Weeknight Pork Ribs

I wanted ribs. But my sister was out of town. This might seem an irrelevant fact, but the past two summers when I wanted ribs I bribed her with appetizers and beer in exchange for her slow smoking the ribs in my side yard.

In the past I've had fairly good results from slow roasting ribs, say at 250, for six hours in my oven. They turn out very tender, but it isn't QUITE enough. And who wants six hours of oven heat added to the general warmth of a summer day?

So I decided to try a two prong approach. First I rubbed the ribs with a Penzeys spice rub, and cooked them on low in the crockpot for about six hours. My other crockpot has a setting where it cooks on low for six hours and then switches to warm - so I could set that before I left for work in the morning. But that crockpot is currently in a box.

I then removed them from the heat and just finished them on the grill for about twenty minutes. Only in the last five minutes did I add barbeque sauce - from a bottle, but with a generous addition of freshly grated ginger for extra punch. I have to say they turned out VERY good. Only 93.2% as good as long smoked ribs, but I would certainly do them this way again.

I served them with sweet corn, just warmed on the top rack of the grill and sliced tomatoes.