I’ll be the first one to admit I’m a meat/food snob. This finds it’s evil ways in to cooking methods as well. So, I suppose you could say I’m a meat/food/cooking snob. It’s taken years, but I’ve learned to accept it and to hell with anyone who can’t deal with it.
However, I’ll be the second one to admit, I can’t be an snob for every meal.
So, it’s with much pleasure I bring you this awesome “BBQ” Pork Spare Rib dinner.

As with real BBQ pork ribs, you gotta start with prepping your meat and getting the dry rub on. There’s usually a little flap about 10″ long on the back side, cut it off. Most traditionalists will remove the membrane there as well. I’m not that skilled and can’t tell the difference between my ribs whether it’s there or not. Maybe some day, but not this time.
Next comes the dry rub. While this one act will direct the flavor of your meat from North to South or towards an Asian side, it’s pork for crissakes. You could rub it with kosher salt and some fresh cracked black pepper and have it come out real tasty. Here is the base dry rub I started with many years ago. It’s isn’t fancy, but just try it like it is some time on the grill or smoker and you’ll see how good it can be.
Paprika – 4 teaspoonfuls
Salt – 2 teaspoonfuls – kosher (anything but iodized crap)
Onion Powder – 2 teaspoonfuls
Pepper – 2 teaspoonfuls – fresh ground, anything you like
Cayenne – 1 teaspoonful
Two points I’d like to make. Personally I believe garlic powder is the devil. Nasty bitter stuff that causes you to repeat for hours, ruins your dinner. That was the first one, now for the second. I’m not a huge fan of sugar in my rubs either. This is a personal choice on my part, you do what you will. Just remember that the paprika is your base. So, generally when you’re adding your goodies, make it 2 tsp. or less.
To this rub you can add anything you want, it’s your playing field. I’ll usually do up a load of several kinds of chile powder, 2 dashes of fresh ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoonfuls of organo and whatever else hits me at the moment. There’s some really good Cajun seasoned salts out there too, feel free to add some of those too.
Get this on the meat, both sides. The more you add, the stronger it’ll be. The image above gives you a ballpark idea for medium flavor. At this point you have two choices. Wrap it back up, toss in to the lower portion of your fridge for 1 to 3 days. Or you can let it sit out for 40 minutes or so, then cook. I let mine sit for 24 hours, yum.
This is where it gets kinda easy. I cut the slab in half to make it easier to deal with in the oven. Install on a cookie sheet, nothing fancy. Roll out some foil to make clean-up a little easier, if you like. Put this in to a preheated 325 degree oven for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Pull from oven, lay on stovetop and close the oven door. Install lemon slices over the ribs. Citrus and pork go together like peanut butter and jelly. The juice works with the pork fat and brightens things up a bit. Put back in the oven for 40 minutes to an hour.
Ya know, it’d probably be a good idea to slice a rib off from the center area of the slab before you do the lemons. This way you could get an idea as to how done the ribs are. See, everyone likes their ribs done a little differently. If we were a traditionalist who was persnickety (me), we’d want the meat to only come from the bone when lightly tugged with the teeth. Not mushy and the meat should stay on the bone when you pick it up. But again, this is pork! Even crusty and/or chewy bits are good. This means your cooking times will vary a bit, especially if you have some really large slab or chose to do a few little racks of baby back ribs.
For finishing, I chose Memphis Minnie’s vinegar sauce. But if you enjoy your ribs sauced in the “fire” so to speak. Find yourself a baking tray that would fit your rib portions and pour your sauce in to it. Then, dredge both sides of your ribs through the sauce. Put back in to your pan and jack the heat to 375 or so. Keep a close eye on the sauced ribs though. The sugar is the sauce could burn quickly and we don’t want that, do we? I’ll usually dredge a few times, then serve. If it’s from the smoker or grill, I’ve been known to dredge up to 5 times.
Smoked, grilled, roasted, sauced or no sauce, I love pork ribs. And sometimes it pays to give your psyche a rest and just relax.

xo xo