How I cook my ribs .... no saucing, no glazing, no spritzing ..... just ribs, smoke, heat and a great rub :-)
First things, first. To many BBQ type folks, especially ones that like the Kansas City style, I am a heathen. I never put sauce on my ribs while cooking. You are welcome to, of course, because BBQ is uniquely creative cooking with as many different styles, variations, and methods as there are people cooking it.
Second thing to be clear about. I cook ribs very straightforward and not complex. My goal is not to win a competition, it is to put great ribs on the plate of me, my family, and my friends. I don’t do things you may have heard of like 3-2-1 or Texas Crutch. I don’t glaze with maple syrup. I do want good bark on the ribs and great flavor, including smoke flavor.
Ingredients
1 slab of pork loin back ribs, pork spare ribs, or Saint Louis Cut spare ribs
1/2 tsp kosher salt per pound of ribs
3-4 tablespoons of Memphis Dust, a dry rub
Memphis Dust
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white table sugar
1/2 cup paprika (Hungarian sweet, not Spanish)
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 TBSP ginger powder
2 TBSP onion powder
2 TBSP coarse ground black pepper
2 TSP rosemary powder
1 TSP chili powder (or cayenne or chipotle)
This is "stolen" from Amazing Ribs, but slightly modified with sweet paprika and a chili powder to fit my flavor profile.
Tips and Tricks
Dry Brining is a great way to add flavor and tenderness to your meat. See down in the method about dry brining. This particular trick greatly improves flavor and tenderness both.
Smoke flavor - two things will really make a difference to how much smoke will end up on the meat. Smoke is very fine particles of matter coming from the burning fuel mixed into an aerosol of water vapor and gases from the burning fuel. The smoke sticks to your meat and creates that smoked flavor. Smoke is captured better when the surface of the meat is rough and when it is cold and wet. The rub helps to break up the smooth surface of the meat. I always bring the meat from the fridge to the counter, wet it with water and apply my rub, and then straight to the cooker ... this gets that wet, cold meat in play, also. And this helps create the smoke ring, the visual appearance of smoked food.
Smoke Ring - this is a beautiful pink color in your meat running from the surface inwards. The smoke ring comes from the gases in the smoke, specifically the nitric oxide. The smoke ring does not change the flavor of the meat at all, but it sure does look pretty. The other thing, though, is that you are not producing the right sorts of gases in your smoke to get a smoke ring if your fire isn't burning around 700F. So, fire management is crucial. There's tons of long write ups on fire management and you can learn a lot from them. I won't do that here, just note that you want your smoke to thin and have a bluish tint to it rather than white to grey and heavy.
Method
24 hours prior to cooking the ribs, dry brine them with the kosher salt. You are going to liberally salt the ribs with 1/2 tsp of kosher salt per pound. Then place on a cookie sheet and put in the fridge uncovered.
1 hour prior to cooking, get your grill, smoker, BBQ set up for smoking. Set it up for 2 zone cooking, with an indirect zone around 250F and with smoke from wood chunks, wood chips, or a wood fire depending on your cooker type. You want the cooker ready to go right on time, about 5-6 hours prior to serving.
Timing depends on the ribs you will cook. Here’s some guidelines
Bearing that in mind, add 1 hour for holding the ribs at 170F in the oven or a faux cambro (very important) and 20 minutes to prep, slice, serve and that is your timing. Add up the estimated cooking time, the hold time, the prep time and the time to start your grill, bbq, smoker, etc. Figure the time you want to serve dinner, and work backwards from there to when you need to start your cooker. Now add an extra 30 minutes in case those ribs are ornery. If you don't need it, that's okay, just hold them an extra 30 minutes.
I do not spritz or mop or any of those things. I do keep the cooker humid and moist with a water pan in the cooker. Best option is right under the ribs. If you are using something like a Weber Smokey Mountain then you are all set since it uses a water pan. On a Weber Kettle, or similar, put the water pan under the ribs, with the charcoal piled on the other side to give you direct/indirect zones. On a gas grill, you can put the water pan on the grill above the burners that are turned on. And so forth.
