Happy 4th of July! BBQ Pork Ribs and BBQ Chicken

Happy 4th of July!

Nothing says the 4th of July like throwing meat on the grill. We had some friends come to celebrate, and eat, and watch the fireworks with us. Unfortunately, the last time I made pork ribs for these friends, there was an incident with a dry rub (The Dry-Rub Disaster of 2009) that rendered the pork ribs so inedible that we had to throw them away. We couldn't even feed them to the dog, they were THAT bad. I was afraid that Texas would try to revoke my birth certificate. It was a sad day.

But being a Texan is about not giving up, even when the odds are stacked against you (sounds nicer than saying 'being stubborn', right?) and you can't properly celebrate the 4th without barbecue, so it was time for me to get back on the horse.

I got the base of this fool-proof barbecue sauce recipe from my sister-in-law (known in our home as Auntie Hanna). She calls it "cup sauce" because you start with one cup of soy sauce, one cup of sugar, and one cup of ketchup. This is mostly Auntie Hanna's recipe, but the orange juice is my contribution. I love citrus with pork and chicken. The barbecued ribs and chicken turned out so well that it seemed like my 5 year old was trying to eat his weight in pork ribs.

Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 cup of soy sauce (Trader Joe's low sodium soy sauce)
  
• 1 cup of sugar (I used turbinado, because that is what I had on hand)
  
• 1 cup of ketchup (Trader Joe's organic ketchup)
  
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 1 tablespoon of ginger, minced
• 1/3 of a cup of orange juice

Combine everything in a bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved in to the liquids, then set aside while you get to work on the pork ribs.

Prepping the Pork Ribs:
Pork ribs are very easy to cook, but they should be prepped. If you look at the top of the pork ribs, you see the meat. If you flip them over, there is a shiny filament across the back that seals the meat. It is smooth. We need to remove that filament so that the marinade soaks in to the meat on the back as well as the top of the ribs. Do not score it, just try to get under it and peel it. If they are too slimy to get a good grip on the filament, you can rinse the rack of the ribs with water.
This picture shows my husband demonstrating how you start to pull the rib filament off of the rack of ribs.

It is easiest to get it all off if you can pull it in one sheet, like this picture is showing.



Next, put the ribs in the container where it will marinate. I prefer something that seals well so you can flip it over and not have to stir it part way through the marinating time. I had to trim my ribs to fit in the container.

Pour two-thirds of the sauce over your ribs and be sure it gets under and between the racks of ribs. If you are planning to barbecue chicken as well, place the chicken pieces on top and then pour the rest of the sauce over the top. Then seal the container and refrigerate for several hours or even overnight, flipping the container periodically, or opening it and moving the meats around so that everything has a chance to be on the bottom, getting maximum sauce exposure.

When you are ready to cook, you can throw them on the grill or bake them in the oven.

To cook pork ribs in the oven, put a low baking dish or roasting pan in to the oven filled with water to a 1-inch depth. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and put a rack over the baking dish or roasting pan. Once the oven is hot, put the pork ribs on to the rack so that the sauce will drip in to the roasting pan. The water in the bottom of the pan will help keep the ribs from becoming too dry. They need to cook for one hour, but flip them over after 30 minutes, and add more water to the bottom of the pan if necessary. The chicken can be in cooked in the oven with the pork ribs (if you can fit them in there!) but if you are just doing chicken, you can skip the container of water and just put the chicken on a baking sheet and bake them for 1 hour at 350 degrees F, also turning them over after the first 30 minutes.

After cooking the racks of ribs, just cut between the individual rib bones and serve!

Buen Apetito!