Week 11 - Missouri

Greetings from the Show Me State! A few weeks ago, Elizabeth and I put the kids to bed and then had a feast inspired by Missouri.  And while there were many options to choose from, I had to go with the most obvious choice: Kansas City Style BBQ Ribs.

This was my first foray into the world of BBQ so far this year (Alabama's white sauce was my second in week 12), and there's a lot of contention as to who does it better. Is the vinegar based sauce that is found in eastern NC better than the vinegar and tomato sauce found in Lexington style BBQ? (We'll be taste testing those at a later date).  Is the sweet and smoky sauce found in Memphis better than the mustard based sauce of South Carolina?  For me, they're all great, and it's really hard to pick a favorite (however, living a short drive from Lexington, NC does give me a bit of a bias).


Kansas City Style BBQ Ribs

1 slab pork spare ribs

Dry Rub
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup dry mustard
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 table spoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

Sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cups water
2 6oz. cans tomato paste
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

This was my first attempt at trying this style of bbq, which is mix of both a sweet, spicy dry rub and a thick tomato based sauce. I first mixed together all of the ingredients for the dry rub...

I rubbed the ribs generously with the dry mix, making sure to get all sides of the rack.  Then, I put the ribs in my oven at 200 and let them go for several hours.  Low and slow is the way to go!

Before the ribs were in the oven, I mixed the ingredients together for the sauce in a medium pot and let it cook together on low heat. 

Every 20 to 30 minutes or so, I basted the ribs with the sauce.

Gooey Butter Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 8oz. package cream cheese
4 cups confectioners sugar

First, I mixed the cake mix, melted butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 2 eggs together and poured evenly into a baking dish.

I mixed the cream cheese, 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla together next, then beat in the sugar.  I poured this over the cake layer.

I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes.

When pared up with some okra and some sweet potatoes, the result was...

Pretty good.  The ribs were tender, the rub was sweet and very spicy, and the sauce helped balance it all out.  However, I really should have smoked the ribs instead of going with the oven.  They lacked the flavor that comes with that process. The cake was equally "pretty good."  I don't think I got the topping to mix the right way, so it wasn't as "gooey" as the recipe had made it out to be.

Overall, I think this one was a missed opportunity. It was tasty, but everything could have been a lot better and I don't think that I did the Show Me State justice.  However, it could be that my BBQ bias was strong than I thought.  The Kansas City ribs were good...but I'd still take my Lexington BBQ over them any day.