Back On The Wagon

Now that a month has gone by since my trip to Memphis, I am finally able to eat ribs again.  I knew that The Bride is still less than keen on the idea, so I had them for an early lunch today while she was at work.  After a quick trip to Findlay Market to acquire ribs, I prepared the Kansas City Style Baby Back Ribs on page 159.

While the ribs were on the grill I made the sauce, which was rather easy.  I actually had all of the ingredients on hand, which was nice.

The recipe called for me to baste the ribs during the last twenty minutes.  The dilema in front of me was which baster to use...over the years I have accumulated a few different types of mops.

The mop on the right was my first mop...it worked okay, but tended to absorb more liquid than it ever distributed.  The thick fibers proved problematic in that regard.  The middle mop has obviously been used the most.  The smaller fibers soaked up less of the fluids, but the sheer matted mess became a problem to clean.  The answer lies in the mop on the left, the metal mop.  When I purchased this at the store, I was concerned that the metal rings wouldn't hold on to the liquids well at all, but it was on closeout for a dollar so I took the risk.  This has paid off in spades.  It holds a surprising amount of liquid, distributes it freely, and retains very little in the long run.  It is wonderfully easy to clean, and as a bonus has the longest reach of the three.  So if you see one, definitely pick one up!  Meanwhile, back at the ranch...here are the ribs before basting.

Here the basting sauce has just been applied.

Here they are twenty minutes later.

Finally, here they are off the grill.

The last thing to do was to split them up and prepare my belly!

The sauce is definitely styled like most Kansas City sauces.  It is slightly sweet, slightly acidic, and rounded well with spices.  Imagine a better version of Open Pit or KC Masterpiece sauce.  I learned in Memphis that I am most certainly a bigger fan of "dry" ribs than sauced, but this was pleasant.  My problem with sauced ribs is the carbon.  Some people like that "char" taste, but I do not.  The sugars in the sauce caramelized like they were supposed to, but I would have preferred they didn't.  Still, the recipe is solid and will emulate this region's style quite well.  Good job, Weber.