SLOW COOKER BARBECUE RIBS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
• 2. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over, and brown another 15 minutes; drain fat.
• 3. In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.
• 4. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or until ribs are tender.
• My Note: The genius of this recipe is the first step - roasting ribs in the oven. This removes fat and liquid that would otherwise cause soupy results in the crockpot. Use any sauce (I like 1 Cup ketchup, 1 Cup Stubb's barbecue sauce, 2 Tablespoons. brown sugar, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire, and Tabasco hot sauce to taste.) The original sauce recipe (which I've tried) isn't sharp or hot enough for our tastes. We use boneless beef chuck country ribs, 2 lbs. or more. Stir once during cooking time so ribs don't stick to sides and burn. To thicken sauce a bit, put the crockpot on High, with the lid ajar, during the last half hour.
• I didn't care for all the ingredients needed for the results. It tasted similar to what I tend to do for slow cooker ribs. I simplyt seasoned the ribs with garlic salt, onion powder, and black pepper; place in the crock pot and cover the ribs with a half a bottle of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce. I let the ribs cook on low for about 8-10 hours. Then I place them in the oven on a baking sheet for a half hour so that the sauce caramelizes onto the meat. It works every time!
• The sauce tastes alot like ketchup. It is not horrible but it is below average to me. I substituted the 2 cup equivalent of my favorite BBQ sauce for the ketchup and they were delicious. I would also recommend rotating the ribs halfway through the cooking process if possible so that all the ribs are equally tender. This just became my favorite slow cooker recipe.
• These were the most incredible ribs I have ever tasted, in or out of a restaraunt! I followed other reviewers' advice and substituted bbq sauce for the ketchup, (2 cups) and ketchup for the chili sauce. (1 cup) I cut back on the vinegar to 2 1/2 tablespoons just because I thought 4 tablespoons was a lot. I also left out the hot sauce, simply because I didn't have any on hand. I used boneless Country Style Ribs. I couldn't get them out of the crock pot in one piece, they were soo tender!
• In My son Note's: He said for the crock pot suggestion. Best prep is simmering ribs in water bath (with minced garlic, seasoned salt & Emeril's southwestern spice), for 20 minutes; then prepare BBQ sauce of choice (approx 2 cups), add to drained ribs and cook in crock pot for 5-6 hours on low. Remove from crock pot and brown ribs on grill or under broiler.