Quasi-Barbecued Spareribs

I bought about 1.2 lb. (545g) of baby back ribs, which should be (and was) enough for two meals.

Ribs, vinegar, rub

First I put a few drops of vinegar on the underside of the ribs. Then I sprinkled them with the rub, which contains brown sugar, mild paprika, salt, and other flavorings.

Underside after treatment.

Then I did the same to the top.

It ended up looking like this.

I let it sit for a while while I prepared the other ingredients.

135g Lundberg Wild Blend® (a mixture of several types of rice and wild rice) and about 1lb. asparagus. Not shown: mushrooms. The Spaten Oktoberfest beer bottle tells you I was doing this no later than October 7, nor earlier than September 22.

The quantity of rice was enough for three servings according to the package. I prepared the rice according to package directions, which called for it to simmer for about 50 minutes — a good length of time when the meat will cook for an hour.

When the rice had begun to cook, I greased my baking dish and put the ribs in it, covered it, and set it in a 350°F oven. Then I snapped the bottoms off the asparagus spears and rinsed the tops, then wiped and sliced the mushrooms. After the ribs had been in the oven for about 30 minutes, I took them out and arranged the mushrooms on the bottom of the baking dish, put the ribs on top of them, and put them back in the oven for another 30 minutes. With about 12 minutes to go for the ribs, I poured boiling water over the asparagus in a pan, covered, and boiled it for those 12 minutes.

Mushrooms placed in baking dish

Ribs on mushrooms, ready for the final 30 minutes.

Dinner (includes about 1/2 of the ribs), with two kinds of barbecue sauce

The Bull's-Eye is sweeter, the Stubbs is more vinegary. From my reading, the vinegary style is more typical of eastern barbecueing (e.g., North Carolina), while the sweeter versions developed in the west (e.g., Texas). Sometimes I use one, sometimes the other. The Stubbs seems hotter.

Close up of the plate

Close up of the sauces

I like to eat some morsels of the meat without sauce, and I don't drench the remainder in sauce, either; but I cover it lightly.

Close up of the asparagus

After dinner

I can get most of the meat and connective tissue off the bones with knife and fork, but there is some good stuff at the joint end that requires picking up the bone and gnawing. Fortunately, chewing meat off ribs is etiquetically (made up word) acceptable.

Of course you can cook the ribs with other vegetables. I might use onions, leeks, carrots, or green peppers. If I put enough in with the ribs, I might not have another vegetable on the side, just the starch, which could be boiled corn (what you call maize) on the cob, or if I don't start rice in time and don't have corn (which also takes about 12 minutes) maybe toast.