When your cooker is at a stable temp, get the ribs on, close the lid and leave it ALONE. About 1 hour before they should be done, you can start checking on the ribs for doneness. There are multiple approaches to done. I like to use two of them: the bend test and the probe test. The bend test is pretty easy, you pick up the slab of ribs with your tongs about 1/3 of the way down the slab and let them "bend". If they bend well and get a crack in the bark they are done. The probe test uses a thin probe such as a toothpick or the probe of your handheld digital thermometer (like a thermapen). You probe into the meat between the bones and when your probe goes in as easily as a knife into warm butter, the ribs are done.
If you have set up your wood and cooker correctly, you won’t need to add any more wood during the cook. Most grills/bbq’s can be set up to hold 250 at the grate for 3-5 hours very easily, so you shouldn’t have to add more fuel either.
When the ribs are "done" on the smoker, you need to wrap them tightly in aluminum foil and keep them in the oven at 170F or in a faux cambro. A faux cambro is easy to create. Take your beer cooler, fill it with hot water and close the lid. When you are ready to hold the ribs, get them wrapped. Then dump the water out, line the bottom of the cooler with towels, add the ribs on a cookie sheet or similar, then add more towels and close the lid. It will hold the ribs, above 170, for 2-3 hours.
Now prep all your sides ... I like corn on the cob, coleslaw, and maybe beans. When that’s all ready, pull the ribs out and slice into individual bones with a sharp knife.
Slice the ribs into individual bones, serve and enjoy!
Ribs .... about to dry brine plus mixing up the rub
Ribs nicely salted for brining
Getting the rub on right before going to the smoker
Doing the bend test
Uwrapped and ready to slice
All ready to serve .... that dog agrees!
First things, first. To many BBQ type folks, especially ones that like the Kansas City style, I am a heathen. I never put sauce on my ribs while cooking. You are welcome to, of course, because BBQ is uniquely creative cooking with as many different styles, variations, and methods as there are people cooking it.
Second thing to be clear about. I cook ribs very straightforward and not complex. My goal is not to win a competition, it is to put great ribs on the plate of me, my family, and my friends. I don’t do things you may have heard of like 3-2-1 or Texas Crutch. I don’t glaze with maple syrup. I do want good bark on the ribs and great flavor, including smoke flavor.
Ingredients
1 slab of pork loin back ribs, pork spare ribs, or Saint Louis Cut spare ribs
1/2 tsp kosher salt per pound of ribs
3-4 tablespoons of Memphis Dust, a dry rub
Memphis Dust
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white table sugar
1/2 cup paprika (Hungarian sweet, not Spanish)
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 TBSP ginger powder
2 TBSP onion powder
2 TBSP coarse ground black pepper
2 TSP rosemary powder
1 TSP chili powder (or cayenne or chipotle)
This is "stolen" from Amazing Ribs, but slightly modified with sweet paprika and a chili powder to fit my flavor profile.
Tips and Tricks
Dry Brining is a great way to add flavor and tenderness to your meat. See down in the method about dry brining. This particular trick greatly improves flavor and tenderness both.
Smoke flavor - two things will really make a difference to how much smoke will end up on the meat. Smoke is very fine particles of matter coming from the burning fuel mixed into an aerosol of water vapor and gases from the burning fuel. The smoke sticks to your meat and creates that smoked flavor. Smoke is captured better when the surface of the meat is rough and when it is cold and wet. The rub helps to break up the smooth surface of the meat. I always bring the meat from the fridge to the counter, wet it with water and apply my rub, and then straight to the cooker ... this gets that wet, cold meat in play, also. And this helps create the smoke ring, the visual appearance of smoked food.
