Ribs! Alton Brown, you're brilliant.

These Alton Brown baby back ribs are awesome. I've made these several times and they are SO good and SO easy. They're perfectly not-quite-fall-off-the-bone tender. I recently got my sister hooked on them, too. You make the dry rub with brown sugar, salt, chili powder, and a slew of other ingredients. Alton says you can pretty much add whatever you want in that last tablespoon as long as the ratio is 8 parts brown sugar, 3 parts salt, 1 part chili powder and 1 part other add-ins. I followed his recipe pretty closely.



Dry Rub:
8 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon jalapeno seasoning (I didn't have this so I added some cumin instead)
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon rubbed thyme
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

This rub is enough for two slabs of baby backs. I increased everything by half because we were making three racks. After mixing up the dry ingredients, give the ribs a good rub down and put them in the fridge for at least an hour.



Wrap each rack of ribs individually in foil. Roll out a long piece of foil, place one rack of ribs on top and fold the foil over the ribs lengthwise. Crimp the two long sides closed creating a pouch with one open side.

Braising Liquid:

1 cup white wine (I use a Sauvignon Blanc, because I like to drink the leftovers!)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Microwave the braising liquid for 1 minute on high before pouring the braising liquid into the open tin foil spout and crimping it closed. Put the ribs in a 250℉ oven for 2 1/2 hours.

When the ribs are finished cooking, uncrimp the tin foil and pour the braising liquid into a sauce pan. Simmer the liquid until it reduces by half. The recipe says it turns to a glaze - mine always stays pretty liquidy but it still tastes good!

Brush the reduced liquid on the the ribs and broil them until they look caramelized. I broiled them on low and pulled them out to brush them with the glaze a couple of times.



That's it! Not too difficult although they do take some time. We cut them into two's, put them in a chafing dish and poured over the leftover glaze. Yum.