Mezcal Magic Baby Back Ribs

Like bourbon, good Mexican mezcal has an underlying tone of smooth smokiness that's absent in its more refined cousin, tequila. We take advantage of that quality in these ribs, pairing its resonance with the smoldering warmth of chipotle chiles, dried over wood fires. Most big liquor stores today carry mezcal, and any of the imported brands is worthy of this dish, but you can substitute tequila without losing all of the magic.

 

SERVES 4

 

¼	cup mezcal or tequila
4	1¼-pound slabs pork baby back ribs, the thin membrane on the ribs' lower side stripped off

CHILE RUB ROJO

¼	cup paprika
2	tablespoons kosher salt or other coarse salt
2	tablespoons ground chipotle powder
2	tablespoons ground mild to medium-hot dried red chile, such as New Mexican, ancho, or pasilla, or a combination
2	teaspoons ground cumin
1½	teaspoons sugar

MEZCAL-CHIPOTLE BARBECUE SAUCE

2	tablespoons bacon drippings or butter
1	medium onion, chopped
2	cups Quintessential Ketchup ([>]) or other ketchup
1	cup plus 2 tablespoons mezcal or tequila
1	cup water
¼	cup canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, any whole chiles minced
¼	cup orange juice
3	tablespoons unsulphured molasses
2	teaspoons dry mustard
2	teaspoons chili powder
½	teaspoon kosher salt or other coarse salt

At least 6 hours and up to 24 hours before you plan to grill, bake the ribs. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Drizzle the mezcal over the ribs and rub it in thoroughly. Combine the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl and coat the ribs liberally with the spice mixture.

Wrap the ribs tightly in two layers of foil and bake for 1 hour. Cool the ribs, opening the foil to speed the process. Re-wrap the ribs in the foil and refrigerate them for at least 4½ hours.

Prepare the sauce, first melting the bacon drippings in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté it until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ketchup and 1 cup of the mezcal, reserving the remaining 2 tablespoons. Stir in the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer it for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until reduced to the consistency of thin ketchup. Just before removing the sauce from the heat, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of the mezcal. Reserve the sauce at room temperature if you plan to grill the ribs within the hour, or refrigerate it. (The sauce can be made several days in advance, covered, and refrigerated. Thin with a little water if it is too thick to brush easily.)

Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to medium (4 to 5 seconds with the hand test).

Remove the ribs from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Grill the ribs uncovered over medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes, turning every 8 to 10 minutes. Baste the ribs with sauce in the last 5 minutes of cooking. The ribs are done when very tender with a surface that's crisp in some spots and gooey with sauce in others.

Serve the ribs hot with more sauce and perhaps Colby Cheese and Cornbread Pudding, Tucson Tortillas, coleslaw, and icy beer.

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All Ribbing Aside

Pork ribs bring out the best of our atavistic instincts, luring us to grab up a messy slab of bones with our hands and gnaw with unmannered abandonment. It's mainly the magnificent taste, of course, but the pleasure of the pursuit—as we deftly nab that last morsel of meat—certainly adds something to the pleasure of the palate. In our least circumspect moments we do it indoors, particularly in restaurants, but all unabashed rib eaters prefer the great outdoors, where our primitive ids are in closer communion with our ancestors.

Ribs resist going outside, however, at least for quick grilling. The people who cook them that way, as some do, must have the incisors of saber-tooth tigers. Even baby backs, the smallest cut, take substantial cooking time at low to moderate temperatures to break down their tough muscle fibers. Slow smoking in the old barbecue fashion accomplishes the job with lip-smacking success, but similar low-heat strategies in a covered grill often yield wimpy results and can be frustrating to control in charcoal models.

After testing a range of approaches to grilling ribs, we finally settled on baking them first in an oven or covered gas grill—easily accomplished the night before or the morning of a rib-out—and then finishing them over an open outdoor fire. Don't do the pre-cooking by boiling or microwaving, as some people suggest, because you'll leave much of the flavor in the kitchen in a pool of grease. As the recipes indicate, we generally wrap the ribs and appropriate seasonings in foil before baking, a method that allows the meat to absorb spice while rendering some of the fat, and then we glaze the rack at the end for a crisply gooey exterior.

Baby backs are usually the ribs of choice for grilling, simply for size and time considerations. They don't come from little piggies and they aren't more tender than other cuts, just more manageable. Demand, rather than quality, drives the price above the larger spareribs, which take longer to cook and can be clumsy in size for grilling. Either provides ageless joy when you pick them apart with your hands and teeth.

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