Hairy Bikers BBQ Ribs -Too Hot-Help me adjust Recipe Please.

[Oblomov]

Got friends coming round for BBQ on Sunday. Have ordered 2 racks of ribs and 2 Tenderloins of Pork from Butcher.
So decided to have a trial run last night, and ordered a rack of ribs. Did the Hairy Bikers recipe. The ribs were so tender and totally delicious. But too hot. Dh and I both agreed. Please could you help me decide what to take out to make them perfect. We both fundamentally liked the recipe and thus didn't want to use a totally different one. Just wanted to calm it down a bit, take out quite a lot of the heat.:
HairyBikerssBBQRibs

Recipe is:

For the dry rub
25 g light soft brown sugar
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp oregano

For the barbecue sauce
200 ml ketchup
100 ml water
75 ml cider vinegar
150 g light soft brown sugar
3 tbsp clearhoney
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 garlic cloves, crushed
+3 tbsp of the Dry Rub Mix

So, I guess i need to take out the Cayenne pepper, right? That is what is making it hot, right? Do I take out ALL of it?
Or do I need to take out the Paprika ASWELL. I am hoping that is not the case.
What do you suggest?

The cayenne and mustard are adding the heat, I'd halve both.

I would knock the cayenne down to 1/2 tsp and possibly paprika to 1/2tsp if using the hot one or 1tsp if using the mild version. They sound lovely though might have to switch from my simple version.

Yes to halving the mustard too, missed that one.

Thank you both. I have decided to halve the cayenne, half the paprika and half the mustard.
Hopefully that should work out just fine.
Many thanks.

I love chilli and can actually take food hot but a tiny bit of cayenne pepper leaves me gasping for breath and needing 20 gallons of water.

I would take out the cayenne, reduce the paprika to maybe 1tbsp or a couple of tsp - are you sure 2tbsp, sounds like quite a lot for just one rack of ribs, I think this may be why they were so hot especially if the orginal recipe is aiming for say 2-3kg of meat. Replace the lost cayenne and paprika with a tsp of chilli powder to give some heat.

Sorry, actually not just half.
Instead of:
2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp mustard

I might go:
1/2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp mustard

I would actually keep the paprika in, but use a sweet one - it's what gives them the beautiful deep smokiness. Agree with the others that dropping the cayenne and perhaps just a half teaspoon of mustard for a tiny piquancy should be delicious.

Yeah, I'd leave the paprika too, but make sure it's sweet or even smoked (or half and half), but not hot.

oh baking. Now I'm not so sure.
You think I should take out the cayenne altogether?
By the way it was a big rib rack of ribs, LOADS of meat and I THINK it was just under 2kg. I paid £8 for it.

I would completely leave out the cayenne. You will have heat from the mustard and depth from the paprika.

Oh noo ! No I'm all confused. Uhmming and ahhing about what quantities to use. Tis so tricky.

If you have Spanish paprika (pimenton), it will have a smoky flavour - I would go for a dulce/agridulce.

Also, 2tsp of black pepper will add a heat along with the mustard, so dropping the cayenne entirely would make the best sense if you're looking to keep flavour but drop heat.

Or you could keep the cayenne but at a reduced amount and increase the brown sugar - the sweet will balance the hot, while preserving a complexity of flavours.

25 g light soft brown sugar
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp oregano

This is what I would change it to

BUt...make sure it's a sweet or semi sweet paprika..

I would reduce the 2 tsp cayenne pepper to 1/2 tsp.
That recipe looks good, I am printing it out and making it, thank-you. :) I will also reduce the 2 tsp cayenne pepper, although my guys would love them hot, it would be too hot for me. I find with a lot of heat I can't taste the flavour of the other spices.

Update:
They were delicious.
So thanks to all of you.
I did remove the cayenne entirely. And cut the mustard to half.
I also realised that my parika was WELL out of date , so binned that, and went a got a very good one from our local Italian Deli (so thanks to Wippery for that reminder)
But looking back on it, they may have needed a tiny bit of 'pepping up'. It was lacking a tiny bit of heat.
I wonder ................

That sounds like a delicious recipe. Could you copy out the method please?

Hairy Bikers BBQ Ribs
Ingredients:
2 kg rindless well-trimmed pork ribs

For the dry rub:
25 g light soft brown sugar
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp oregano

For the barbecue sauce:
200 ml ketchup
100 ml water
75 ml cider vinegar
150 g light soft brown sugar
3 tbsp clearhoney
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 garlic cloves, crushed

Method:

1. For the dry rub: mix the brown sugar, paprika, salt, cayenne, mustard, pepper and oregano. Take 3 tbsp of the mixture and put in a medium saucepan to use for the wet barbecue sauce later.

1. Put the pork on a board and rub with the remaining dry rub on both sides, massaging into the meat. Place the pork on a low metal rack in a large roasting tin and leave to stand for 1 hour, or overnight if you have time.

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/150 fan/Gas 3. Add 100ml cold water to the roasting tin and cook the pork in the oven for 3 hours or until very soft and tender ? the meat should be almost falling off the bones. Turn every hour and add a little extra water if the base of the pan becomes dry as the pork drippings may stick and begin to burn. (Cover the ribs with a piece of foil if they begin to dry out.)

1. For the wet barbecue sauce: While the pork is cooking, make the barbecue sauce. Stir the ketchup, water, vinegar, sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce and garlic into the saucepan containing the 3 tbsp reserved dry rub. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened, stirring regularly.

1. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve into a bowl to get rid of the garlic that might otherwise burn on the barbecue. Pour roughly half the sauce into a serving dish and set aside. Leave the rest in the bowl.

1. Roughly 45 minutes before the pork is ready, light the barbecue. Take the pork out of the oven and, using a pastry brush, brush liberally on both sides with the barbecue sauce.

1. When the barbecue coals have been burning for a while and are covered with a light dusting of grey ash, carefully place the pork on the barbecue grill and cook over a low heat for 20-30 minutes, turning and brushing with more of the barbecue sauce every 5-8 minutes as it cooks.

1. Don?t leave the pork for a minute or the marinade could burn and be prepared to move the rack up if the coating starts catching. (You?ll need to use a decent set of tongs to turn the pork as it barbecues too.)

1. The idea is to get a thick, sweet, smoky coating on the pork. Carve the ribs and serve with the reserved barbecue sauce for dipping or drizzling.

I did 2 x racks of ribs.
and I also did 2 x 1.5 kg Pork Tenderloin - Char Sui Pork Tenderloin. (Hoisin, garlic, ginger, soy, honey, 5 spice). Was DELICIOUS. This is one of my dh's favourite recipes and it really is good.
The BBQ was a roaring success, I have to say.

Thaks so much.

No problem. Not too much Cayenne though !! Be warned!!

Glad they went down well. I'd suggest that for next time for a touch more heat that you increase the mustard powder first and see how you get on with that. If you feel that you need even more piquancy, start with a generous pinch of the cayenne.

Reduce the garlic and replace the mustard powder with whole grain mustard