Beer Baked & Grilled BBQ Ribs

I have been making ribs for over 25 years and came up with this strange method after watching my wife’s father (Ted) making ribs in his “Prairie House” Restaurant. Of course I changed quite a few things but the result is that everyone loves them. Note: steps 1 & 2 can be done ahead of time if you don’t have an afternoon.

Ingredients:
3 Racks of Baby Back Pork Ribs (Do not use any other kind of ribs!)
Salt & Pepper
6-8 cans or bottles of beer (I usually use stuff that people have left at my house which I don’t like.)
A big roaster
A big cookie sheet
A cake pan

Sauce:
I used to make it from scratch but found a great one in the store:
Mix the following:
18 ounce bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque Sauce (Any flavor)
½ can of Guinness (Drink the rest)
1 tablespoon of celery seed (optional)
1 teaspoon Wright’s Hickory Seasoning Liquid Smoke

Directions:

Step 1
Cut up ribs into 1 or 2 ribs using a kitchen shears or sharp knife. If you don’t own a kitchen shears buy one – you won’t regret it.
You don’t have to cut up the ribs – but I found it easier to serve them this way.

Step 2
Lay riblets on cookie sheet and bake the riblets in the oven set at 400 degrees until they are brown (do not over cook. )
Flip them half way through.
Salt & pepper at the halfway point.

Step 3
Arrange riblets in the roaster as tightly as you can.
Pour the beer on them. If they are completely covered with beer and you have any left – drink it.
Bake them until the rib bones are sticking out about ½ from the meat. They should be tender. You may have to check them every 20 minutes. This usually takes about 1 to 2 hours. You do not want to over bake them as they will then be very hard to grill. If this happens make pulled pork sandwiches.

Step 4
Get grill ready for indirect heat and crack open a Guiness or Sam Adams Honey Porter. With charcoal you can either stick it in baskets to the sides or have it only in the middle. The objective here is that once you put sauce on the riblets – you do not want direct heat or they will catch on fire.
If you are using a gas grill – set burners on low.
Take riblets out of roaster and put in a cake pan. (Throw beer down the drain.)
Place riblets on grill and warm them. (Remember not directly on the heat.)
Brush sauce on riblets flipping them every 5 minutes
Repeat flipping & brushing on sauce until they look done – you will know because you will want to try them out.

Bake at: 400 degrees
Time: An afternoon
Serves: 6 (1/2 rack per person)

Jon