PAT My brothers and I are all “bourbon men.” We take ours neat, or lacquered to our ribs. Enough said. GINA I can’t believe I ended up with a bourbon-and-ribs man. Growing up, we always had chicken, hot dogs, smoked sausages, and burgers, but for some reason the ribs were always center stage. The women in my family were often throwing some crazy ingredient or other into their rubs and sauces—and don’t you know that we kept bourbon as one of them. We always had bourbon around for “ailments,” and not just the cooking kind. So what do I do? I go and marry a rib-grilling bourbon lover—was my life being planned even then? To this day, ribs and bourbon are like the “main act” in my life! Remember: in all grilling, the sauce and the rub must work together, like a good marriage. And when smoking those ribs, Pat will remind you to keep the heat “low and slow.”
Ingredients
serves 4 to 6 as an appetizer
RUB
SAUCE
Step 1
Combine all of the rub ingredients in a small bowl.
Step 2
Rinse off the ribs in cold water to get rid of any impurities, and pat dry. Place the ribs, curled side up, on a flat work surface, and remove the silver membrane that lines the bones. This will allow the flavors of the rub to permeate the meat fully and make the ribs very tender. Trim the ribs to remove the extra fat. Place them in a rimmed dish, and season on all sides with the rub. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.
Step 3
Start on your sauce: Pour the canola oil into a large saucepan set over medium heat. Once it’s hot, toss in the onion and garlic, and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in the ketchup, bourbon, vinegar, brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire, hot sauce, paprika, and mustard powder. Bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 4
When you’re ready to cook the ribs, preheat your grill to 250 degrees F, using a combination of charcoal and hickory. When coals are ready, mound them to one side to create indirect heat.
Step 5
Place the slabs on the grill, curled side up, spacing them to be as far away from the direct flame as possible. Cook the ribs, covered, for 2 hours. Flip the slabs over to finish cooking, and cover and cook for another 1/2 hour. Once you see a full bend in the ribs, brush the barbecue sauce all over them, cover with the lid, and let cook for another 10 minutes.
Step 6
Pull the ribs from the grill, and slice between the bones into individual portions. Serve with the extra sauce on the side.
NOTE
Step 7
If you’ve got a grill that’s on the larger side, go ahead and throw on a third slab. There’s enough rub and sauce here to go around.
