Bill and I love a good food challenge, so we graciously agreed to tackling the dino sized ribs. However, immediately following our conversation with Tressa, we both sat there in silence for a moment, looked at each other with the slightest bit of fear, and without words knew that we were both thinking the same thing. “Do we actually have the capability to cook these?” It’s safe to say that our slight anxiety only increased when they arrived in the mail, and we saw TWO 16 pound packages of beef ribs, each with 4 slabs in a package. Holy moly. They were bigger than a small child (okay, that’s an exaggeration, but not too far off!).

Anxiety aside, we knew we had to figure out a way to make these babies amazing, and we were really excited to do so. We knew the grill was out of the question. We don’t have a smoker, and we weren’t sure that even one individual rib would have fit in a crock pot. After realizing the oven was our only bet, we did some research on cooking beef ribs in the oven. We found it was best to slow cook them, and as much as we hate to cook food in aluminum foil, we really didn’t see any other way around it. We needed the foil to keep the moisture in and almost steam them, if not, we were pretty sure they would dry out.

For flavor, we opted for a simple rib rub and called it a day. The ribs were the star of the show for our paleo cookout. You can bet all the CrossFitters loved them. Our first attempt at beef back ribs was a success, and since we have a whole other 16 pound package still in the freezer, we can’t wait to try another recipe with them.

Ingredients:

• 16 lbs of beef back ribs
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon chipotle pepper
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper

Process:

1. Cut slab into individual rib pieces.
2. Place wire cooking racks on baking sheets and put individual rib pieces onto the racks.
3. Sprinkle ribs generously with seasoning rub, and refrigerate uncovered for at least an hour, but as long as over night.
4. Preheat oven to 225.
5. Allow ribs to come to room temperature, cover with aluminum foil, and place in oven.
6. Cook at 225 for 4 hours.