Grilled Spareribs with Cherry Cola Glaze

**Before using the cherry cola, pour it into a bowl and allow it to stand at room temperature until no longer effervescent, about four hours.

4 12-ounce cans cherry cola (flat)

2 cups cherry jam or preserves (store brand has worked fine for this)

2/3 cup Dijon mustard with horseradish (almost 1 jar of Maille mustard)

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. malt vinegar or apple cider vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)

1 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce (I use Tabasco)

7 ¼ to 7 ½ lbs. well-trimmed pork spareribs

Boil cherry cola in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to 1 ½ cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in next 5 ingredients. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until mixture is reduced to 2 ½ cups, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes. Transfer glaze to large bowl. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature before using)

Position racks in top and bottom thirds of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Wrap each rib rack tightly in foil, enclosing completely. Divide foil packets between 2 rimmed baking sheets. I actually cut my rib racks in half before baking to make the cutting later on much easier. I wouldn’t cut them individually at this point, otherwise they might dry out. Bake until ribs are very tender, switching positions of baking sheets halfway through baking, about 2 hours total. Cool ribs slightly in foil. Pour off any fat from foil packets (very important step!) (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep covered in foil packets and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before continuing)

Prepare barbecue (medium-low heat). Cut each rib rack between bones into individual ribs. Set aside 1 cup glaze. Add ribs to bowl with remaining glaze and toss to coat. Grill ribs until brown and glazed, turning to prevent burning, about 5 minutes total. Serve, passing reserved glaze separately. Everyone loves these..especially with baked beans. I just use Bush’s Original baked beans and add ketchup, brown sugar and strips of bacon across the top. Also great with a simple potato salad (boiled russet potatoes cubed, finely chopped onions, sweet pickles (sour pickles soaked in sugar overnight), Hellman’s mayonnaise, salt and pepper.)

**this recipe tends to work better if you are careful to time things out exactly. The glaze sometimes doesn’t thicken if you leave it to chance.