Small Talk: Oven Baked Barbecue Spare Ribs

This is a recipe that my brother and I threw together ourselves while he was visiting. We made a lot of really yummy dishes during his short visit, but this, by far, was the crown jewel.

I've always steered clear of making ribs in my tiny little NYC apartment because of the mess that I thought they would create, and the fact that I don't have a full-size grill to finish them off with a nice char. But, this recipe is easier, cleaner and more delicious than any other ribs recipes I've ever tried.

You start with a dry rub on the ribs and about half a bottle of beer. The ribs slowly cook in the oven for a couple of hours before you slather them with your favorite barbecue sauce and turn the heat up to bake for another quarter of an hour. The result is a mouth-watering, fall-off-the-bone, rib that you'll want to make again and again.

The dry rub recipe was adapted from this recipe here at the Food Network. The rest of the recipe is all ours :)

Oven Baked Spare Ribs
3 lbs. spare ribs (this serves 3-4 people)
1/2 c. beer
1 bottle of good barbecue sauce (the amount you use will vary according to your taste)

*We used Stubb's Smokey Mesquite Bar-B-Q Sauce (I highly recommend!)

Dry rub:
1/8 c. sweet paprika
1/2 tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Combine all seven ingredients of the dry together in a small bowl. Cut the ribs in half and place in a large baking dish. Using all the dry rub, rub the ribs on all sides, coating well, and place back in the baking dish with the fat facing up. Allow the ribs to sit with the dry rub for about an hour before moving on to the next step.

Add enough beer to cover the bottom of the baking dish--don't cover the ribs all the way! Cover tightly with aluminum foil to lock in all that yummy moisture that will steam the ribs slowly. Place in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours. Keep an eye on the ribs, checking on them frequently, to make sure they don't dry out. If they start to dry out, just add more beer to the baking dish.

I forgot to take a picture before they went in the oven, but this is what they looked like after 2 1/2 hours.

After taking the ribs out of the oven, turn the heat up to 350 degrees. Take the ribs out of the dish and pour out the beer and other accumulated juices. Put the ribs back in the dish and brush your favorite barbecue sauce on all sides of the ribs and place back in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered.

Once the ribs come out of the oven for the final time, add more barbecue sauce, if you like (I like!) and allow to sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving.