Ribs and Rhone Red, really.

When I set out to have a dinner party, I throw myself completely into it. Thoughts of what to serve, recipes, wine pairings, pre-dinner cocktails, and what kind of atmosphere I want to project infiltrate my daily thoughts. I'm obsessive, I know it, my bosses know it, my friends and family know it, my husband certainly knows it, but as long as I'm not dousing myself in hand sanitizer or refusing to walk on the left side of the street, they humor me. I mean, I'm not dangerous, just enthusiastic to entertain!

A few weeks ago I set out to do ribs for a group of friends, but really do it right. This means I started preparations for our Saturday night chow down on Thursday morning, giving my lovely rack of pork ribs a generous dry rub of spices and brown sugar, wrapping them in plastic and letting them rest until Saturday. That morning I took them out and set them up in a low oven for about 7 hours while I was at work. I came home to the inviting aroma of slow roasted pork oozing from my oven, as my guests arrived I slathered my ribs in a homemade bbq sauce and eased them on the grill to crisp up. I popped open a couple bottles of a lovely Rhone red, the Domaine de la Verriere from Ventoux. A glorious pairing by the way!

The wine is a blend of Grenache (my fave grape), Syrah, Carignane, Mourvedre, and Cinsault. It has a captivating nose of earth, black cherry, black raspberry, violet, and spice. The palate is silky up front with some acid showing up mid-palate and lengthy tannins drawing out the finish. Flavors of black and purple fruits, blueberry, and spice are very pleasing. If a wine can be both rustic and elegant, it's this one.

Below is the recipe I used for my slow cooked ribs, as usual this recipe is a mish-mash of several recipes I liked, pieces of them glued together to form my own. The great thing about these ribs is that though they take some time, they take very little active effort, leaving you free to obsess over whether to use candlesticks or tea lights and if you should listen to blues or jazz!

Slow-cooked Pork Ribs:
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2, 4-5 lb. racks of baby back ribs
dry rub - recipe below
1 bottle of beer, I used Otter Creek Porter
1 cup bbq sauce, I make my own but use what you like

Dry Rub
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix together.

1. Dry off the racks of ribs. Rub spices over all of the rack. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, but at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 225F. Place the rack in a large roasting pan (I line mine with foil for ease of clean up), add bottle of beer and cover with foil. Bake the ribs for 6-8 hours. Remove from oven and let rest.
3. Heat the grill on high for ten minutes, then reduce heat to medium. Place the ribs on the grill for 5 minutes, brush with bbq sauce. Flip and brush the other side of the ribs with barbecue sauce and grilling for 5 minutes. Flip one last time and brush with more sauce. Serve.