Oven Barbecue Ribs

Ingredients:

2 whole slabs pork baby back ribs (you can use beef ribs here if you don’t eat pork)

Dry Rub
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Braising Liquid/BBQ Glaze
1 cup cola (preferably not with high-fructose corn syrup, but all the stores around me only had Coca Cola)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoons maple syrup

Preparation:

Mix the Dry Rub ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.

Rub mixture evenly all over each rack of ribs, making sure to coat top and bottom. Place ribs in a roasting pan, cover, and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.

When ready to cook ribs – preheat oven to 200ºF, position the rack in the middle.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan set over medium heat, warm the Braising Liquid ingredients until warm and uniform.

Place the ribs in a roasting pan (you may need 2 13x10x2-inch pans) and pour the warm liquid over the ribs, cover the baking dish with foil, and place the ribs in the oven. Mine required two roasting pans. I placed the ribs side by side – as my own size allows for it. Cook them for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. If cooking on separate racks, alternate pans halfway through. If the ribs are cooking on the same level, rotate pans around halfway through.

Remove pans from the oven, throw away the foil, and pour the liquid into a medium saucepan. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cooking until the liquid is reduced by half.

Preheat broiler and brush the reduced glaze on top of each rack of ribs. Be generous with the glaze. Place ribs under the broiler for 2 minutes until the glaze starts to caramelize. Check on the ribs after 1 minute – they can quickly overcook.

Let the meat rest for a few minutes, then slice and serve.