oven ribs

So here's the thing. I can't really call the ribs I make BBQ ribs because I don't own a BBQ. So the only barbeque anything is the sauce. Last year I think, someone told me that you can do ribs in your slow cooker - in coca cola. Then I read Nigella's recipe for ham cooked in ginger ale. And that yielded a moist, gingery ham so I thought why not try it with ribs. See slow cooking the ribs makes them really tender and then you finish them in the oven - baste them in BBQ sauce and wrap them in foil and bake for ~ 40-45 minutes. So that is how I do them - usually.

A few weeks ago, I took some ribs out of the freezer and planned to make my oven ribs as usual. But I had no ginger ale so I improvised. I had some pink lemonade left over from another recipe, I added garlic, soy sauce and then for the ginger punch, some ginger marmelade. Wierd, yes. But I poured the concoction over the defrosted ribs in the slow cooker and hoped it would all work out. I will admit that I added extra BBQ sauce when it came time to bake them in the oven. But they worked out and I was the only one who guessed at the wierd cooking solution - D didn't guess. I made them again a week later, but with ginger ale as per usual.

So here's the real recipe. Put ribs in a slow cooker, cover with ginger ale and slow cook for 2 + hours on low heat - cook longer if you can - as much as 5 hours on low or warm depending on how hot your slow cooker gets. About 50 minutes prior to when you want to eat, take the ribs out of the slow cooker, shake, place in foil and cover with your favorite BBQ sauce. Cover with foil and bake at 350 deg F for 40 - 45 minutes.