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7/17/15

Dry Rubbed Grilled BBQ Beef Ribs with Spicy Watermelon BBQ Sauce

















My husband raved about these ribs and was hinting heavily and waiting for me to make them again.  I did so last week and during that few minutes of cooking I topped them with the yummy watermelon bbq sauce that has become a staple in our house, and served extra sauce along side.

I prefer beef ribs over pork, but this can be used on either - as well as on fish or chicken too.  It's just a generally good dry rub.  Makes a nice amount so if you don't use it all, just store it in a glass jar and you'll have it on hand for 'next time'!


Dry Rub for Beef or Pork

1 T cumin
1 T paprika
1 T granulated garlic
1 T granulated onion
1 T chili powder
1 T brown sugar
2 T salt
1 t ground coriander seed
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t black pepper
1 t white pepper

Mix in a bowl.  Sprinkle on damp beef ribs as heavy or light as you wish for your personal taste. 
I chose to wrap the ribs in heavy aluminum foil and slow cooked them on 200 degrees for a few hours in the oven (it was a cold day and I was happy to have the oven going).  I also use the crock pot if I'm making a small amount that will fit into it. I turned off the oven around 3:00 and left them in it  until I ready to start making dinner around 5:00.  Opening one side of the foil, I poured off the juices into a pan on the stove and then unwrapped the ribs completely.   

Finish these under the broiler or on the grill.  Turn the heat up on the stove under the juices and proceed to make a sauce out of it by adding a heavy dose of low sugar ketchup, brown sugar sweetener, and a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.  I simply kept spoon tasting until I got the sweetness I liked.  (about 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup brown sugar sweetener).   Medium high heat to boil until it's reduced to a thick sauce.  Broil the ribs under the broiler for a few minutes each side until golden brown.  Drizzle with the sauce and serve.

I like to use beef ribs - but you can use pork

It makes a LOT of spice mix.  Use it sparingly or heavy; up to you.

Heavily sprinkled with the spice mix and ready to wrap up and oven bake for a couple hours






Although I could link to it, I thought I'd save everyone the trouble of jumping to a new page and repost my watermelon BBQ sauce here for you!







If you don't like things too spicy, cut back on the crushed red pepper.  If you don't have crushed red pepper flakes, substitute with a bit of minced jalapeno or if you don't like spice, try some canned green chilies.   I opted to make my a syrup from scratch because I wanted to make it with a sugar substitute for less sugar and I don't buy corn syrup.  If you regularly have dark corn syrup on hand, you can use that instead of the sugar/water/cream of tartar syrup.  Lots of ways to play with this and make it your own!


Sweet and Spicy Watermelon Sauce

Watermelon flesh and pink/white rind (but don't use any of the bright white or bitter green)
1 1/4 c brown sugar (or white sugar and 1 heaping T molasses)
3-4 T water
1/4 t cream of tartar
dash of salt
1/4 c ketchup (reduced sugar is fine too)
1/4 c white vinegar
3/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 t liquid smoke flavor (hickory or mesquite)
1/8 t ground black pepper

Chop watermelon and pink/white rind into chunks.  About 3 cups full of chunks.  Place in a food processor and pulse briefly to puree.  You want about a cup full more or less and you want it to stay thick.

To a saucepan on the stove place the brown sugar (or white sugar with molasses added) into a pan.  Add the cream of tartar, dash of salt and about 3-4 T water.  I used a mixture of white and brown sugar but found I was out of molasses. No worries, you are just making a general syrup.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 3 or 4 minutes until it's thickened. Add the watermelon puree, ketchup, vinegar, red pepper flakes, flavoring and pepper.  If you want to use less crushed red pepper flakes you can, or substitute similar measurements of minced jalapeno, canned green chilies, or for a completely sweet sauce, leave out the spice.  Bring to a boil again, reduce to s simmer and let simmer for 1-2 hours until it reduces down, becomes dark and thickens.  The longer you simmer, the thicker and darker it becomes.

I canned mine in sterilized jars with lids and used a water bath process for 30 minutes.  But then we ended up using it that night anyway because it was SO good I couldn't wait!  We used it on grilled chicken (basted, grilled, basted more, grilled more and finally, final basted and served extra with dinner).   We are saving the rest to use with Cream Cheese Won Tons like a spicy, sweet plum sauce.




Making a simple syrup


Cleaning the watermelon

Scraped and chopped. You can use these rinds for watermelon pickles or discard.



Pureed watermelon and the pink/white part of the rind
 
Bringing to a boil

Simmer until it's as thick as you need or want it to be




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