Barbecued Ribs: Easy and Delicious

Oven Baked Ribs: Unbelievable Easy!

I love barbecue, but I can't imagine enjoying it while being laced up in a corset and wearing a frilly dress!  It's too messy and too filling.  Remember that scene in Gone With the Wind where Mammy helps Scarlett dress for the Twelve Oaks barbecue?   

Mammy:  “I done told you and told you, you can always tell a lady by the way she eats in front of people - like a bird. And I ain't aimin' to have you go over to Mista John Wilkes' house and eat like a field hand and gobble like a hog,”

Scarlett:  Fiddle dee-dee! Ashley Wilkes says he likes to see a girl with a healthy appetite.

"Every girl has the right to eat and enjoy barbecue!"

Click here to watch the entire scene.  Thank goodness times have changed.  Nowadays it’s healthy for a girl to have a healthy appetite.  We’ve learned to depend on exercise and eating right to maintain our shapes rather than imprisoning ourselves in corsets, and we can wear shorts and a t-shirt to a picnic instead of our Sunday best!

Barbecued ribs are one of my favorite dishes, and I’ve only learned recently—at my thirteen year old's insistence—how to prepare them!  This is cookout season and Labor Day picnics are right around the corner.  It’s the perfect time for ribs—and it doesn’t matter if they’re grilled or baked! 

I found this awesome recipe at Food.com! These ribs are amazing and super easy, so I hope you’ll give them a try.  Yeah, I know, ribs aren’t healthy or low fat, but it’s okay to splurge once in a while, so enjoy!

Low & Slow Oven Baked Ribs

Ingredients:

2 racks of baby back ribs or St. Louis Style ribs

1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (I use Montgomery Inn)

Directions

Preheat oven to 225

Season ribs with Dale’s marinade your favorite rib rub (I use this fantastic Kansas City Rub), grill seasoning or just salt and pepper

Place ribs meat side down in baking dish (I buy a huge aluminum pan for this)

Cover dish with aluminum foil and place in oven

If using small baby back ribs, take out of oven after 3.5 hours.  If using regular baby back or St. Louis style, take out after 4

Drain off drippings. Flip meat over using two spatulas so the meat side is up. Put a layer of BBQ sauce on ribs, and return to oven for 20-30 minutes.

Great with baked beans and slaw!

If you’ve read The Governor’s Sons (here's the Kirkus Review), you’ve probably determined that I love writing about food.  And anyone who likes writing about food loves eating, too!  My second book, Escape: Book One of the Unchained Trilogy, is due out next month. Like The Governor’s Sons, it takes place in the South, but the time period is 1856.  Since I’d elaborated so much about food in Escape, a friend of mine, who’d critiqued it in its very early stages, suggested I include recipes.

Coming in August!

I did consider that idea, but in the end, I didn’t, and I cut out a lot of the food talk. However, I might share a few recipes of  the southern dishes mentioned in the story here on my blog. But I’ll only share versions that are quick and easy—so you’ll have more time to read and more time to write!

What’s your favorite barbecue—ribs (that's mine), shredded pork shoulder, beef brisket, chicken, something else?  And do you have a favorite BBQ recipe (rub, sauce, etc.)? 

If you don’t like BBQ, what’s your favorite grilled meat or veggie? Thanks for visiting—and happy eating!