Braised Pork Ribs

The secret to quality ribs, be they pork or otherwise, has eluded me for years. Each time I attempt to cook them, I wind up with a discouraging half-success, in that I have a concoction that's technically edible, but not quite what I'm looking for. Consequently, I pick them up once or twice a year to reattempt, only to come out of the experience discouraged and vowing to get my rib fix at a proper barbecue restaurant henceforth.

True to form, this attempt was little different. Several lessons learned, but I'll have to wait until the next time I feel so inspired to try and remedy the issues noted below. The recipe follows (as appropriated somewhat shamelessly from "Good Eats"):

Rub:
8 parts brown sugar
3 parts salt (I'd recommend reducing this to 2 parts, if not 1.5)
1 part blended cumin, anise, fennel, cayenne
1 part miscellaneous etc.
--Misc: 2 parts onion powder, 1 part garlic powder, 2 part chile powder, 1/2 part cinnamon, 1/2 part ginger powder, 2 parts italian herb, 2 part chinese 5-spice powder

Meat:
1 rack of pork spareribs

Braising liquid:
1/2 cup white wine (Gewurtz or pinot grigio work well for this; chardonnay not recommended, but it'll do)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Sauce:
Store-bought barbecue sauce of your choosing

Hardware:
1 baking sheet
1 piece of wide aluminum foil (long enough to hold the ribs)
1 microwave safe bowl/container

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Place the foil on the baking sheet, then the ribs on the foil. Mix all the rub ingredients together thoroughly and sprinkle very liberally over both sides of the ribs, patting it down to ensure proper surface contact. After applying the seasoning, make sure that the ribs are convex-side up (i.e., standing on the tips of the ribs, not resting on the rounded portion) and wrap it up in the foil. Refrigerate the newly-rubbed ribs for at least an hour (recommended: let it sit overnight).

After letting the ribs set for a while, you can start to make the braising mixture. In the microwave-safe bowl, mix the white wine, honey, worchestershire, and crushed garlic. Microwave the mixture on high for 30 seconds or so to ensure that the honey dissolves properly. Next, remove the ribs from the fridge and open up one end of the foil covering. Pour the mixture into the opening and tilt the ribs slightly to ensure that the liquid gets distributed properly. Reseal the foil opening and place the ribs on the middle rack of the oven. Let cook for ~2 hours, smelling the oven periodically to make sure you don't smell anything burning.

Remove the ribs and set the oven to broil. Let the ribs cool for a few minutes (and drain the braising liquid), then open up the foil and brush on your sauce. Place the ribs under the broiler (without closing the foil) for up to 30 seconds--watch carefully, as the sauce will burn very quickly. Once the sauce has caramelized, remove the ribs and let them cool again. Slice into desired portions and serve with napkins.

Lessons learned:
In retrospect, the spice rub utilizes too much salt; I'd subsequently reduce it to 2 parts instead of 3. The spices add a great flavor, and could probably be increased to make up the missing part. Outside of that, the recipe wasn't bad at all. The sauce was originally supposed to be made from a reduction of the braising liquid, but while I was attempting that, my smoke alarm started going off and I decided to forgo that this time and get this over with.