It’s Memorial Day, the day when we pay tribute to those who fought under our flag to defend our Constitution and our nation. (See our SFH Memorial Day tribute for this year here.)

At the same time, we celebrate the day with family or friends. The backyard grill is likely the focal point of attention. It is no different here at Serendipity Farmhouse. Today, we would like to share with you our adaptation of the Genius Kitchen recipe for Foolproof Baby Back Ribs. Needless to say, the soon to be world famous SFH Test Kitchen has made this an even better holiday delight.

The beauty of this recipe stems from two important facts:

• You can put the ribs on the grill and then turn around and spend some time with the ones you love; and
• Even if it rains, as long as your grill has a cover, the grill will cook the ribs while you stay dry on you porch.

Serving Size: Enough for up to four people.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika [we use smoked paprika]
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder [we use onion powder]
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 3 lbs pork baby back ribs [we use 1 rack of ribs]
• [we add a dash of cayenne powder]
• 1 cup barbecue sauce [beautiful spouse love Sweet Baby Ray’s]

Recipe Directions:

• Preheat gas grill for high heat.
• In a small bowl, combine cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic [or onion] powder, [cayenne] and salt and pepper Mix well.
• Trim off the membrane sheath from the back of each rack. [We merely slice the membrane between each rib.]
• You can do this by running a small, sharp knife between the membrane and snip or”shimmy” off the membrane as much as possible. [We have found trimming off the membrane to be time consuming and generally not worth the effort.]
• Don’t skip this step because it prevents the ribs from being chewy.
• Sprinkle or “throw” as much of the rub onto both sides of the ribs as desired.
• Do not rub the spices in, because the ribs will turn too dark and spicy.
• Place aluminum foil on lower rack to capture drippings and prevent flare-ups.
• Brush grate with oil, and lay ribs on top rack of grill.
• Reduce heat to low, shut grill, and leave undisturbed for 1 hour.
• Do not lift lid at all during this time period!
• After one hour check for doneness, depending on your grill you may need to continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes (our grill takes one hour exactly). Brush ribs with barbecue sauce and grill an additional few minutes until sauce is slightly absorbed and a little brown around the edges.
• Serve ribs as whole rack or cut between bones and pile individual ribs on the platter.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The entire meal consisted of:

• Baby back ribs
• Fresh green beans
• Whole potato salad, and
• Ice cream sundae