Preparation
Baking Directions:
Kansas City is the crossroads of barbecue, a place where American barbecue styles melded together.
The combination of transplanted Southerners and Texans, and more beef than you can shake a stick at (it is the Midwest, of course) produced a barbecue culture of its own.
Both KC Masterpiece and Bull’s-Eye bottled sauces came out of Kansas City, which is testimony to it’s appeal.
The style of classic Kansas City sauce varies according to which part of Kansas City you’re from.
Generally, it is a thick, tomato-laden, tangy and sweet sauce, pretty much like KC Masterpiece.
Homemade is better, of course.
This recipe is the best of all worlds: You have a great classic dry rub and a fantastic sauce for dipping.
This recipe calls for beef ribs (acknowledging Kansas City’s Midwestern beef heritage — although most Kansas City restaurants serve the traditional baby back ribs), but you can substitute whatever kind of ribs you like.
I like to dry-rub my ribs first, baste some barbecue sauce on for the last 20 minutes of cooking, and use the sauce for dipping while I eat.
However, feel free to thin down the (thick) sauce to use as a mop during cooking.
Mix ingredients together and store in a sealed jar.
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients well.
Add ketchup, molasses, vinegar and Tabasco.
Transfer mixture to a saucepan and heat over a medium flame until warm, stirring frequently.
The idea is to make sure the dry ingredients melt into the sauce.
Buy your ribs and make your dry rub the day before you plan on cooking.
To apply dry rub, sprinkle (rather than actually rub) the mixture on the meat — it should be moist enough so that the rub sticks to the surface.
A light coating is sufficient, but use as much as you like, as it tends to come off during handling and cooking.
Seal your ribs in plastic bags, and set in the refrigerator overnight.
You can also prepare your sauce that day and set it aside.
If you are planning on barbecuing these ribs, set your temperature at roughly 250F and cook your ribs with the lid closed.
Adding some soaked mesquite or other hardwood chips is recommended, but not necessary.
Cook the ribs for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the meat has shrunk back well from the bone.
About 15 minutes before the ribs are done, add a generous coating of your barbecue sauce.
Serving Directions:
Serve with the remaining sauce and ice-cold beer.
Tips:
Oven-cooking I spent thirty years as a city dweller so I can’t ignore the fact that many of you will have to prepare your ribs in the oven.
But you will be surprised at the kind of results you can get right out of your kitchen.
Nothing maintains slow, steady temperatures better than your oven and, with the proper technique, you can achieve near-perfect barbecued foods.
The easiest way to cook ribs in an oven is to cut a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil that’s big enough to accommodate a half rack of ribs.
Cover the ribs with barbecue sauce and place in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
When ready to cook, put the whole foil package in the oven and cook at 300F for a minimum of 2 hours or until you see that the meat on the end of each rib has “shrunk back” from the bone about 1/2 inch.
Remove the ribs from the foil and turn up the oven to about 400F.
Using the top rack, quickly brown the ribs on both sides for ten minutes, turning them over after about five minutes.
The combination of the marinade and long cooking time should result in fairly tender ribs.
But here’s another good method: First, heat your oven to about 425F and brown your ribs for about 10 minutes.
The goal is to surface-cook the meat, so that the outside forms a barrier that retains moisture (the same principle as browning stew meat).
Remove your browned ribs from the oven and lower the oven’s temperature to 300F.
Place the ribs directly on the oven rack about 8 inches from the top of the oven.
Place a pan of water below them (to catch fat drippings and prevent them from smoking you out of the kitchen).
If you are using a mop, you can apply it every time the ribs appear dry.
Depending on the amount and size of ribs, 2 hours of cooking should be ample, and result in very tender, meat-falling-off-the-bone ribs.
Just make sure your oven doesn’t get too hot.
