Honey Recipes, Products
BBQ Baby Back Ribs Recipe
Jan
Bringing Out the Flavor
This Built by Bees BBQ baby back ribs recipe combines a number of gourmet techniques using our vinegar and honey products.
In this blog, we’ll give you the step by step game plan for making the ultimate ribs. Let’s make rib-time a time to look forward to. The four techniques for making excellent BBQ baby back ribs are very important, so let’s cover these first:
Brining:
Brining is the process of submerging meat into a solution of salt (or vinegar), and water. This adds flavor, seasoning from the inside out, while allowing the cells to retain more moisture.
Translation: Fall off the bone meat.
Marinade:
Marinades both flavor and tenderize meat while retaining moisture. Similar to brining, marinating is an effective way to moisten the meat. This reduces or eliminates dryness from cooking while making your meat more tender.
This recipe is a blend of brining and marinating. Because the vinegar has added salt in this recipe, it doubles as a brine process.
Translation: Succulent, tastier meat.
Rubs:
Rubs add flavor to the surface of the meat, help seal in the juices and a good one may leave a crust after cooking.
Translation: Savory umami.
BBQ Sauce:
No ribs are complete without a tasty BBQ sauce. You can add barbecue sauce to your ribs early in the process and during the final 20-30 minutes of cooking. If you aren’t a big sauce lover, simply add the sauce closer to the end of the process. If you are a sauce maniac, there’s no need to drown your ribs in sauce. You can keep the first two sauce steps in place and simply serve more BBQ sauce on the side. If you’d like to jump ahead, here’s the section on how to make the BBQ sauce.
Translation: Bone sucking good!
In this recipe, we’ll use all four techniques. Here are the steps…
Step 1: Prepare & Marinate
1. Cut five pounds of baby back ribs into three-four sections to neatly fit into a sealable gallon bag (4-5 ribs / section). Optional: Slit and remove the silver skin on the rib’s backside.
2. Create the marinade. Mix together four ounces of water and two ounces of Built by Bees Wildflower Honey vinegar with Smoky Serrano. Add one tablespoon of ground pepper and one teaspoon of kosher sea salt.
3. Add the rib sections and the marinade to the gallon bag. Push the air out and then seal the bag. Next, work the vinegar into the ribs by massaging the outside of the bag for a couple of minutes. Soak the ribs in the gallon bag with this marinade for three hours (at room temperature).
4. Transfer the marinade into a 16-ounce container. This will be used later in the BBQ sauce step below (titled “Creating Your BBQ Sauce“).
5. Locate a suitably sized shallow baking dish (for all five pounds of ribs). In the baking dish, place each of the rib sections on tin foil. Use enough tin foil for each slab cut to fully house, cover and seal over the ribs. Do not seal the foil yet, as you first need to add the rub and BBQ sauce (see below).
Step 2: Add the Rub
Coat all of the ribs with your favorite rub evenly on all sides.
The Rub – option 1: If you have the gumption to make your own, here is a list of dry rub ingredients we’d recommend:
- Brown Sugar (1/4 cup)
- Sea Salt (2 teaspoons)
- Paprika (2 teaspoons)
- Black Pepper (2 teaspoons)
- Garlic powder (1 teaspoon)
- Ground Mustard (1 teaspoon)
- Onion powder (1 teaspoon)
- Cayenne or Chili Pepper (1/4 teaspoon)
- Cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon)
- Celery Salt (1/2 teaspoon)
Mix and mash together. Store in an airtight container after each use.
The Rub – option 2: To save some time from making your own, here are a couple of tasty rubs you might consider adding to your cupboard:
Step 3: Add the BBQ Sauce
After adding the rub, coat your ribs with a thin layer of BBQ Sauce (discussed below). Once you’ve finished adding the rub and BBQ sauce, tightly seal the ribs in the foil (see below on how to make your BBQ sauce).
Step 4: Cooking: Low and Slow
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. With the foil covered ribs meat-side up in a shallow baking dish, bake for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Remember: Low and slow wins the day!
Step 5: The Finishing Touches
For a searing finish, fire up your BBQ grill in advance to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
After you’ve taken the ribs out of the oven, take the foil off the ribs. Now is a good time to cover the ribs with another thin layer of BBQ sauce. Next, place the ribs on the preheated hot grill. Slightly char each side between 3-5 minutes, by sight, and remove from heat.
Serve with a leafy green salad along with either potato or macaroni salad. If you want more BBQ sauce, it’s probably a good idea to serve that separate alongside. This is personal preference – so you make the choice.
Creating Your BBQ Sauce
You’ve probably been asking, where’s the BBQ sauce? It’s right here! Pour the vinegar marinade (from Step 1, Item 5) into a 16-ounce container (you’ll create 13 ounces of BBQ sauce). We’ll make the BBQ sauce from the vinegar brine.
Combine your vinegar marinade with one ounce of brown sugar, two ounces of raw honey (your choice), six ounces of tomato paste and a teaspoon of diced garlic. Mix well – this is your BBQ sauce!
Honey options that pair well:
Ingredients:
- Built by Bees Wildflower Honey Vinegar with Smoky Serrano
- Five pounds of baby back ribs
- One tablespoon of ground pepper
- One teaspoon of kosher sea salt
- Two ounces of Built by Bees raw honey
- Recommend raspberry blossom, cranberry blossom or wildflower
- Six ounces tomato paste
- One-ounce brown sugar
- One teaspoon of garlic
- One-gallon zip lock sealable freezer bag
