There was this beeYOOtiful tray of country style ribs at Costco that was just sitting there, calling our name, so, we bought it. Now, what to do with it?
We’d recently scored a deal on Cherry Pepsi made with real sugar, and our recent trip up to Door County in Wisconsin had included a visit to one of our favorite farm stand stores to replenish our stocks of cherry jam and such, so, cherry cola ribs, no?
Well, kinda…
See, going through the pantry to find the jam, I came across this jar of Cherry Bomb from [mumble mumble] years ago and figured it was about time I used it up. The nice thing is, with zippy little cherry bomb, and my own (kinda zippy) barbecue sauce, there was little more needed than the Cherry Pepsi and, after tasting the sauce, a bit of brown sugar to make for one. FINE. batch of barbecued ribs. Check it out:
INGREDIENTS
•Country style pork ribs
Cherry Bomb Sauce:
•1 pint barbecue sauce
•2 (12 oz) cans cherry cola
•1 (12 oz) jar Cherry Bomb
•2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar, to taste
Rib Seasoning:
•1 tsp sea salt
•1 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp Gateway to the North Seasoning*
•1/2 tsp granulated garlic
•1/2 tsp granulated onion
•1/4 tsp chili powder
*Or your own favorite steak seasoning.
First, make the sauce by combining the cherry cola with the barbecue sauce and Cherry Bomb in a large pot over medium heat. Stir until the Cherry Bomb has dissolved, then bring the sauce to a low boil and simmer for 30 or 40 minutes until thickened.
Give it a taste. I used my own barbecue sauce, which, as noted above, is kinda zippy, so, along with the Cherry Bomb, I thought the sauce could use a little mellowing out and added 1/3 cup (packed) of brown sugar, and let the sauce continue to cook for another 20 minutes. If your barbecue sauce of choice is already sweet, you may not want (or need) to add any brown sugar.
Another taste, and, hmmm, another 1/3 cup of brown sugar and 20 more minutes low simmering did the trick; I now had a quart of very nice cherry barbecue sauce, which I set aside to cool while I put the ribs together.
Heat your oven to 300º.
Stir the seasonings together in a small bowl, then rub over the ribs, arranged in a single layer in a large roasting pan.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and pop into the hot oven for one hour.
Remove the ribs from the oven and discard any cooking liquid. Line the roasting pan with foil and return the ribs to the pan – I actually used a new, smaller roasting pan for this part, since the ribs had shrunk up a bit in cooking.
Spoon enough of the cherry barbecue sauce over the ribs to cover, then return to the oven, uncovered, this time, and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, until the sauce has caramelized on the ribs a bit. You could do this on the grill as well, just keep adding sauce to the ribs and watch to keep ’em from burning (too much).
Serve.
We had ours with a bit of our favorite coleslaw and our new favorite garlic parsley pan rolls on the side. The one tray of Costco ribs was more than enough for the two of us for two dinners and mebbe a midnight snack; and I still have plenty of that zippy cherry barbecue sauce in the fridge…
I’m thinkin’… cherry chicken and waffles.