This recipe started with another colleague, Bob, who heard me talking about the first ribs I was ever going to make and gave me his magic recipe. It was okay, but usual, I have made my changes! This works perfectly for a normal size rack of pork ribs you can get at the store, say 12 ribs. Don’t put the sauce on until the end of the grilling, or it will burn. I serve this with the usual salad sides, focusing on freshness of ingredients and tastes – potato salad, tomato and mozzarella salad and a big green salad with avocado. Perfection!

Ingredients

• 1 slab baby back pork ribs
• 1 teaspoon red chili pepper and salt and pepper for the dry roasting
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped or minced
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (if you don’t have this, don’t worry!)
• 1 tablespoon whiskey
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon ground red chili pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
2. Use kitchen paper to pat the rib rack dry and trim any visible fat off the slab
3. Sprinkle salt, pepper and chili powder all over the rack and wrap in tin foil. Bake in oven for 2.5 hours
4. For the wet sauce, fry the onions in the oil for 5 minutes
5. Add the remaining ingredients and combine. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer
6. Simmer for one hour until thick. Set aside
7. the ribs can be set aside too until late (refrigerate if longer than 30 mins resting time)
8. Grill the ribs for 3 minutes on each side, then slather with the wet sauce, grill for another two minutes each side, then slather with the sauce again, and serve! Delicious!