Friday Foto: Country-Style Ribs with Homemade BBQ Sauce

The U.S. is often described as a melting pot. My family background (Belgian, Sicilian and Polish) is certainly a testament to that fact. One result is that much of the food we eat is borrowed (and often, Americanized) from other cultures’ cuisines – think chicken pad thai, lasagna, croissants, and a very long list of others.

For me, though, one quintessentially American food is barbeque. Sure, other countries (especially in South America) do their own version of barbeque. But in the U.S., you find a variety of signature styles that vary by region, from Texas to Memphis to the Carolinas.

From a gluten-free foodie perspective, barbeque sauce is a mixed bag. There are some great sauces out there, but there also plenty of sauces that contain gluten (not to mention artificial sweeteners, chemicals and preservatives). This inspired us to create our own BBQ sauce from scratch and it’s – how shall I say – tasty! Earlier this week we used it to marinade (and then baste while grilling) pork loin country-style ribs. Phenomenal. Here’s how to make it:

1/3 – 1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
1/2 – 1 tsp – 1 tbsp molasses (you can vary this quite a bit!)

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Enjoy!

(To make the country-style ribs, preheat a grill to medium to medium-low heat. (Because of the bone in ribs, it takes longer to cook through, plus country-style ribs are very thick with meat, so you want to grill “low and slow.”) Marinade the ribs in the sauce, and baste regularly while grilling until done.)

– Pete