sunday was Father's Day, which was a perfect opportunity to fire up the grill and give Dad a manly meal of his favorite meats and foods. My family revolves around food. We all have our culinary niches and my Mom, sister and I often find ourselves in the kitchen cooking up a storm of love. We put out quite the spread as you can see below and for dessert we made amazing dark chocolate brownies.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Generously season your ribs with your favorite grill seasoning, spice rub or simply salt and pepper. My spice blend of choice is a blend of salt, pepper, brown sugar, paprika and onion powder.





 Place ribs, meat side down, in aluminum foil lined baking dishes, cover the top of the dish with more foil and place in the center rack of the oven.

 If you are using small baby back ribs, take them out after 3 1/2 hours. If you are using regular baby back, St. Louis style or pork ribs, then take out after 4 hours.

Drain off the drippings. Flip the ribs over using two wide spatulas, being very careful as they are very tender at this point, so the meat side is up.

 Preheat your grill using the Weber instructions for baby back ribs. Charcoal will give you the most authentic BBQ, smoked all day flavor.




Put a layer of the Raspberry-Tabasco BBQ sauce (recipe below) on the ribs and place the entire baking dish on the grill (indirect heat). As we have pre-cooked our ribs in the oven, you will only need to cook over indirect heat for 30 minutes to get a nice smokey flavor absorbed into the meat.




Remove from the grill, let the meat rest for 10 minutes and serve with a little extra sauce on the side.

Serve with your favorite BBQ sides. We chose rosemary potatoes, garlic corn and a Thai slaw that my sister made. And because it was Father's Day, more meat in the form of grilled steak.

Raspberry-Tabasco BBQ Sauce

1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce on the sweeter side. Sweet Baby Ray's is one of my favorites.
1 jar of Tabasco Pepper Jelly hot or mild depending on the level of heat desired.
3/4 C of Smucker's Red Raspberry Syrup

Mix together well and taste. Be careful to keep the sauce you are basting meat with in a separate container to avoid contamination. This sauce will save as long as the expiration date on the BBQ sauce label reads. No need to heat before use as the ingredients are already cooked. This blend goes well with a variety of meats and fish. Remember to use at the end of cooking (last 5-10 minutes) or on low heat, as there is a lot of sugar that will burn easily on a hot grill.

As you can see, this sauce is addicting. Once the ribs were on the table, I barely had time for a photo before they were devoured. Try this recipe out with your family. It's a great way to spend a lazy afternoon and get some quality time in together.

Enjoy!