The Best Melt In Your Mouth Ribs

My mother-in-law makes really good ribs, so tender they fall off the bone, so tasty I thought they were the best ribs I've ever tasted.  Until now.

I decided to try making my own ribs when I found them on sale for a ridiculously low price - almost 1/3 the normal price!  They were pork back ribs, and looked really nice, with lots of meat on them.  Mmmm.

Mom-In-Law takes all day to make her famous family ribs - cleaning them of fat and gristle, cutting them into smaller chunks, then cooking them for hours with a bit of water and barbeque sauce in a big turkey roaster. It's so much work. That's why I've never made them before this.  But... aha...I found this really simple recipe and thought I'd give it a try (Beth's Melt in Your Mouth Barbeque Ribs in the Oven from Food.com).  Like most recipes, I find I have to modify them - not because they aren't perfectly good as is, but because I usually don't have all the ingredients.  For example - I don't have hickory smoke. I don't even know where I would get any; I've never seen it in my grocery store.  So, I scrapped that.  I also scrapped the sugar.  I find extra sugar in recipes too sweet for me.  I also scrapped the paprika, the garlic and the red pepper.

Which means basically that I was using two ingredients - Pork Ribs, and Barbeque Sauce.  That's so simple, even I can do that.

1. Take the ribs out of the plastic package and rinse them under lukewarm water. Okay.
2. Remove the thin membrane on the backs of the ribs.  If you are lucky, you can peel one end - usually the skinnier end, and then grab it tightly and peel it all the way off the entire rib.  Three out of four worked that way for me.  The first one, before I got the hang of it, was an exercise in patience.  
3. I looked at them for a while.  They looked...naked.  Like they needed something added.  So I pulled the Chicken Gourmet Spice shaker out of the pantry and shook it all over them, front and back. On one rib, I used Montreal Steak Spice. You could probably try your own variety of spices. (The Chicken spice was really good.)
4. Place them on two individual sheets of aluminium foil, shiny side out, with the meaty side of the ribs down.  Then wrap them tightly with another top sheet of foil, folding the edges together to form a tight seal.  This is the secret.  Then place them all on large cookie sheets. 
5. The oven is set to 300F or 325F (my oven seems to need an extra 25 degrees), and once in the oven they cook for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  The meat should shrink away from the bones.
6. Once they are cooked and tender (test them), then unwrap the foil on the top, turn them over so the meaty side is up, and smear lots of barbeque sauce on them.  I use a Chicken and Rib Barbeque Sauce.
7. Turn the oven on Broil, and broil them for a few minutes on high until the barbeque sauce begins to sizzle onto the ribs.  

These ribs are so SO good, I can't tell my Mom-in-Law about them.  The meat is SO tender, and REALLY does just fall off the bone and melt in your mouth.

Ah....I'm hungry already for more. Plus I ate them all before I took a picture.  Must make more!! :D