Southern Style BBQ Spare Ribs

I was born and raised in the south where BBQ is king! I recently moved to the Northwest and have searched high and low for good BBQ and still have yet to find it. I don't own a smoker/BBQ pit the preferred method for cooking ribs so I had to find an alternative method to get our occasional BBQ fix. I created my own dry rub recipe and took it from there. I decided to slow cook them in a crock pot but the number one thing a BBQ rib needs is the smokey flavor. I am not much a fan of liquid smoke. It seems that putting the ribs on the grill with a small box of wood chips and letting the smoke do it's flavor magic for 30 minutes- 1 hour did the trick.

Recipe and photos are below.

 

Southern Style BBQ Pork Ribs

recipe by: Julie Hodges

Ingredients:

• 2 large pork spare ribs
• salt and pepper (to season the meat)
• 5 dashes of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
• 3/4 cup of soda such as Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, Coke, or Pepsi (optional)
• bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce such as Sweet baby Ray's Sweet ’n Spicy

Dry Rub Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 TBSP paprika
• 1/2 TBSP onion powder
• 1/2 TBSP garlic powder
• 1/2 TBSP salt
• 1/2 TBSP ground white pepper
• 1/2 TBSP ground black pepper
• 1/2 TBSP dry mustard

Directions:

Season ribs with salt and pepper on both sides and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry rub ingredients together and mix well. Rub the dry rub generously on both sides of the ribs making sure to pat it down. Cook on foil lined grill with a smoker box of wood chips for 30 minutes to an hour. Then remove from the grill and place in a slow cooker (crock pot). Add 5 dashes of the worcestershire sauce and the 3/4 cup of soda onto of the meat before closing. Then slow cook on low for 6-7 hours dependent upon weight until the fat melts and the meat becomes tender almost falling off the bone. After the slow cooking process is complete, brush on some of the BBQ sauce and return to the foil lined grill or oven for about 3-5 minutes to warm the sauce. (optional) Then serve.

 photos and recipe created and taken by Julie Hodges