Oven-roasted Spareribs - America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Page 374 from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.  Here is how this is going to go down.  I'm going to rate the recipe based on the following criteria:  Execution of recipe, ease of ingredients, taste.  Execution and ingredients will be weighted equally on a scale from 0-5.  Taste will be rated on a scale from 0-10.  0 is the lowest score, 20 is the highest.

Ease of Ingredients: (Availability is ranked based on likelihood that ingredient is already typically stocked in a kitchen.  Ranking is Common/Uncommon/Rare/Very Rare)

Here's the ingredient list:

Brown Sugar - Common
Chili Powder - Common
Cider Vinegar - Common
Garlic - Common
Ketchup - Common
Onion - Common

Pepper - Common

Salt - Common
Tabasco - Common
Vegetable Oil - Common
Worcestershire - Common
Cayenne Pepper - Uncommon
Dijon Mustard - Uncommon
Molasses (Light or Dark) - Uncommon
Pork Spareribs - Uncommon

I had pretty much everything to make the recipe, but there was one exception.  This recipe called for the ribs, plus a basic BBQ rub, which had its own list of ingredients, plus a basic BBQ sauce, which had its own as well.  I made the BBQ rub but not the sauce, opting to go the "easy" route and use a ready-made bottle (I was pressed for time).  So therefore, I omitted the need for cider vinegar, garlic, ketchup, onion, tabasco, vegetable oil, worcestershire, dijon mustard, and molasses.  Most ingredients will be readily available, only a handful to pick up.  4/5

Ease of Execution (Techniques/Tools used):

Make Dry Rub

Make BBQ Sauce
Oven-Roasting

The dry rub is easy to put together, just add the ingredients and shake it up.  BBQ sauce is a little messier, but the same concept.  Add the ingredients and simmer.  The trick to these ribs are that you're supposed to cook them low and slow, with a couple of tricks done during the cooking process.  To start, you have to tent the ribs in foil.  To finish, you should put the ribs in a paper bag.  Seems a little excessive for the ribs, plus with all the other recipe making that went with it, the ribs took more work than expected.  I decided to skip the paper bag portion of the cooking process, opting to put it in the microwave where the heat wouldn't let out so easy.  3/5

Taste

The ribs turned out salty.  I followed the directions for the dry rub and it gave the ribs a salty bark that could be a little overpowering, even with the bbq sauce slathered over the top.  I used a mix of a hot BBQ sauce and a sweet BBQ sauce from Weber's for the sauce.  The meat turned out to be really tender, but I absolutely needed some potatoes or some other side to help temper the fact that these ribs were salty.  I would suggest cutting down on the salt amount for the dry rub.  Do that, and this recipe will be much more palatable.  Otherwise, I'd recommend using the cooking process provided here, but doing your own rub and sauce.  5/10

Total Score: 12/20 (***)