When I was a kid, my all-time favourite ribs came from a locally owned restaurant: they were grilled dry, without any sauce on them, and covered in a savoury rub that made them exquisite on their own, and even more amazing when coupled with a sweet-hot sauce (added on your plate as a condiment would be).

A few years ago I decided to set upon the adventure of recreating this recipe, or at least something inspired by it. The fruits of my labour yielded a recipe for rib rub and another for rib sauce. I prepare ribs for our family using these two recipes, and the following method.

BBQ Dry Rub Ribs

We typically use back ribs, although side ribs would work just as well (note that back ribs are often more tender and moist, but also smaller than their side counterparts)

1. Unpackage the ribs and remove any large sections of fat from the meaty (convex) side
2. If the bone (concave) side is shiny, the butcher likely left the membrane on; remove it using the following procedure: starting at one edge, carefully separate the thin translucent skin-like material from the meat and peel back
   
3. After removing the membrane and fat, rinse the raw meat with cold water to remove any excess pieces as well as any blood that may have accumulated through these processes
4. Generously apply rib rub to both sides of the rib, pressing the seasoning into the meat using your hands or a spoon
   
5. Wrap the ribs in foil and refrigerate for at least four hours or (ideally) overnight
6. Preheat your grill to around 200°F
   
7. Place the ribs bone side down on the grill; I typically use a 30 minute cycle with approximately 20 minutes on the bone side, and then 10 minutes on the meat side
8. The fact that a 30 minute cycle is an excellent pace for beer consumption while remaining upright is purely coincidental
9. Since meat thickness will vary, all times are approximate, but I have found that it takes about 1.5 hours to fully cook the ribs; the first rule of thumb is to check that the meat is at least 160°F using a thermometer, and the second rule is to make sure the meat cooks back to expose around 5-10mm of bare bone
10. Carve ribs into single bone pieces and serve with rib sauce and a side of corn bread.

Keeping your fingers clean either during or after a meal of messy ribs can be challenging. However, our family has found the BEST way for keeping fingers clean and grease free! Each of us gets a warm, wet Norwex Travel Sized Envirocloth to use throughout the meal. Our rib dinners just wouldn’t be complete without these cloths on the side. This is a fantastic way to keep our hands clean in an environmentally friendly AND effective way!

This post was written by my hubby! He says he is “A husband, a father, and an engineer. In that order.”