Bacon Wrapped Spicy Brown Sugar Pork Ribs

Well after abstaining from meat on Good Friday and having to work on Easter Sunday, my grandmother and I celebrated Easter a day early with a pork festival.  I was in charge of making dinner for grandma and I and I didn't want to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen for a simple meal.  So I ventured to the grocery store and went looking for things that were simple and on sale; I truly had no recipes in mind.  However, when I saw that Western Cut pork ribs were on sale, I was sold.  Pork it would be!  In case Western Cut pork ribs are a new thing to you, check out the photo, they are pieces of pork with no bones.  These are the softest cut of meat, but they are tasty and good for wrapping in bacon!  The rub for these ribs are can be catered to your spice tolerance level.  I like things that are a bit spicy, so these were a perfect combination of sweet and spicy!  I made them the night before and let them sit in the refrigerator, then I took them about about 30 minutes before I wanted to pop them in the oven to come to room temperature.  Feel free to play around with the spice rub mixture and MAKE SURE TO REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS BEFORE SERVING!  Nothing ruins a dinner like a trip to the ER.

Ingredients:
8 Western Cut Pork Ribs
24 strips of bacon (approximately 3 pieces per rib)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp ground mustard
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
toothpicks

Directions:  Grab yourself a pan with a wire rack that fits in it.  Unwrap the ribs and the bacon and pour yourself out some toothpicks.  In a bowl, mix the brown sugar, cayenne, cinnamon, mustard powder, salt and pepper; then pour this mixture onto a plate.   Leave about  3 tablespoons of the spice mixture in the bowl to sprinkle on before you broil.  Take the pork rib and roll it in the sugar spice mixture, then take a piece of bacon and starting at the end, wrap the bacon as tightly as possible around the rib.  In order to do this, place a toothpick at the end to secure it, then roll/wrap the bacon.  A second clean plate works best for the rolling part.  When the bacon stops, add the second piece and secure with a toothpick,  add a third piece if needed.  The entire rib should be covered by the bacon.  Repeat this until all the ribs are covered.  Enjoy the extra bacon or add it to the bourbon gravy , recipe in next blog post tomorrow.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Cover the ribs with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.  After 25 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes.  Then, turn the broiler on.  Pull out the ribs and sprinkle them on both sides with the left over brown sugar spice mixture.  Broil the ribs on both sides until the bacon turns crisp and the brown sugar creates a crisp crust.  Serve hot!    Don't you dare get rid of those pan drippings!!!!  Bourbon gravy is going to be made from those! Tune in tomorrow!