Let’s depart Asia and take our food travels across the Pacific Ocean this week. Soon we will be docking land in the good old USA. We’ve been talking about Indian, Italian and Chinese fare for awhile, but there’s nothing wrong with good old classic American comfort food, is there? Although our cuisine, like America’s ‘melting pot’ of people, has evolved into a melting pot of great foods, I often wonder if it is truly AMERCAN food, outside of maybe roasted turkey and winter squashes (and even those were native to the indigenous people here when Columbus and the pilgrims arrived). As other cultures have immigrated throughout the centuries, so have their food traditions, slowly making them American regulars. I’ll attempt to present dishes this week we were all raised on and have come to think of as American Classics. Whether they are native to America is clearly debatable.
What’s more American than BBQ? The saucier the better! Yes, the sauces people put on BBQ vary dramatically from region to region, but the smoking of meats and seafoods (and more) on the outdoor grill has always been a common American method of cooking meat. Heavily smoked foods can upset my intestinal tract, but I love them so much, I just can’t give them up! It’s comfort food for me. And it reheats so nicely we often cook it in large batches, freezing the leftovers. When thawed and warmed up with a little sauce on top, it’s like you just spent the afternoon grilling again!
My husband’s philosophy on BBQ’ing briskets and ribs is “Might as well do two: one for now and one for later.” Besides, he just HATES the smell of smoke on himself (although I love that waft in the air when he walks by me when he’s grilling) and has to go shower immediately after enjoying a BBQ meal. Shhhhhh! He would be embarrassed if he knew I told you his smoky little secret. Needless to say, he loves to eat BBQ out a lot more, so admittedly, we have sought to and have found several favorite BBQ restaurants in the area.
When it comes to BBQ’ing ribs, I’ve never liked beef ribs quite as much as I like pork ribs. Maybe it’s because I was born in North Carolina? Dunno. I’m a North Carolina tarheel by birth, but my husband calls me a ‘naturalized’ Texan (by virtue of marriage). My Dad was a born and raised Texan and I have now lived here for over 50 of my adult years, but I’m still a ‘fereigner’ in my husband’s eyes.
Yet I do like the slightly sweeter sauce Texans prefer on my BBQ than the typical vinegar-based sauces of North Carolina. I’m a NC ‘tarheel’ by birth so what I just admitted is sacrilege! I guess that makes me a little bit more Texan? 
However, I don’t like it unctuously sweet! I take a full bottle of G.Hughes low-carb BBQ sauce (or mix up my own BBQ sauce) and cut it with 1/2 c. vinegar and 1/2 c. water to tone down its thickness and sweetness. I did this for years with Kraft BBQ sauce, back before my low-carb days.
This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and keto diets. It is suitable for Paleo if a plan-suitable BBQ sauce is used.
INGREDIENTS:
1 rack of pork spare ribs (silverskin/membrane removed from back side)
½ bottle G.Hughes BBQ sauce (or other low-carb sauce)
½ c. white vinegar
½ c. water
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 325º. Using a sharp knife, lift and remove the silverskin/membrane from the concave side of the rack of ribs. If done right, you can sometimes pull it all off the bones with one steady pull. Place rack of ribs into a large baking pan that will hold them completely. Cover with foil and pop into 325º oven and bake 45 minutes only. This is done to to pre-cook them a bit to speed up grilling time and also to facilitate ultimate tenderizing for tooth-tender eating. Watch them, as you don’t want the meat falling off the bone. If done this way you can cook a rack of ribs, start to finish, in just 3 hours or so. If you try to cook them entirely on the grill without the pre-bake step, it will require multiple charcoal additions during cooking time, ribs take 4-5 hours cook and is an all-afternoon affair to reach the tender stage we love to call “fall-off-the-bone”.
When your charcoal is white hot, using a BBQ tool, push coals to one side of the grill. Go ahead and lay a few more fresh coals on the fire at this point as well. Lay the rack of ribs on the other side of the grill, away from the coals. You will need to grill them for a total of 3 hours. Using a brush, sauce the rack of ribs lightly on both sides. After one hour cooking, sauce again with the brush and turn the rack over (sauce the cooked side up again, too). At two hours cooking, sauce the meat, turn and sauce the now cooked top again. At 3 hours, sauce the bottom side one more time and allow to cook just until the sauce has caramelized. Remove the ribs to a serving platter and cut them apart between the bones to serve with additional sauce at your dining table. Sides that compliment this are a lovely green salad, coleslaw, my Mexican Bean Casserole or Sweet Green Cabbage.
NUTRITION: Contains 14 ribs, each rib contains approximately:
170 cals, 11.4g fat, 5.5g carbs, 0.1 fiber, 5.4 NET CARBS, 10.8g protein, 405 mg sodium