Ingredients
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. smoked paprika
2 tbsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 (3 1/2- to 4-lb.) full rack baby back pork ribs, patted dry
Preparation
Step 1In a small bowl, whisk brown sugar, paprika, salt, garlic powder, and cumin. Step 2Heat one burner on your gas grill to low, or preheat to 200°. (Or prep your charcoal grill with charcoal stacked on one side.) Place ribs on a large piece of foil and coat all sides with dry rub. Let sit 10 minutes, then tightly wrap in foil. Step 3Place ribs bone side up on cooler side of grill and cover. After 1 1/2 hours, rotate ribs 180° and cook 1 1/2 hours more. (Make sure grill temperature does not exceed 200°.) Once they’ve cooked 3 hours total, you should be able to see bones protruding from meat when you peek inside foil. Remove ribs from grill and transfer to a large baking sheet. Open foil and let ribs rest 10 minutes. Step 4Adjust grill to high heat, or preheat to about 450°. (Turn on all burners or add more coals and spread them out evenly.) Remove ribs from foil and place directly on grill. Using a pastry brush, generously baste with BBQ sauce. Flip rack and baste other side with sauce. It helps to have 2 sets of tongs (or a set of tongs and a spatula) to flip the rack.Step 5Grill until sauce is caramelized and meat has visible grill marks, 1 to 3 minutes. Flip again and continue to grill until sauce on other side is caramelized, 1 to 2 minutes. Step 6Let ribs cool 5 minutes. Slice and serve.
For these ribs, a gas grill is ideal, since it’ll give you a steady flame and unwavering temperature; however, a charcoal grill with a thermometer will work too. It’ll just be slightly more challenging to maintain the temperature. Though, of course, you’ll get that extra smoky taste that makes ribs so great. For the juiciest ribs, remove the membrane before cooking. (The membrane is a thin layer of tissue attached to the underside of a rack of pork ribs.) You can ask your butcher to do this, but if you’ve already bought the ribs, no problem. Removing the membrane is simple. Slice into it (making a cut parallel to the bones) at one far end of your rack of ribs and pull it off in one piece. Packaged ribs from the grocery store sometimes come with the membrane already removed.
