Some of you may know, the reason I was on vacation was to see my Grandmother, who would be turning 92 while we were visiting. That is a serious achievement, that just based on my life decisions, I’m not quite sure if I’ll achieve personally. But who knows, maybe healthcare will have new tricks up their sleeve when I start breaking down – who knows. The family wanted to make a special dinner based on some of her favorite things to eat. One of the requests was Coconut Shrimp, which my brother has mastered. And another was BBQ ribs a la Babes in Rockland County where my Grandmother lived for most of her life (https://www.facebook.com/Babes-Bar-and-Grill-134705390973/) .

Now mind you, my uncle is a great cook, my father – great cook, my brother – he could start his own gourmet joint if he wanted to – The whole family decides I’m going to be the one to cook these ribs, because I’m the master. That may be the case, when I have home field advantage, but cooking in another man’s kitchen, on another man’s grill? That can get a little intimidating! But heck, I have a system, it works, how hard would it be?

How many racks? 5. Ok, a little more than my largest rib cook (4 racks).

Does he have a grill?  Yes, but it’s propane. Ok, I’ve cooked on a propane grill 2 times in my life – intimidation factor goes up.

Am I going to get any help? Why would you need help? you got this! Ok – I guess so!

So the day finally comes, I see what I’m working with:

Yikes, wait a minute – I thought you said 5 racks?  “Oh no, we had to get more, we didn’t want to come up short, plus we got them for a good price!”

Yes, that’s $75 worth of St. Louis Style ribs in that picture, that are now in my hands! I went out to look at the grill – ok, it’s a propane grill, 24″ wide, 22″ deep. There’s no way 8 racks of ribs are going on that grill, how the hell am I going to pull this off? Fear washes over me, and I see flashes of my grandmother biting into ribs that do not reflect the product I usually output and being like: “the fuck is this shit?’

My Father being the amazing father is, realized my fear and clapped his hand on my shoulder and said “I have no doubt that whatever you do, these ribs are going to turn out just fine”. That helped. My uncle opened up his spice cupboard and said ‘not sure what kind of rub you want to make, but have at it’. Then started asking about Wet style vs Dry Rub style, and I decided I was going to do a middle of the road style – a ‘semi-wet’ version.

Again, I don’t grill my ribs – I smoke them, and I get a nice bark on the outside, and always go for Baby Backs.

Considering the ribs were about 24″ long and 6-8″ wide I was only going to get 4 racks on the grill. I decided on a plan to attack the ribs the day before the party – rub them down liberally, and try to impart a little smoke flavor on them with the grill and a smoke box for a couple hours, then the next day, braise the ribs in the oven for 3 hours with apple juice. I didn’t know how much smoke flavor I would get into them, so I decided to build my rub off of Grill Mates’ ‘Applewood’ and ‘Sweet and Smokey’ pre-made rubs. Added a ton of brown sugar to try and mimic ‘Babes’ sweetness. (I hadn’t been there in over 15 years personally, so I have no idea what they taste like.) Added a handful of other ingredients from the spice cupboard – tasted pretty good!

Bam – there you go, all rubbed up. Then out to the grill. Propane – yikes – it’s basically a direct flame. Like I said, I never cook on propane and never grill my ribs, unless I’m looking to caramelize some bbq sauce – which was my idea for after the ribs got out of the oven the next day. So I did my best in the dark, with my father by my side holding a flashlight, to do 2 sessions of 4-racks of ribs. The smoker box didn’t do anything – it was very upsetting actually. I should have just used an aluminum pouch like the chips said on the back of the bag.

The grill basically exposes your meat to a direct flame, which if you’re doing steaks and burgers is ideal, but it’s not ideal for a slow and low option – even at the grill’s lowest setting char that was happening made my stomach churn. I wanted these ribs sweet, not bitter with burned sugar. I made such a mess of my uncle’s grill with all the drippings and sugar and caramelization – it took almost an hour to clean it all up! I was embarrassed, but with my smoker it just goes into an aluminum pan, and I crumple it up and toss it out! (sometimes reuse 😉   )

Each rib got 15 minutes on both sides, in both directions (1 hour total) then I pulled them in the house and wrapped them in aluminum foil with some high dollar apple juice. (Martinelli’s) Each rack got 3 wraps of aluminum – Why? because when I went to braise these sluts the next day, if they leaked all over the oven – my ass would be on the streets, not eating ribs.

Stacked up and ready to go in the fridge until the next day:

I was still not comfortable, but I had to make it work. Onto the next day – the appetizer round hit, and my brother rocked out his famous coconut shrimp!

systematic and effective!

No JOKE friends.

My uncle put out some Cherry Jalepeno wings that he grilled up on his grill no problem – they were off the CHAAAIN As well.

I checked the ribs in the oven at the 3 hour mark – they weren’t 100% there yet, I gave them another 30 minutes, because I knew if we wanted to eat at 5:00, I had to hustle! I pulled them out and opened the aluminum enough to be able to brush on some Baby Ray’s, flip them over and then brush them again. I left them in the foil, because I didn’t want to destroy my uncle’s grill again. left them in the foil. 2 batches again – each rack got about 10-15 on each side – the smoke box again – failed us – what a waste of money.  I cut each full rack in half and put them in trays – thank god – finally done.

But before I unveil the shot – let it be known, my wife put together some awesome mac n cheese with limited resources, so good though! She also made Jalapeno corn bread which was a big hit as well! nice job baby!

OK – Finally, my ribs:

They weren’t award winning in my book, but for what we had, and what we had to do to go through to make them, they turned out awesome. The quote of the night, and that could be just because she’s my Grandmother, and loves me: “Better than Babes”

Thanks Grandma, love you too!