Sweet. Spicy. And falling-off-teh-bone tender, this is one fine batch o’ beef ribs, and a perfect time to revisit cherry cola barbecue sauce; now made with my own cherry jam and ‘sup.
As a rule, we don’t buy beef ribs – well, except for the boneless short ribs I get at Costco for Korean Barbecue – because there just doesn’t seem to be all that much meat on the bones; but I came across these beauties on special at my market, and started thinkin’ cherry cola sauce…
INGREDIENTS
Ribs:
•2 pkgs (about 6 total) meaty beef ribs
•1 tsp ground ginger
•1 tsp garlic powder
•1 tsp Brisket of Love Seasoning
or your favorite steak/grill seasoning
•1 tsp seasoned salt
•1 tsp Cajun seasoning
or chili powder
•1 tsp Caribbean Calypso Seasoning
or dried citrus zest and Cayenne
•1/2 tsp Coleman’s dry mustard
•Tellicherry pepper
Cherry Cola Barbecue Sauce:
•1 cup ‘sup (or any ketchup)
•1 can cherry cola
•1/4 cup cherry jam
•1/2 cup brown sugar
•1 tsp Coleman’s dry mustard
•2 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Sauce
or your favorite hot sauce
Heat your oven to 375º.
Rinse the ribs and pat dry, then arrange in one layer in a large baking dish.
Stir together the dry seasonings and rub into both sides of the ribs, pressing into the meat a bit to make it stick.
Cover the baking dish tightly with foil, and bake for two hours, flipping the ribs and draining off any meat drippings after the first hour.
While the ribs are baking, make the sauce by stirring all of those ingredients together in a 2-quart sauce pan and bringing to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until nicely thickened. Set aside.
Once the ribs are ready, pull the pan from the oven and discard the foil. Brush both sides of the ribs with the sauce, and pop back into the oven – uncovered this time – for another 30 minutes or so, until the sauce 
is as caramelized as you like – I left mine in a might bit too long, and so my sauce was rather dark, but it was still sweet and spicy, and the ribs still moist and tender, so I call it a good deal all the way around.
We had our ribs with some seasoned rice cooked in chicken stock and a tossed salad on the side, and found that there was more than enough for the two of us, with a few ribs saved back into a freezer bag for emergencies.
What, you don’t keep an emergency stock of barbecued ribs? You really should…