Vanessa’s Smokey BBQ Maple Bacon Baby Back Ribs

Instructions

To make these ribs fall of the bone with tenderness, and melt in your mouth with flavour, you need to take your time. Rushing these, will ruin them. Therefor, step one is all about the slow cooking.

1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. (Or place one side of the BBQ on medium low (level 1-2))
2. While the oven is preheating, take your ribs and wash them under cold water. Pat them dry with some paper towel removing all moisture. Take a knife and score the meaty side of the ribs with small deep cuts. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the seasoning salt, pepper, brown sugar, and 2 of your minced garlic cloves. Stir to combine to create a seasoning mix.
4. Rub the seasoning mix thoroughly over the front and back of both your racks of ribs. Be sure to work the rub into the cuts you made. Then take tin foil and wrap each rack of ribs separately. Place the wrapped ribs in a shallow oven rack pan in the middle of the oven, or directly on the racks of the “off” side of your BBQ. If using your oven, place some water in the bottom of the pan approximately an inch deep. Make sure it doesn’t touch the ribs. If using your BBQ, take an empty tin can, remove any paper, add water, and place it on the same side of the grill as the ribs. This will allow some moisture to be in the air while cooking.
5. Leave the ribs to quietly cook for around 3 hours. Longer if your ribs have plenty of meat on the bones. If you are using your BBQ, check often to make sure it doesn’t get too hot. It should not exceed 250 degrees. Once the bones in the ribs wiggle easily, they are done.
6. Once Ribs are done cooking, remove them from your foil. Crank up the heat on your BBQ to medium high. Slather the Ribs in the BBQ sauce and place on the grill. (be sure to spray your grill with non stick spray first) Allow the ribs to cook about 4 minutes per side, and baste them constantly. You want them heavily doused with sauce.
7. When charred and ready to go, remove from the grill, cut each rack in half. Give a bit more sauce to finish and serve.

While cooking your ribs, make your BBQ sauce.

1. Take your bacon and dice it. I use kitchen scissors to cut it into bacon bit strips. Using a large non-stick skillet, fry your bacon until crisp. Remove from the pan reserving about 2 Tbsp of bacon grease in the pan.
2. Put your remaining garlic and onion in the pan and fry until the onion is translucent and the dish is fragrant. About 3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In a medium sauce pan, add your remaining ingredients including the onion and garlic but NOT the bacon. (not yet, the bacon comes last)
4. Cook stirring frequently until mixture bubbles, turn on low heat and allow it to simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
5. Once the flavours have mixed, use a emulsion blender to blend the sauce until smooth. You can also use a counter top blender as well. Just be sure to crack the lid slightly, cover with a tea towel, and then blend. Much like you would with a soup. You don’t want to get burned. Then return the sauce to the sauce pan.
6. Toss in your bacon and stir. Voila. BBQ sauce is done.