Title: Barbecued spareribs #1
 Categories: Meat
      Yield: 6 Servings
 
      8 lb Pork spareribs
           Salt & pepper to taste
           Wood chips
           Barbecue sauce (optional)
 
  SERVES 6-7
  
    This is one ofthe great dishes of our culture. Yes, barbecued pork
  ribs are very special, and they are ours. Chicago, Kansas City,
  Dallas, and Houston seem to have the best ribs imaginable, though
  every major city in America now boasts a few fine ribs houses.
  
    Home cooking of ribs is not difficult at all.
  
    There are several methods. I have heard of people steaming the ribs
  before barbecuing in order to ensure tenderness . . . but I think
  there is something heretical about that. Something to do with one's
  grandmother or the Texas sky. I'm not sure why that steaming
  suggestion so bothers me. It might just work, but I am not about to
  waste a good slab of ribs trying to find out.
  
    I have smoked ribs in a garbage-can smoker and then finished them
  off in the kitchen oven. I discussed that in an earlier book. That
  works well, but anyone in Kansas City or Dallas would not hear of
  such a thing.
  
    The old method seems to be the best. Cool fire, slow cooking, sauce
  on at the end. That is what I want you to try.
  
    At Arthur Bryant's, in Kansas City, the meat is done over a very
  low fire and offered with the sauce on the side. Their sauce is a bit
  unusual and I have tried to come close to what they offer. My sauce
  follows. You must go to Bryant's sometime. Calvin Trillin loves the
  place and has made it quite famous, although you will be surprised
  when you walk in. It is simply good barbecue served in a black
  barbecue house. Paper plates, Formica tabletops, the whole scene.
  
    Salt and pepper the ribs and cook them over a low fire, just as in
  the pork-shoulder recipe. They should take about 1-1/2 hours to cook.
  Be sure that you do not put the ribs on top of one another. Give them
  plenty of room. Control the smoke flavor by the use of the dampened
  wood chips or sawdust.
  
   Normally the sauce is put on after the ribs are cooked. However, if
  you like crunchy ribs, baste the ribs when they are finished. Then
  continue to cook for 15 more minutes. They wouldn't do that in Kansas
  City, and Edith wouldn't do it in Chicago . . . but sometimes the
  crunchiness gained from the darkened sugar in the sauce is just great.
  
    Don't tell anyone in Kansas City that I told you to do this!
  
  From .  Downloaded from Glen's MM