Ribs-Baked

December 30, 2017
Rob’s Traditional Chicago Style Baked Baby Back Ribs.
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This recipe is for the style of making ribs you see in Chicago and the midwest that are baked in the oven, with BBQ sauce added at the end. I started working on this recipe in the 1990's and have made changes over time to get to this point. As with any meat, it's not all science, so use your own judgement on salt, pepper, and sauces. The critical steps are removing the silverskin, wrapping the pan tightly in foil, and finishing at high heat for just a few minutes to burn in some sauce and flavor at the end. Enjoy! Rob
Rob’s Traditional Chicago Style Baked Baby Back Ribs.
Print Recipe
This recipe is for the style of making ribs you see in Chicago and the midwest that are baked in the oven, with BBQ sauce added at the end. I started working on this recipe in the 1990's and have made changes over time to get to this point. As with any meat, it's not all science, so use your own judgement on salt, pepper, and sauces. The critical steps are removing the silverskin, wrapping the pan tightly in foil, and finishing at high heat for just a few minutes to burn in some sauce and flavor at the end. Enjoy! Rob
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Either have the butcher do this for you, or do it yourself, but it is important! Remove silverskin from bottom of rack of ribs. use a knife to get it started, then grip it with a paper towel and pull it off. Also cut any excess fat as desired. Youtube if you must….
  2. Prep Ribs - Coat with Brown Sugar, black pepper, Kosher or Sea Salt and a good pork rub (mom has that LBJ rub, which is great) and paprika for color. Coat well – especially use a good amount of brown sugar. The meat should be totally covered in rub, don’t hold back too much.
  3. Cut up a couple cloves of garlic, an onion in eighths and a couple of carrots and put them in a large deep pan, place the ribs face down in the pan on top of the garlic, onions and carrots and then add about 1/4 inch of water, a splash of apple cider vinegar and/or a splash bbq sauce (not much sauce at all)...face down.
  4. cover very tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven at 300 degrees for 60 minutes, and then another 60 minutes at 325. (2 hour total cook time)
  5. take ribs out of oven. lay on a baking sheet and brush lightly with sweet BBQ sauce. Finish on a hot grill about 60 to 90 seconds per side. (you can bake them in the oven on the baking sheet for about 5 min at 450 too. Make sure to foil your pan if you do this, cause all the sugars will ruin a cookie sheet when cooked. This step just adds a nice grilling texture to the ribs, but do not grill too long, as they are essentially cooked fully.
  6. Serve with a bowl of warm BBQ sauce, bibs, and good appetite!
Recipe Notes
  1. Don’t use too much sauce when cooking. Let people add it as they want at the table.
  2. You can use a pinch of cayenne (or salt Lick Rub) in the initial rub if you want some heat and spice.
  3. Make sure you remove the silverskin!!
  4. Properly cooked ribs should bit clean from the bone, but not fall completely off the bone without biting.

Good luck!

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Ribs-Smoked

September 4, 2017

This Recipe adds a smoking step to the traditional baked recipe for Ribs.

Ribs-Smoked
Print Recipe
Smoked BBQ Ribs
Prep Time
1
Cook Time Passive Time
4 3
Prep Time
1
Cook Time Passive Time
4 3
Ribs-Smoked
Print Recipe
Smoked BBQ Ribs
Prep Time
1
Cook Time Passive Time
4 3
Prep Time
1
Cook Time Passive Time
4 3
Instructions
  1. Start Smoker, and heat up to a steady @275 degrees, with thin blue smoke from Oak or Hickory wood.
  2. Remove silverskin from bottom of rack of ribs. use a knife to get it started, then grip it with a paper towel and pull it off. Also cut any excess fat as desired.
  3. Prep Ribs with Rub. Coat with Brown Sugar, touch of cayenne, Kosher Salt and a good pork rub and paprika for color. Coat well.
  4. Place ribs on smoker, spray every 30 minutes with apple cider vinegar
  5. after 1 hr 45 minutes on the smoker, take ribs off the smoker and place them in a pan with about 1/4 inch of water, splash of apple cider vinegar and bbq sauce mix...face down. cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven at 325 degrees for 90 minutes.
  6. after 90 minutes, take ribs out of oven . lay on a baking sheet and cover with favorite BBQ sauce. Finish on hot grill about 60 to 90 seconds per side. Serve!
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Home Made Bacon

August 12, 2017
Serves 100 slices
Equipment
Smoker and Curing Salt
Prep time
30m
Cook Time
3h 0m

This recipe will explain my method for making home cured and smoked bacon from a pork belly. It’s great because you can adjust the flavors to your liking. add honey, more or less maple syrup, more or less pepper…etc. each change will make a subtle change in the final bacon that is smoked. There are no ‘real’ measurements in this type of recipe, as the critical ingredient is trial and error and seeing what works for you. Here is what what works for me….

Home Made Bacon
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
100 Pieces 30 min
Cook Time Passive Time
3 Hrs 7 days
Servings Prep Time
100 Pieces 30 min
Cook Time Passive Time
3 Hrs 7 days
Home Made Bacon
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
100 Pieces 30 min
Cook Time Passive Time
3 Hrs 7 days
Servings Prep Time
100 Pieces 30 min
Cook Time Passive Time
3 Hrs 7 days
Instructions
  1. mix all ingredients of cure into a big bowl and stir very well. Cut pork belly into shapes that will fit in gallon storage bag place the pork bell in the bag fill each bag with cure mix, leaving enough for additional bags. (usually 2) double bag the Pork Belly to prevent leaks place on a cooking pan in fridge for a week, flipping over once a day.
  2. After a week, take out of the curing bags and rinse with cold Water , thouroughly removing all salt and such. re-season with Black Pepper (i use a decent amount) Prepare smoker at about 250, with apple or fruit wood. Once you have a clean smoke, place pork bellies in smoker until internal temp is 155-160 degrees. Place on cooking sheet until cool Bag them and refrigerate Slice against the grain, and cook as you normally cook bacon (sheet in oven is best)
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