TF's Barbequed Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:
2 slabs baby back ribs (about 3 pounds)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 bacon slices
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 onion
3 smashed garlic cloves
2 cups ketchup
1 cup peach preserves
2 T Dijon mustard or 1 T dry mustard
2 T brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 T red or white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground paprika

Preparing the barbeque sauce:
Wrap the bacon around the middle of the thyme sprigs and tie with kitchen twine into a bundle. Heat a 2-count of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme bundle and cook slowly for 3 to 4 minutes to render the bacon fat. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly, without coloring, for 5 minutes. Add all of the rest of the sauce ingredients, stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes. Set aside some sauce for basting, reserving the remaining sauce for serving.

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Preparing the ribs:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Put the ribs on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Stick them in the oven, and let the ribs bake, low and slow for 1 1/2 hours.

Baste the ribs with the sauce and let them continue cooking, basting twice more, for 30 more minutes. When the ribs are cooked, remove from the oven. Finish by basting and putting the ribs under the broiler for about 5 minutes on each side, until slightly charred and crisp. Take the onion and garlic out of the sauce and serve on the side with ribs.

Serves 4 to 6