Lord of the Wings Ribs #BlendsBash #Sponsored

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Book Club Cookbook.
I received complimentary product for the purpose of review and recipe development,

but all opinions are honest and they are my own. This page may contain affiliate links.

Earlier this year, my contact at The Book Club Cookbook emailed, offering me a few new spice blends to participate in their 2020 #BlendsBash. You betcha! So, I planned to share a series of three recipes. First, I shared a recipe using their smoked tea rub; you can see that in my The Secret Life of Teas Braised Duck Legs. Second, I posted One Hundred Beers of Solitude-Crusted Lingcod.

And, today, for my final recipe, I used the The Lord of the Wings blend which is comprised of ancho chile powder, pasilla negro chile powder, paprika, garlic, onion, and cumin. I read all of the Tolkien books as a child. We love the movies. Fun fact, I wanted to see Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in the theatre so badly that I sat through that three hour plus movie while I was in the early stages of labor with my younger son. I knew that if I didn't see it then, I would have to wait until it was on DVD before I could see it. I was really determined. We got home around 10pm, rested for a bit, then drove to the hospital at 5am. D was born just before 6:30am.

But this post is about this spice blend. I considered actually making oven-roasted wings. The spices actually made me long to fold them into a cheesy, creamy queso dip. In the end, I decided to use it as a dry rub on two racks of ribs.

This is super simple, but has an amazing fall-off-the-bone quality. You can use any spice blend that you like, but The Lord of the Wings blend was delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 rack of pork baby back ribs
• Also needed: foil, baking sheet, barbecue sauce

Lord of the Wings Spice Rub

• 1 cup organic dark brown sugar 
• 3 Tablespoons Lord of the Wings spice blend
• 1 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Procedure

The night before, or first thing in the morning, prepare the rub. Combine all ingredients, and mix thoroughly until well blended. Coat the ribs. With your hands, pat the rub onto both sides of the ribs, going heavier on the meaty side. Refrigerate for as many hours as you can; I ended up leaving them for 8 hours.

Right before you want to cook them, preheat the oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven heats, take the ribs out of the refrigerator to warm up.

To roast, wrap the ribs in aluminum foil and place them - meat side up - on a sheet pan and put them in the preheated oven.  Set the timer for 3 hours.

Reduce the heat to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook for another 2 to 3 hours. The longer you cook them, the more tender they will be. 

Gently unwrap the ribs and paint them with a thin coat of barbecue sauce. Return them to the oven - raise the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit - for 10 minutes or so. The sauce will begin to char.

Remove the ribs from the oven, place them on a cutting board, and chop them into individual servings (the meat should almost be falling off the bone at this point, so this will be easy).  Serve with more barbecue sauce and loads of napkins because eating ribs is a messy endeavor. Enjoy!

We enjoyed these with some baked beans, potato salad, and a nice bottle of Italian bubbly while we listened to the election results roll in.

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*Disclosure: I received product for free from the sponsor for recipe development, however, 

I have received no additional compensation for my post. My opinion is 100% my own and 100% accurate.