The Rib Wars

For several years my husband and I have engaged in what we call the "Rib Wars".  This started out as a friendly attempt to make the perfect rib.  My husband prefers dry rubbed ribs, and I of course am a wet rib gal.  So get ready for both styles and then a really big finish!  Today we are going to be making our dry rub recipe.  First we start with a full rack of ribs (you can never have just two) and we remove as much of the connective tissue that we can from the rack. 

When using the words "connective tissue", you can see where some of this tissue has been removed already in this photo.  We then assemble our ingredients for the dry rub, as shown here.  Now, there are no particular measurements, which is what makes this interesting every time, and very dependent on the state of mind you're in (especially when it comes to the cocoa).

The ingredients shown are brown sugar, cocoa, mustard, kosher salt (not too much of this), garlic powder, black pepper, cinnamon, mesquite, onion cube, chili powder, and white sugar (not too much of this either).  The base of this is mostly the brown sugar with adding dashes of this and dashes of that.  We combine them all into our handy-dandy Cuisinart and behold, our dry rub mixture.

 

 

Next we apply the rub to the rack of ribs and cover with wrap. 

 

 



 



The ribs are ready for their long morning nap on the back porch (which is just the right temp this time of year to put them.  This is all done by 8:00 in the morning because they need a good long nap because by afternoon, they have another long journey.  So, until later.....