Can oven-baked baby back ribs be just as good as smoked ones? You bet your bottom dollar they can. While I absolutely love my smoked ribs, oven-baked ribs have a number of great advantages. You can make them anytime and the weather is not an issue. You don’t need to fiddle with temperature maintenance – it’s pretty much set it and forget it. I’ve experimented a lot and after a number of successes and failures, I arrived at what I called a 300-3-30 method. In this method you bake baby back ribs for 3 hours at 300F covered with foil, then additional 30 minutes at 300F uncovered. This method produces a similar texture to those of smoked back ribs which I like a lot. In fact, these ribs are so awesome that I’ve been repeatedly asked for the recipe by those who tried them. Now, there are different ways to cook ribs that produce different results, and everyone’s taste and preferences may be slightly different too. So let me describe what I am looking for in a great tasting baby back rib and what these baby backs taste like. The meat should be tender but not greasy. I like to have most of the fat rendered off. I like the meat to fall off the bone, period. If it ain’t fallin’ off the bone, the rib ain’t good.
I like to use fresh garlic which gives the ribs a really amazing flavor. I like my baby backs saucy but I also like the sauce to be set and not drip off when eating the ribs. If this sounds like your kind of back rib then my 300-3-30 method is definitely for you and I hope that you like these ribs as much as I do.
