The Cowboy and the Dude Coffee-Rubbed Smoked Babybacks (Oven-style!)

Imagine the scene. A cattle ranch in the old west. Nearing nighttime. A sole coyote howls at the low-slung moon. Riding herd among the softly lowing cattle, cowboys come across a stranded wagon with a lone, derbied, pinstripe-suited, mustachioed gentleman who is clearly out of his element, sitting balefully upon a broken wheel. The cowhands take pity on the dude, fix his wagon and invite him to dine around the campfire that evening.

The only thing the stranded traveler has to contribute to dinner is some mighty fancy coffee...he IS a dude, after all. The cowboys scoff at his maple cinnamon coffee. REAL men don't drink that sissy stuff and they turn up their noses. The cook, on the other hand, has an idea!

Cook added that fancy-ass ground coffee to his rib rub. Eureka! Those cowboys were amazed by the most incredible ribs they'd ever wrapped their lips around. 

The cowboys whooped and hollered, lifted the dude onto their shoulders and danced a little jig around the campfire under the starlit prairie skies. They were so happy!

Okay...so on a cattle drive there wouldn't be pork ribs. I'm sure there were beef ribs, though. The end. 

The Cowboy and the Dude
Coffee-Rubbed Smoked Babybacks
(Oven-style!)

• 1/4 cup ground maple cinnamon coffee (I get mine at Nicholas Coffee in Market Square) - if you can't get maple cinnamon, use a similar flavored coffee...pecan cinnamon, pumpkin spice...you get the idea, DUDE coffee!
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Colmans mustard powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt

• 1 rack babyback pork ribs, silverskin removed (check online for a method to perform this maneuver...Google it...it's easy, but complicated to describe)

In a small bowl, mix all rub ingredients well - I mash mine together with a fork. 

Massage 1/2 of the rub into one side of the ribs, the other half on the other side of the ribs. Do this at least 4 hours before or overnight. Wrap them well in plastic wrap.
 
The next day, bring them to room temp and set the oven to 325 degrees. 

Take the plastic wrap off the ribs, rewrap them in heavy duty aluminum foil and seal well. Put the foil-wrapped ribs into a large roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet that will comfortably hold the ribs. Cook for 3 hours or until tender, just shy of falling off the bone. Remove from oven; open the foil, exposing the ribs completely.

Raise the oven temp to 400 degrees, put the ribs back in and let 'er rip for half an hour. Cowboy campfire goodness from the oven. YeeHAW! Print this post