Thursday Night Smackdown: Grilling
September 5th, 2008 | 
Author: Labor Day this year was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and warm, and we just took it easy. We had played poker with Danny and Sally, Paul and Terry, and Steve and Katie on Sunday evening, which was a lot of fun, and then Monday we just … basked in the sun and pulled a few weeds from the veggie garden. Then I remembered to take the ribs out, put a rub on them, and stash them back in the fridge for a few hours.
Then we put them on the grill, and about an hour and a half later, this is what we found:
Mmm, mmm, good 
Some time back, I made a batch of Neelys’ Dry Rub (from Food Network’s “Down Home with the Neelys,” which I don’t actually watch, but I figure they know their BBQ) for some baby back ribs; I’m pretty sure I made a third of the recipe, since there’s only the two of us. We still had some in the cupboard, so at about noon, I put a nice, thick layer on the spare ribs and put them back in the fridge to get spicy. Then Dan started grilling around 5:30 and dinner was ready by shortly after 7. These were so good, we will have to do them again … and again … He says they were made with luuuuuv, which is why they were so delicious. I’ll take his word for it.
Grilled Spare Ribs
Neelys’ Dry Rub:
1 1/2 cups paprika
3/4 cup sugar
3 3/4 tablespoons onion powder4 lbs. pork spare ribs
1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce, plus more for serving (because I like a *lot* of sauce)Put the rub ingredients in a container with a lid and shake to combine. Sprinkle a good coating on the ribs, put in a gallon-size plastic zip-top bag, and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Grill for about 90 minutes. Brush with sauce for the last 10-15 minutes of grilling. Serve with extra sauce, if you’re a sauce fiend like me
This is my contribution to the Thursday Night Smackdown, Grilling Edition, hosted by Michelle. And the round-up of all the recipes is here. Looks like I owe Michelle some ribs, since I apparently missed the entire point of Thursday Night Smackdown, which is to cook something from a COOKBOOK. Like I don’t have enough of those in the kitchen that I read like novels, but don’t cook from enough. I’ll do better, I promise
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There are some fantastic dry-rub recipes floating around. I started with “The Thrill of The Grill,” by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, and haven’t looked back. I think that the Neely’s, while being very pleasant seeming folks, have done you a disservice by foisting this rub on you.
Have you tried St. Louis style ribs? I mean the big fat ones that take longer to cook (that’s a good thing). They have more meat and fat on them so they don’t dry out as quickly as the baby-back ribs do, and they are much less expensive. It takes a few minutes to prepare each rack unless you pay a butcher to do it, but it is worth the extra time. There are directions all over the web (including my blog, he says blushingly) on how to do it.
Sorry about being a curmudgeon, but ribs are a serious thing!
We’ve made ribs before, but we’re just getting started with dry rubs, and since the Neelys have a successful BBQ restaurant, I thought it was worth a try. Doesn’t mean I’ll stick with that recipe forever
Just till we use up the rest of it.
So far, we’ve done baby backs and the spareribs. I’ll look into the St. Louis style. My husband’s mother once worked in a butcher shop, so he learned a thing or two about using knives
Thanks for stopping by.