Rob’s Traditional Chicago Style Baked Baby Back Ribs.
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
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!