I bought a rack of ribs the other day during my weekly grocery shopping. I’ve never cooked ribs. I’ve eaten them, but never cooked. You see ribs seem to be best cooked in a smoker or on the grille. Yet, I’ve eaten them from the oven. My mom does it. My uncle does it. I guess I’ll have to do it.
I halved the rack last night. If I’m going to mess this up, I’ll at least have the other have to try. One half went into the freezer. The other I seasoned with salt, freshly ground black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. I placed this half into the fridge waiting for today to cook.
I then busily went about looking at youtube videos and DuckDuckGo search results for how to cook ribs in the oven. Most of the recipes were for barbecue style with a wet sauce. I wanted it dry. Most of the recipes had the rack cooking for 3 to 4 hours. I decided to try half that because it was half a rack. Most recipes cooked the ribs wrapped in aluminum foil. I left it open to the oven.
So how’d I do it? Here’s how…
Oven preheated to 350F. Pulled the half rack out of the fridge about 30 minutes before it went in. When it did, I let it cook for about an hour. Checked on it, put in under some aluminum foil, then left it in for another 25 minutes. Then I went about broiling it. Five minutes on one side at high — this is the side with the meat. Three minutes on low on the side with the bones. I took it out and covered it again with the aluminum foil for another 5 minutes. I think it was done. Cut it up and plated it.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as juicy and succulent. It was a bit dry, and the thicker parts were somewhat tough. The cartilage was tough to eat. I ate this half rack wishing it was better. I guess I know where to start making it better. First, read this blog post to see where I went wrong. Next, the half rack sitting in the freezer…
