Rack em up!

It's not a meal if it ain't got meat!  Or so I've heard...over and over again!  Being surrounded by carnivores (my fiance, my brother and a little dog who's under your feet the minute the bacon hits the pan) means a higher intake of protein around here.  Last year, when I was back in Canada for the summer, my brother made me dinner.  He said he was making chicken fingers - and he wasn't lying.  When it came time to eat, it was in fact, an entire plate of chicken fingers.  Not a veg in sight, not even a potato!  They were delicious, but I swear I could feel my kidneys going into overdrive.

So when he offered to make dinner earlier in the summer, I knew what to expect.  Meat, with a side of meat.  Ribs were on special and I had thought about tackling them myself but knowing Marc had made them before I knew best not to mess with a good thing.   He made it look so easy.  And they were the most amazing ribs I'd ever had.  I knew I should just give it a go sometime.

This past weekend was the last long weekend of the summer (if you can call it summer!)  and although it rained the entire time and I had pretty much declared summer over, I thought ribs would be a last ditch effort at getting a little taste of summer and an easy bbq cheat (since we lack the essential piece of equipment a bbq doth make).  Back when Marc had made ribs, he had noticed a distinct lack of barbeque sauce in the condiment aisle, necessary for the sauciest of ribs.  We have a small supermarket around the corner from our house and I'm sure size is responsible for the slim pickings but I found something new this time around:

In honour of our recent family trip to Ireland (fondly referred to as Fam Jam 2011) where copius amounts of Guinness were consumed (Coors Light for the mumster - I know, we couldn't believe it either) I decided to use this to saucify my ribs.  The recipe is easy and can be adjusted for as many or as little people you are cooking for.

Kindly shared by my brother, it goes a little like this:

Saucy Fall off the Bone Ribs
2-4 trimmed rack of ribs (or as many as you need)
2 oranges sliced (or enough to cover the bottom of your pan)
water
1-2 shots of whiskey (optional)
barbeque sauce 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.  Lay the sliced oranges at the bottom of your pan.  Place the ribs on top of the orange slices and don't worry if they overlap slightly.  Add water (and whiskey if using) to just cover the orange slices.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for 3 hours or so.  Remove from the oven and glaze both sides with barbeque sauce.

Now here is where I would put them on the bbq, or at best under the grill in the oven.  Well you already know that we don't have a bbq and well, our grill is broken and has been, ahem, since we moved in, 4 years ago.  So I popped them back in the oven for a bit and just hoped for the best.  I should have kept a close eye on them and glazed them a few more times because those babies crisped right up and got a little burnt on the edges.  Marc had forgotten to tell me to keep on glazing.  Whoopsy!  So whether you are finishing them off on the bbq, under the grill or baking in the oven, keep on glazin' on.

I served them with roasted potatoes and sweet corn but decided while eating,  that the ribs would be best served with things you can eat with you hands (now I see why wings are served with crudités).  Picking up a sticky fork is just not nice.

And if you happen to have some crispy edges, just choose the best rack for yourself,  like I did.  The men will just be happy to be eating meat!