Making Chef John's Baked Ribs Recipe

Hello, gorgeous

I am in love

What started out as a last-minute addition to Brian's and my cooking date soon became the star of the show. A few weeks ago, we made ribs, and boy, it was a challenge.

We were going to make potatoes au gratin one weekend and needed something to go with it, and at the suggestion of my colleague, we settled on ribs. We chose Chef John's oven-baked recipe and got to work.

Yum!

Like I said it was a challenge. We were instructed to go "low and slow" and ended up being in and out of the kitchen for over three hours. Dinner didn't start until it was already past 8:30 in the evening. The end result was that gorgeous rack of ribs you see above (and some pretty tender potatoes). But beyond that, I am sad to say that the rub, and consequently, the meat on my ribs were lacking.

The proportions of the spices were all off: way too much chili powder, way too much of everything. Then the temperature was way too low; the meat did not cook all the way through, even after three-hours of tender loving heat. And worst of all, it was not fall-of-the-bone tender.

It was such a jarring cooking experience. Not since our botched chicken souvlaki dish did I ever feel so sad about food. LOL. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. But I had such a good experience making Chef John's paella that I half-expected his ribs would be a cinch.

Take away my dramatics, and you'll get the same sentiments from Brian. His rub was fine, though his meat was undercooked like mine.

On the bright side, they smelled great and looked great. They were even edible. They just need a lot of work in the taste department. Hahahaha. Talk about the understatement of the month.