Ribs - and how I came to cook them.

Ribs. (That's a photo of the ones I did Sunday night - and they were delicious.) My very first attempt at cooking ribs goes back to 1982 when Mike Royko, the Chicago columnist, started his ribfest. I've always loved ribs, but up until then I'd never tried to cook them. After reading about the ribfest I thought I'd try my hand at it. In talking to several people at work some had said that they'd parboil the ribs first and then finish them off in the oven. Some would start them in the oven and finish then on the grill. Cooking times varied from 60 minutes to several hours. ■ Not knowing much about ribs, or their preparation, my "recipe" was up in the air. And to be frank, I really don't remember a whole lot about my first batch other than: 1) I didn't parboil them, 2) I did cook them on the grill, 3) they were terrible. ■ It wasn't until we moved to this home that I even tried it again. I know my first attempt in this house was to try and smoke the ribs in my new smoker. That would put the time frame around 1990, or so. I used a dry rub and they came out "ok", but not something that was worth repeating. ■ Another few years goes flies by and I'm reintroduced to ribs by one of our friends - Terry. He does make fantastic ribs. In fact so good that I'm not ready to try my hand at them at that time. ■ Flash forward to a couple or so years ago and now I'm ready. I saw ribs at our local Sam's Club and decided to try my hand at making some decent ones. I think I've succeeded. My recipe for this success? That'll have to wait until tomorrow. It's after midnight and I need to get to bed. ■