Grilled Pork Ribs

This is not so much an exact recipe as a general technique thing, or more exactly, to tell you what not to do. Please, don't take the raw portion of ribs and toss them into dry heat such as your oven or BBQ. You'll have a dry, tough, nasty meal and be wondering why. One should do the actual cooking of the ribs with wet heat, and in order of best to worst is: *

a) steaming
b) boiling
c) microwaving (covered dish)

* the exception is smoking, aka "real barbeque" but I don't know anyone who owns a wood-fired smoker and is dedicated enough to stand watch to make sure you have the right temperature for six solid hours. I'd love to try it, but buying a smoker just to do that on occasion isn't terribly sensible.

After this, you "finish" the ribs with hot, dry heat for flavoring and having a bit of crusty texture.

Ok, enough blah-blah and on with the food. Season the ribs generously with a dry rub (recipe follows), then steam the ribs until they're almost falling off the bone. They won't be terribly attractive at this point, but that's ok. Remove the ribs to a platter, brush them with a liberal coating of a sweet / tangy sauce, and grill them just enough to get some grill marks and a touch of blackening at the edges. Brush on a little more sauce if needed and serve immediately.


Here's a dry rub called "Bone Dust" from Ted Reader, aka "King of the Q" (his cooking show).

½ cup paprika
¼ cup chili powder
3 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. ground coriander
2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. curry powder
2 tbsp. hot dry mustard
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. cayenne pepper

Run the whole thing through a coffee mill so the powder is consistant. Makes about 2.5 cups.