I’m a day late but that seems the routine lately. Weekends of yard work see my Monday posts delayed til Tuesday and now poor Wayback Wednesday escaped me too. Luckily Throwback Thursday is a universal given and I’ll just jump into that mix. I decided to route this post back again after an epiphany the other day. I sat pitting a couple of pounds of cherries and started thinking about what I would use them for and barbecue sauce came to mind. As I contemplated what I use would with that sweet, gorgeous burgundy orb I knew it would need some heat and what better than Chipotle peppers with their smoky, fiery combination?

Then at the back of my mind there was this little pause; which led to a search and son of a gun I had already done it! So here is my post from 4 years ago…because once I remembered I also remembered how amazingly good it was; it beat what I thought would be my favorite with bourbon in a barbecue ribs throwdown! Both were really fabulous barbecue sauces so this is not just a recipe for a sauce, nope it’s Barbecued Baby Back Ribs with Two Sauces!

I’ve been using a grill for a long time; first helping my Dad as a kid and for many years perfecting a lot of dishes outdoors. I’ve even cooked a turkey at Thanksgiving on my grill. But I had been slow to come to ribs; guessing because there is such a fanaticism about them that I hesitated to even try as I was sure the difficulty factor was huge and that was not what I wanted for a summer barbecue experience.

So when I finally decided to take the plunge it was prophetic that the fellow next to me at the Costco meat counter was a great resource because the results were outstanding. His method called for a dry rub and putting some form of liquid in the bottom of a roasting pan and I liked that and started to think about what I would use that would be complimentary to a great sauce. And therein as they say…was the rub (and I’m not talking the dry rub!).

We enjoyed the barbecued ribs so much that I made them a couple of times that summer but the one thing that never quite seemed to measure up? The sauce. I asked for suggestions on Twitter, got a ready made recommendation filled with corn syrup and one recipe that was OK but just never really found that perfect blend of ingredients that satisfied my quest for the perfect sauce (well at least perfect for me!)

I decided it was finally time to throw recipes to the wind and do my own thing; inspired mostly by wanting to make a bourbon concoction with some maple syrup and mustard. A second recipe combining fresh cherries and chipotle peppers was planned and we were off to the races.

To make it fun, I asked some neighbors to join me for dinner so we could come to a consensus about which sauce was better, the Bourbon Maple or the Cherry Chipotle?

Truth is…after polling which ones they loved the best they all said that hands down their favorite was – my Cilantro Rice Dish! It is the perfect accompaniment and you should try it too; this is the most surprising dish I have ever made. Simple ingredients, not hard to put together and yet the final dish is hard to describe but it is hard to stop eating too. Don’t let the serrano chile fool you; it adds a definite flavor boost but nothing about this rice is really hot, it’s just really, really good; perfect with the ribs.

Back to the ribs! The overwhelming preference was the Cherry Chipotle barbecue sauce and I admit some surprise because boozy sauces are always so popular but it seems that bit of heat (which I thought could be more) was the kicker. The next day, I fiddled with the Bourbon Maple a bit and wish my testers had been around to try again..yes cumin and liquid smoke DID make a difference. A 2nd chipotle pepper for the cherry version did the trick too; now I had two sauces I loved. I mean LOVED!

Seems the cut of meat was equally outstanding as some guests complimented on how much meat was on the bone and bottom line I heard that they were some of the best ribs they had ever eaten. What could be more perfect than that except maybe these ribs with a Watermelon Margarita? 😉