Dr. Pepper Ribs

I have a confession to make: I am afraid of our grill. I never used to be, but then again, I'd never attempted to light it myself before - my dad or Josh always lit it and I'd tend to the food on it thereafter. But about a month ago, Josh found himself late coming home and I was left to start the burgers.

I made my way outside, turned on the gas and fiddled with the knobs before lighting my long match to toss into the pit. After striking the match and before I could even blink, a fierce, billowing ball of flame erupted from the grill - quite literally blowing up in my face. Terrified, but miraculously with enough sense to shut everything off, I flew into the house and into the bathroom, convinced that I would find a reflection of someone without eyebrows and eyelashes. The person staring back at me had a halo of charred hair around her forehead, crispy eyebrows and raw red burns on the tip of her nose and across her chest. I was not going to be bald and eyebrow-less, but I was in pain and traumatized, so amid the acrid smell of burnt hair I stood in the bathroom and sobbed.

I'm fine, but I will never light the grill again. To wrap up a long story, these ribs were slow cooked and later broiled in the oven, in my kitchen, where it's safe and I understand how everything works. Marinated for 6 hours in Dr. Pepper, they turn out moist, sweet yet savory, and it's entirely possible that you won't even miss the grill.

You will need:

1 rack of baby back ribs, back membrane removed
1 liter Dr. Pepper
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Your favorite barbecue sauce

Rinse off your ribs, pat dry and season both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place ribs in a deep roasting dish and pour in enough Dr. Pepper to cover the whole rack (I used the entire liter). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. When you're ready to cook the ribs, drain off the liquids and pat the ribs completely dry. Dry the roasting pan as well, and add a wire roasting rack to the pan. Place the ribs on the roasting rack, cover the pan tightly with foil, and place in the middle of the oven. Cook for 2 hours.

Remove the foil after two hours and brush generously with barbecue sauce. Set oven broiler to low and broil ribs for approximately 8-10 minutes, or until the barbecue sauce begins to caramelize and brown. Remove and allow ribs to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Homemade BBQ Sauce

 My dad managed to weasel this recipe out of a woman he was doing business with in Johnson City, Tennessee, long before Tennessee was on my radar. He took to making it in giant batches, bottling it up in Mason jars to keep for an entire summer. Summers full of magical spare ribs and grilled chicken followed, all treated to a good Texas-sized dousing of the sweet, tangy sauce. I crave it by the spoonful (but I refrain).

For some reason it had long intimidated me, so I never gave it a shot. In fact, though I had begged my dad for the recipe, it sat in my email inbox for almost 2 years before I decided to just go for it. On what better occasion than Memorial Day, when I had 8 hungry people to feed?

Here's the original recipe, scanned (thanks Dad!), plus some possible substitutions. 

If you don't have: Kitchen Bouquet

Substitute: Additional Worcestershire sauce or  equal amount of Liquid Smoke

If you don't have: Molasses

Substitute: 1/3 cup honey plus 1/3 cup brown sugar

The "vinegar" is pretty generic. My dad uses red wine vinegar, I used apple cider.

Then, just as it says, mix and refrigerate. Go ahead...dump it all in a bowl.

Taste and adjust to your liking. I know for a fact that I splashed in extra Worcestershire, garlic powder and honey, so make it your own!

Store as you see fit. As I said, my dad cans his in Mason jars, but I just repurposed the empty ketchup bottle.