Step 1

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Step 2

Cut the rack of spare ribs into the rack of St. Louis Ribs and a strip of rib tips, as shown in the pictures above. Leave the St. Louis rack intact, but cut the rib tips strip into individual bite-sized ribs, saving any longer bones without much meat for soup or discard.

Step 3

Make the dry rub by mixing the brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, mustard powder, onion powder, and pepper. Remove 1/3 of the rib rub and use for the rib tips and put the rest onto both sides of the rack of ribs.

Step 4

Wrap the rack in a double layer of aluminum foil and seal it tightly. Set it on a baking sheet. Pile the tips into another sheet of foil and seal it up. Set it onto the same baking sheet, if there’s space, or on a different one. Bake for 1.5 hours at 300°F.

Step 5

Remove the pan(s) from the oven and open up the foil to expose the ribs and the rib tips. Bake with the foil wide open for another 1.5 hours at 300°F.

Step 6

Remove the pan(s) from the oven.* Preheat the broiler.

Step 7

Remove the rib tips from the foil, discard it, and arrange the rib tips on the baking sheet or on a broiler pan. Remove the foil from the rack and discard it. Cut the rack into individual ribs. Arrange them on the baking sheet, if there’s room, or on another one. Brush all the ribs and rib tips with BBQ sauce all over.

Step 8

Set the pan so that the ribs and rib tips are about 6 inches from the broiler elements. Broil until dark spots appear on top, 5-6 minutes. Flip meat over and continue to cook until dark spots appear on the tops, another 4-5 minutes.