Dinner Tonight: Cindy’s Ribs

11/11/2013

Cindy’s Ribs, says Tom Mockensturm, who submitted the recipe, are “restaurant-quality ribs.” He first tried them at the home of Darryl and Cindy Swindle a few years ago, and has “been making them at home ever since.” The secret ingredient, or perhaps the perfect proportion, is two bottles of barbecue sauce to one bottle of beer.

Cindy’s Ribs

• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 2 full slabs of baby back ribs
• 1 bottle of beer
• 2 bottles of your favorite barbecue sauce

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Grease two baking pans and line with foil.

Make a brown sugar rub using brown sugar, the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and paprika.

Cut the racks into thirds. Pull off the back membranes. Rub the brown sugar rub on both side of the ribs. Place in the prepared baking pans.

Pour the beer over the ribs. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours. Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until the meat is fork-tender. Slather the ribs with the barbecue sauce and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Let the ribs cool slightly and then place on a low grill until the ribs are hot and the sauce is bubbly and done to your liking.

Yield: 4-6 servings

— Tom Mockensturm

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