Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

Two different sauces and both of them are amazing on barbecued baby back ribs.

Course Beef, Bourbon, Fruits

Cuisine American

Keyword baby back ribs, barbecue, bourbon, cherry, chipotle

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 30

Servings Servings

Calories 429kcal

Author Barb

Ingredients

6-8 pounds baby back ribs

Ingredients for the Dry Rub

½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon tarragon
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon mustard
½ teaspoon paprika

Ingredients for the Bourbon Maple Barbecue Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil combined with 2 Tbsp
2 tablespoons butter melted
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped or put through a garlic press
15 ounces tomato sauce
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup molasses
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
1 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon cumin
Couple of dashes of hot sauce
Salt and pepper as needed
½ to 1 cup bourbon duh, yeah I used a cup!

Ingredients for the Cherry Chipotle Barbecue Sauce:

1 cup ketchup
½ cup cherry preserves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons light molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 chipotle chiles in adobo plus 1 tablespoon of sauce I liked it better with 2 chiles; your choice
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

To Make the Bourbon Maple Barbecue Sauce

Saute onion in combination of oil and butter til tender.
Add garlic and saute for two minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook down til deep in color and thickened, 25-30 minutes.
Using a food processor, blender or stick blender, blend all ingredients until just smooth; I like it just a little bit chunky.

To Make the Cherry Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

Bring ketchup, cherry preserves, lemon juice, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, lemon peel, chiles, adobo sauce, liquid smoke, onion powder, and cocoa powder to simmer in medium saucepan, stirring often.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes, stirring often. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

To Make the Ribs

Pat ribs and rub dry mixture all over. Place in ovenproof dish (I used my turkey roaster; held three racks).
Fill bottom of roaster with 1 cup of your favorite bourbon whiskey or beer with equal amount of water and 10-15 dashes of Liquid Smoke. Check occasionally; you always want some liquid in the bottom of the roaster.
Cover tightly with foil and cook using ambient heat. Turn two burners on and place the roasting pan on top of the two burners that are off. One word of warning...the temperature control on my grill indicated 250 but wasn't accurate for the temp inside the pan so I had to turn up the degrees to get the meat cooking so be sure to check the internal temp of your grill. You want it to cook slow but still needs to be 200-250 degrees inside the grill.
Cook for two hours, changing the direction of the pan occasionally to insure even heating and re-arranging the meat at least once to insure even cooking.
Remove ribs from pan, empty pan juices, cut ribs into serving portions and cover with sauce. Cover pan and cook for an additional 30-60 minutes. I configured two separate chambers from heavy duty aluminum foil so I could keep all the ribs in one pan.

Notes

My personal preference is to not put the meat directly on the grill and char; the meat is moist and tender and not dried out like so many ribs I've eaten. If you want a bit of char; I would suggest you remove from the roaster and cook on each side for 5-7 minutes just to get some burn marks. Whichever method you prefer; serve by cutting into serving portions and pass the extra sauce.

You can also make these in the oven set to low heat.

Sauce can be made up to 1 week ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate

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