At Long Last, Real Barbecue Ribs

For Labor Day, Chris and I decided to try barbecue spare ribs. We’ve tried to cook ribs before and never been quite successful. This time I’d done my research and was ready. Plus, we were working with locally grown spare ribs purchased through the Nebraska Food Cooperative, and you can pretty much count on Nebraska Food Coop meat being good.

First I sliced the spare ribs into two-rib sections. Then I placed them in a small stock pot and covered them with water. I brought the water to a boil, then turned it down to medium and simmered the ribs, covered, for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, I drained the ribs and sent them outside with Chris, who grilled them over a medium-hot grill, adding sauce however he wished, for 15 minutes until they were browned and slightly crispy. The result was delicious! We have finally succeeded. The best part: Mr. Picky himself, four-year-old Jonah, liked the ribs too.

We kept supper simple and paired the ribs with a lettuce salad for us and fruit for the boys, then a raspberry crunch with light whipped cream for dessert.