It's important to have a good rub and a good BBQ Sauce in your repertoire.
Rubs can be bought and are usually quite good and it's also really easy to buy a commercial BBQ sauce and give it your own mark. Needless to say, I like to dabble in all sorts of flavors and also like more spice than most folks so I like doing both the rubs and the sauce in larger quantities, in advance and have an ample supply in the freezer and the spice closet.
Here's the Rub...
1 Cup Hungarian Hot Paprika (SZEGED)
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Ground White Pepper
2 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
2 Tbsp XX Hot New Mexico Dark Red Chili Powder
1/4 Cup Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1 Tbsp Dried Thyme
1 Tbsp Dried Rosemary
1 Tbsp Dried Mustard
Blend all ingredients in a mixing bowl and store in a mason jar if you don't use it all. Like most of my recipes it's like the "Pirate Code" and is more of a guideline than a precise recipe. You can add more Paprika if you don't like it as smoky or add more brown sugar if you like it sweeter. If you can't find the really good NM chili powder, substitute Cayenne Pepper in a smaller quantity. Occasionally I will make a giant batch of this and have it around for a good long time. Experiment, have fun, put your own mark on everything you make!
Now The BBQ Sauce...
I got this one out of a recipe booklet with my first Weber Charcoal Grill over 25 years ago and have changed it only modestly...it is perfect with pork or chicken.
4 tbsp butter
1 cup finely chopped celery
One small finely chopped yellow onion
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce
Juice of one whole lemon
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon dry mustard
Several Dashes of Trappey's Louisiana Hot Sauce
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Pinch of Kosher Salt
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add celery and onion and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients and whisk together. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 3 cups.
BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs and BBQ Chicken
I like to rub the ribs and the chicken first thing in the morning. I got these rubbed and in the frig by about 7:00AM and didn't put them in the oven until about 3:30.
Ingredients and Steps
2 Whole Racks of Baby Back Pork Ribs
15 Chicken Drumsticks
15 Chicken Wings
Dry Rub
BBQ Sauce
Rub the Chicken and Ribs early in the day or the night before, place in a large baking dish and cover with foil. Let them absorb all those great flavors for hours and hours.
About 3-4 hours prior to dinner place chicken and ribs in the 275 degree oven. Leave 'em alone and let cook for at least three hours. About an hour before cranking up your grill, check both the ribs and chicken and poke with a long tined fork. If they seem done, let them continue to cook slowly, if not, turn up the heat to 325 degrees and let them cook for another 30-45 minutes.
Heat your grill to medium low heat if it's a gas grill of if you are using charcoal let the coals burn down a bit prior to adding the ribs and chicken.
Remove the meats from the oven and place on the grill covered and keep a very close eye on them. It is really important to avoid fat dripping off your meats and flaring up. Do not allow the meats to burn or blacken excessively. Turn the meats occasionally and don't add the sauce until the last two turns. Commercial BBQ Sauces and the sauce I've included above tend to be contain a enough sugar that they burn easily. There's nothing worse then perfect meat with burned BBQ Sauce so be really, really careful. On the final turn reduce heat to the lowest possible setting and add liberal amounts of the sauce. Once the sauce adheres and becomes slightly sticky, turn again and repeat the process with liberal amounts of sauce.
We like baked beans and cole slaw with this dish and it is a great meal for a large crowd. This batch served 12 hearty eaters and we had three pieces of chicken left over and the ribs were history!
When it was all over we celebrated with some big sparklers in the back yard!
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