Smoke Ring - this is a beautiful pink color in your meat running from the surface inwards. The smoke ring comes from the gases in the smoke, specifically the nitric oxide. The smoke ring does not change the flavor of the meat at all, but it sure does look pretty. The other thing, though, is that you are not producing the right sorts of gases in your smoke to get a smoke ring if your fire isn't burning around 700F. So, fire management is crucial. There's tons of long write ups on fire management and you can learn a lot from them. I won't do that here, just note that you want your smoke to thin and have a bluish tint to it rather than white to grey and heavy.
Method
24 hours prior to cooking the ribs, dry brine them with the kosher salt. You are going to liberally salt the ribs with 1/2 tsp of kosher salt per pound. Then place on a cookie sheet and put in the fridge uncovered.
1 hour prior to cooking, get your grill, smoker, BBQ set up for smoking. Set it up for 2 zone cooking, with an indirect zone around 250F and with smoke from wood chunks, wood chips, or a wood fire depending on your cooker type. You want the cooker ready to go right on time, about 5-6 hours prior to serving.
Timing depends on the ribs you will cook. Here’s some guidelines
- Grocery store back ribs are about 2.5 lbs and will take about 3 hours to cook
- Costco back ribs are about 3 lbs and will take about 4 hours to cook
- Spare ribs run about 4 lbs and will take about 5 hours to cook
- Saint Louis Cut spare ribs run about 4 lbs and will take about 5 hours to cook
Bearing that in mind, add 1 hour for holding the ribs at 170F in the oven or a faux cambro (very important) and 20 minutes to prep, slice, serve and that is your timing. Add up the estimated cooking time, the hold time, the prep time and the time to start your grill, bbq, smoker, etc. Figure the time you want to serve dinner, and work backwards from there to when you need to start your cooker. Now add an extra 30 minutes in case those ribs are ornery. If you don't need it, that's okay, just hold them an extra 30 minutes.
I do not spritz or mop or any of those things. I do keep the cooker humid and moist with a water pan in the cooker. Best option is right under the ribs. If you are using something like a Weber Smokey Mountain then you are all set since it uses a water pan. On a Weber Kettle, or similar, put the water pan under the ribs, with the charcoal piled on the other side to give you direct/indirect zones. On a gas grill, you can put the water pan on the grill above the burners that are turned on. And so forth.
When your cooker is at a stable temp, get the ribs on, close the lid and leave it ALONE. About 1 hour before they should be done, you can start checking on the ribs for doneness. There are multiple approaches to done. I like to use two of them: the bend test and the probe test. The bend test is pretty easy, you pick up the slab of ribs with your tongs about 1/3 of the way down the slab and let them "bend". If they bend well and get a crack in the bark they are done. The probe test uses a thin probe such as a toothpick or the probe of your handheld digital thermometer (like a thermapen). You probe into the meat between the bones and when your probe goes in as easily as a knife into warm butter, the ribs are done.
If you have set up your wood and cooker correctly, you won’t need to add any more wood during the cook. Most grills/bbq’s can be set up to hold 250 at the grate for 3-5 hours very easily, so you shouldn’t have to add more fuel either.
When the ribs are "done" on the smoker, you need to wrap them tightly in aluminum foil and keep them in the oven at 170F or in a faux cambro. A faux cambro is easy to create. Take your beer cooler, fill it with hot water and close the lid. When you are ready to hold the ribs, get them wrapped. Then dump the water out, line the bottom of the cooler with towels, add the ribs on a cookie sheet or similar, then add more towels and close the lid. It will hold the ribs, above 170, for 2-3 hours.
Now prep all your sides ... I like corn on the cob, coleslaw, and maybe beans. When that’s all ready, pull the ribs out and slice into individual bones with a sharp knife.
Slice the ribs into individual bones, serve and enjoy!
Ribs .... about to dry brine plus mixing up the rub
Ribs nicely salted for brining
Getting the rub on right before going to the smoker
Doing the bend test
Uwrapped and ready to slice
All ready to serve .... that dog agrees!
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