BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Baby Back Ribs are the rib meat from pork.  They are a bit more tender and meaty than beef ribs.  Tony Roma restaurant is famous for this type of ribs.  My husband & I used to go to Tony Roma once in a while to enjoy those delicious ribs along with their famous onion rings.

We got this simple recipe that tries to emulate Tony Roma's rib from one of my husband's friends.  We make it occasionally when having dinner guests or family gatherings.  Everyone seem to love it, especially kids. This is a totally wonderful dish, it tastes great and simple to make. The meats are so soft and tender that it easily falls off  the bones while you eat them.  The quality of the ribs seems to matter.  It happened to us a few times when the meat weren't as tender and juicy and I was pretty sure my husband didn't alter the recipe instructions in any way shape or form.  Anyway, here's the not-so-secret "secret" recipe for baby back rib ...

Ingredients:

• Baby back ribs - we usually make a few slabs, store the leftovers if any, you can make as many slabs as you want

Instructions : 

1. Preheat (conventional) oven to 350 degree F.
2. Simply put each rack/slab of ribs in an individual foil package, you can use regular foil or heavy-duty tin foil.
3. Seal the package so that no air or steam can escape
4. Put them in the oven for an hour
5. Then turn the heat down to 300F and bake them for another hour.  If you use convection oven, set it at 450F and bake for an hour total.
6. Take the ribs out and let cool

While the ribs are in the oven, you can make the BBQ sauce:

• Bull's Eye BBQ sauce (whatever flavor you like), or Trader Joe's Bold & Smoky Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce.  We have been using Trader Joe's one lately since it has no preservatives or artificial flavoring and the taste is very similar to Bull's Eye.
• Corn syrup
• The proportion is 1/3 corn syrup and 2/3 BBQ sauce (depends on how many ribs you make, that's why there's no exact measuring label, i.e. cups or tablespoons), mix well

Next, brush a generous amount of the BBQ sauce onto the top side of the ribs.  If you are using a BBQ grill, you need to put the top side of the ribs down onto the grill.  If you are using the broil function of the oven, you leave the top side up to face the heat.  The bottom line is that the top side of the ribs (the top of the curved rack) must face the heat source.  It's very important to watch it cook carefully, until the sauce starts to bubble on the ribs.  Let it bubble until it is caramelized nicely and becomes gooey, on the edge of being burnt.  You want it to come close but do not let it burn.  This caramelization process produces the sticky fingers feeling that is treasured by ribs eaters.  Brush the sauce one more time, let it bubble until it's all gooey, and again, do not let it burn.  Now, you are done.

If you are going to serve it with BBQ sauce on the side for dipping, just use the sauce out of the bottle, no need to add corn syrup. Serve with corn on the cob, beans, and cole slaw of any types or salad.