Dinner Is Served, Day Four

If you like southern cookin', you'll love tonight's meal. Full of yummy flavors and most importantly, the southern staple: barbeque. If you didn't know, barbeque is a food group down south. I know this, I lived there. I speak from experience. Some of the best barbeque I've ever had in my life was from a tiny little restaurant called Ken and Candy's in Savannah...And to those of you who think barbeque is just a sauce, just stop reading here. Move on. Make yourself some Hamburger Helper and go about your day...
Wow, sometimes, I'm so cynical!

Anyway, you will need:
2 and a half pounds of baby back ribs. Or 3 pounds. Or 3.33, which is what mine weighed tonight.
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 T. barbeque sauce (yes, at this point we do use the sauce. But this is not the dish, itself.
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili powder
3 T. chili sauce
1 and a half c. orange or pineapple juice. I had orange-pineapple in the fridge; it turned out nicely
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Cut ribs into individual pieces. Mix together all ingredients until well blended. Place cut ribs in a large freezer bag and pour the liquid marinade in, but reserve about a cup and a half of it for later. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Take out marinated ribs, place in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Cover with foil, and bake them for 2 hours. At the 2 hour mark, remove the ribs. On the stove, heat the extra marinade until it simmers and thickens. This will take about five minutes. Watch the consistency; when it coats a spoon it's pretty well there. Drizzle this thickened sauce over the ribs, and put back in the oven, uncovered for 5-8 more minutes. Serve with plenty of wet-naps.

I served these with one of my other favorite southern dishes: corn pudding.
This is how I make mine:
2 cans cream-style corn
1 stick melted butter (not only your best friend, but another southern staple)
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
2 eggs
1 8 oz. container of sour cream
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix ingredients well. Pour into a large casserole dish. Bake (along with your ribs) for 55-60 minutes. Note: the oven was at 325 for the ribs, which is why I baked the corn almost an hour. You can reduce to 45 minutes if you are at 350. A nice golden "crust" should form on top, and it should no longer be gooey. A little jiggly is fine, this isn't a completely "solid" dish.

Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea, close your eyes and feel the southern breezes.