Independence Day Ribs with Charred Corn Salad

Because people love having pictures of them taken while they are eating...

My well of culinary creativity has been dry. I usually can't stay away from my kitchen too long. A visit to my favorite blogs or a glance at Bon Appetit is usually enough to get those creative juices flowing. But nothing. I wander aimlessly around the grocery store frustrated and looking for inspiration. I listlessly scroll through appealing posts but still I stay away from the kitchen. Seattle's short summer has finally arrived and slaving away at the hot stove is not necessarily ideal but still...I mean c'mon! I could whip up a salad or two. Heck, even a tasty alcoholic beverage. Jeez. So finally the Bon Appetit issue came with a salivating picture of ribs on the front and Independence Day was around the corner and I thought, well there it is. 

These ribs were very very good and the recipe is so easy! I highly highly recommend it. Living on the fifth floor of an apartment building, I don't have a grill so it was all in the oven. The only downside was they tasted, er, a little fatty. I think the ribs had a lot of fat on them because I repeatedly ran my finger through the sauce on the plate and licked it off (it was that amazing!) - so I don't think it was the sauce. I am notorious for accidently getting fatty cuts of meat. Once I got bacon that was more fat than meat. I don't know why, I never check.

The meat starts off with a dry rub. You wrap it in tin foil and cook it for 2 1/2 hours.

Than you drain the juices into a measuring cup, chill the juices and the meat. When you are ready to reheat it you add BBQ sauce to the measuring cup shown in the picture above. The bottom color is juice from the ribs, the middle layer is fat from the ribs and the BBQ sauce is on top with the fork driving through the layers.

Than you mix it all up in this clumpy fatty juicy sauce. Trust me it's amazing!

Than you reheat the ribs either on the grill or in the oven like I did. I used half the sauce initially and the rest half way through the cooking process.

While it's cooking make a healthy side dish. I purchased corn on the cob, cut off the kernals and charred them in my cast iron. I added basil, tomatoes and fire roasted red peppers. The dressing was lime, olive oil and sea salt.  

The finished products...

This recipe was for 8 lbs of ribs and I had maybe half of that. However for 8 lbs. of ribs they recommend 1 1/2 c. of BBQ sauce.

Best-Ever BBQ Ribs
Adapted from Bon Appetit

2 1/2 Tb. kosher salt
1 Tb. dry mustard
1 Tb. paprika
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

BBQ Sauce


Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients and rub on ribs. Wrap ribs in foil and cook for 2 1/2 hours. Unwrap ribs and place juices in measuring cup. Let ribs and juices cool completely. When ready to reheat, preheat oven to 350.

Whisk in BBQ sauce into juices. Baste the ribs with half the sauce. 15 minutes into the cooking baste with other half of sauce.