another food post -RIBS!

About a week or so ago I found some beef ribs on sale at EarthFare. Although I like to get my meat there because they typically have much higher quality they tend to be pretty expensive. The non-hormone and antibiotic stuff just costs more. I had never eaten beef ribs in my life and really didn't know what to do with them. I called my MIL, and she said you can roast them in a pan or in a crockpot and that she had occasionally cooked them that way with some bar-b-que sauce. Oh my word. Talk about good eatin'. I stole a taste while they were cooking and promptly told my husband that he was going to be eating out tonight because these were too good to share. Of course I was joking, but they did turn out to be thoroughly tender and flavorful and plain old finger-lickin' good. Having never cooked ribs before, here's what I did.

First I made a rub with salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, ground cumin, plus a smidge of oregano and cayenne pepper. Just follow your nose and your instincts about how much of each to add -I've listed them roughly in descending order. Having eaten them, I think I went a little heavy on the salt, so don't lay the rub on too thick. Next I lightly coated the ribs in olive oil and rubbed on my seasonings. I had already put a small splash of Braggs Amino Acids in my crock pot with about a cup of water, and I just set my ribs down inside it. After mentioning what I was doing to Grandmom over the phone she suggested I add about half a cup of red wine to help tenderize the meat. About halfway through I spread some bar-b-que sauce over the ribs. Over all I let them cook about 6hrs. When I took them out we had some good eating. I should add that I only had five ribs, so adjust your proportions accordingly.

We put the bones and the left over drippings and scraps in the freezer to take to Grandmom after we move. They're such beautiful bones, and Grandmom can do wonders with a few bones. Ummm, the things that woman can cook!