Ribs

This is it: the best thing I make. It is the perfect union of (1) experience (lots..I promise, I initally struggled), (2) a great ingredient (pork rules) and (3) the willingness to be patient toward a great result. Nothing in this plan is complicated or requires any talent. You just have to want to do it and plan ahead a little.

First, you need pork babyback ribs. Sam's Club sells them in packs of three for about $20 and that will feed six normal people (or 3 really hungry boys). You can freeze what you don't use for several months, so this is about as cheap as protein gets these days. The proportions below are for one rack of ribs, which is what we always make for one family dinner (I eat half and Lacey and Maggie eat the other half; Sam usually has an apple and a popsicle; he plans to live forever).

I cook them in three steps. First, a chemical cooking, in a brine. I mix together 3 Tbs of kosher salt with 1/2 Cup of brown sugrar and then pour in 2 Cups of boiling water, which I stir up to dissolve the solids. Then I add the juice of a lemon, the juice of a lime, 3 Tbs of olive oil and 2 beers (the cheaper the better). The beer cools the mixture down because I am not ready to use heat to cook anything (yet). The ribs need to sit in this cruel mixture in the refrigerator one night and one day, so do it in a freezer bag before you go to bed the day before you plan to have them for dinner. It won't smell good and it will look worse; don't sweat it. This is essential to making them tender.

The next day, take the ribs out and pat them dry, then spread on some ballpark mustard (even if you don't like it - trust me). Now they should be ugly, gray/yellow and sticky. Then I rub in (not sprinkle on) my first rub: 1/4 C brown sugar, 1 Tbs of Summer Savory (a spice), 1 Tbs Garlic Powder, 1 Tbs Paprika (Sweet) and 1/8 Tsp of ground cloves. Once rubbed down, wrap them TIGHTLY in aluminum foil and place them on a cookie tray. Then bake them for 2 hours at 350 degrees. This way, the fatty ribs cook in their own juices; anyone who boils ribs doesn't understand where flavor comes from (or doesn't care).

When they come out of the oven, they will be cooked through and perfectly edible, but they won't be much to look at (and we eat with our eyes). So, I add a second rub, although this time, I do sprinkle it on (usually through a wire sieve). This one is made of 1/3 Cup brown sugar, 1 tsp of Cayenne and 1 Tsp of Dry Mustard. Now here's the trick: I then flash grill them on a piping hot grill for about 1 minute a side. This does nothing but carmelize the sugar and add grill marks, making them look as great as they taste. We usually have some spicy sauce on the side, but you don't need it.