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For a variety of reasons, many backyard chefs avoid making barbecued ribs on the grill.
Too labor intensive.
They get too dry.
It's not worth the effort.
They're not as good as what I can get at places like Saz's, Jerry's Old Town or Speed Queen.
I used to think that, too, until I hit upon the following recipe - which combines baking and grilling -- from the folks at Saz's State House, 5539 W. State St.
Ingredients:
Two 2-lb. racks of baby back pork ribs, skinned
1/3 cup of Liquid Smoke
2 teaspoons white pepper
Water
BBQ sauce (Try one of the varieties from Saz's)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the ribs in half and place them sideways into a pan that is about six inches deep. Cover the ribs with liquid smoke, pepper and enough water to submerge.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 2 ½ hours.
Remove ribs from oven, drain liquid from the pan and allow ribs to cool at room temperature and then in the refrigerator.
Heat the charcoal or gas grill. Place ribs top side down on hot grill until they are hot and sizzling. Paint with sauce, flip and paint with more sauce. (Be careful, because the sugar in the sauce will burn quickly).
Remove from grill and serve.
Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
