Pork Drunk: Summer Grillin': Pork Ribs

There is nothing better to do during summer than hanging out on the back porch with friends, drinking beer, listening to music, and eating great food. The grill is the perfect centerpiece to it all.

St. Louis-style Pork Ribs with grilled potatoes and grilled corn-on-the-cob will leave no one unsatisfied.

There are many ways to prepare ribs. I started with a simple, basic, dry rub paste to marinate the ribs. The combination of garlic/onion/chile powder, brown sugar, salt, pepper, with lime juice and apple cider vinegar gave it a good base to flavor the meat. The ribs were marinated for four hours.

It was time to prep the grill. Use a charcoal chimney starter to get a jump start on the burning of coals. Add some crumbled newspaper in the bottom and layer coals to about an inch from the top. Ignite the paper in a few spots.

Let it get hot and burn for about 10 minutes. When it is good and smoky, its ready.

When the coals are fiery red hot, dump the coals in the grill and spread them around the perimeter of the grill. The ribs should be placed in indirect heat.

Basting the ribs while grilling is important. It keeps the ribs nice and moist and adds flavor. My basting juice was a thrown-together mix of water, beer, apple cidar vinegar, lime juice, ready-made BBQ sauce, and a tablespoon of the dry rub. Baste every 20-30 minutes.

After about an hour, the ribs should be tender and juicy. The temperature was kept around 350 degrees.

Prepare grilled potatoes and corn to finish at the same time as the Ribs.

The Pork Ribs should be fall apart ready while the bark, the charred outside of the ribs, is crispy and crunchy. The aroma is perfect for a summer evening on the backyard porch.