Pork Rib Preparation

What's your favorite way to make fall-off-the-bone pork ribs?

I usually take the easy way out: in the crock-pot, covered in bbq sauce, cook for 8 hours. Unbelievable!

But tomorrow I've got to cook more than the crock holds, so what do you all like?

Go get a smoker.

Failing that, 5 or so hours in your oven at 225 deg should do the trick. If you want the "fall off the bone" texture (which to me is mushy) wrap them in foil for the last hour or two.

Dry rub, pecan/apple/hickory smoke, low and slow. 225-ish for 4-6 hours.

I don't like my ribs falling off the bone. I like 'em on there pretty firm, with a mess of smoky taste and little if any sauce.

Smoked is where it's at. I'm a fan of hickory/maple for my ribs. If you don't have a smoker, use a grill set up for looooow indirect cooking. Should take at least five hours - shoot for six. Seconded that they'll be more mushy if you wrap them for the last third of the cook. I would add that moistening them heavily with apple juice before wrapping will soften them up a bit more than a plain foil wrap.

Marinate, grill for gooood color(blackish). put them on a sheet pan, make sure there is a bit of moisture(marinade, beer, whatever you like).


Wrap the sheet pan in plastic wrap, then foil. << Plastic wrap sounds weird but the foil dissipates heat very well, and the plastic does not melt. This will allow your bones to steam and roast at the same time.

In the oven for 4 hours at 250 plus or minus. Dont peak! Absolutely Tits. Not smoked, dry rub ribs, but moist, falling off the bone, h.ll you can eat the bones.

You must have moisture in there. Marinate the night before if possible, even if they are frozen. Put salt in your marinade. Salt draws moisture from the meat, and since nature abhors a vacuum, draws your marinade in.

Post pics.

Like others I am a fan of traditional BBQ and do not want fall of the bone ribs.

Foiling with some liquid in there (apple juice is popular, I like blueberry juice), is definitely the way to go. Plus 100 on that suggestion.

Gently boil them for a bit to remove excess fat, tenderize, and cook. After that they can be grilled, smoked, or baked with whatever rub or sauce you like. For falling off the bone, low and slow in a smoker or grill for a couple hours works well.

I am a spare rib guy as opposed to baby backs, I brine mine overnight, give em a dry rub after rinsing and patting dry, then I smoke them for 6-8 hours or longer using white oak, mesquite, or live oak if I can get it. I like the ribs to have a certain feel to them, not fall off the bone, but tender. And dont forget to pull the membrane off them before brining or cooking. I have done them foiled, unfoiled, its all up to you, experiment a little, as long as you are cooking them low and slow they should be perfect.

I am a competition bbq cook. Boiling or cooking ribs in a crock pot robs your ribs of flavor. Boiling removes fat and fat is flavor. Falling off the bone ribs are overcooked. As a matter of fact you will loose points in competition for falling of the bone ribs. Ribs cooked to perfection require a simple bite, the meat should come off the bone with minimal effort, leaving the rest of the meat on the bone. Perfectly cooked and well seasoned meat wins contests and taste wonderful. Perfectly cooked ribs takes some skill and all too often people use falling off the bone as an excuse for overcooking the ribs.

I won't give away all of our competition secrets but I will share a recipe that will give you the best home cooked ribs you have ever tasted. They start like this:

Go to Sams Club and buy your ribs there. Butchers tend to trim too much fat and that fat flavors your meat. For home I would recommend Baby Back Ribs. For competition we buy full spares and trim them ourselves to St. Louis cut. This is redious, but again we are competing for money.

Once you obtain your ribs, there is a silvery membrane on the bottom side that should be removed. Remove it with a paper towel and a dinner knife. Get under the membrane with the dinner knife, grab it with the paper towel and try to peal it off in one piece. If you can't take it off in one piece, peel the rest off the best you can.

Once you are done getting the membrane off it is time to season the ribs. Get a jar of plain yellow mustard, no Grey Poupon, just some plain everyday yellow mustard. This is the glue that will adhere the rub to the ribs. Pat the ribs dry with a paper towel and smear mustard all over both sides of the ribs. The mustard also has vinegar in it which will help tenderize the ribs. You will never taste the mustard and no one will ever know you used it. Once the ribs are slathered with mustard, sprinkle your dry rub on the front, back and the sides of the ribs. Put a good coating of rub on the ribs. The rub I recommend for ribs is Obie-Cue's Sweet if you don't like spicy or Obie-Cue's Heat and Sweet for a little bite.

Once they are rubbed they are ready for smoke. In competition we use a $5000 Lang offset smoker, but in our back yard is a $300 Weber Smokey Mountain. It will smoke every bit as well as our Lang Trailer Cooker and we regularly practice on our Weber Smokey Mountain, trying new flavors. Remember it's the cook not the cooker. Set your cooker to cook at 275 degrees using chuncks of hickory. About 5 chuncks of hickory will do the trick because we do not want to over smoke the ribs. Keeping the pit at 275 degrees is key. Learn your pit, whether it's an expensive competition cooker or a backyard Weber Smokey Mountain, learn how to control your temperatures. It's all part of being a pitmaster.

The ribs will cook for about 5 hours total. About 4 hours into the cook, it's time to add some flavor. I hope you haven't opened the cooker until now. Remember if your looking you are not cooking. Ok, now I recommend liberally sprinkling some brown sugar over the top of the ribs. For those more adventurous try a good honey but don't over do it.

About 30 minutes after you put your layer of sweet on the ribs, it's time to start checking the ribs for doneness. The ribs are done when you grab one end of the rack and they bend 90 degrees downward at about the middle. This is the no thermometer way of checking for doneness that competition have used for years. When they are done, we usually sprinkle on a little San Antonio Red Chile Powder (available from Pendry's) and sauce. Sauce is a personal preference. Some like it hot, some like it tangy, some like it sweet and if you are like me I just sprinkle more rub on them and forgo the sauce. It's up to you on the type of sauce you like if any. We like Blues Hog and Head Country. I am sure you have your own brand or like to make your own.

I have left out a few competition secrets but this will give you some of the best ribs you have ever eaten. Remember to layer those flavors: rub, sweet, a little heat then sauce. The most critical thing is pit control. Learn how to control your pit temperatures and you can create great ribs with this formula. Best of luck.

competition secrets

Remove membrane, dry-rub. Cook 5-6 hours @ 225, with hickory smoke for the first hour. All the above tips for dry rub and cooking are great. Be sure to mop with an acidic liquid like red wine vinegar or orange juice during cooking.

My secret is this:

After the first 5-6 hours, drizzle your ribs all over with honey, stack them and wrap in foil. Put 1/2 cup orange juice in the foil packet and let cook for another hour. The orange juice will make the meat super tender, and the honey will turn into a nice glaze.

Thanks for all the great tips. I'm going to have to try smoking some ribs soon. I understand how many of you feel about overcooking the ribs. Probably very similar to my feeling that cooking a good steak past MR is an atrocity(Very Rare for myself). That said, my wife will order a Filet well done, and though I, and the entire restaurant staff, shake our collective heads in amazement/disgust when she does so, she absolutely loves it. Similar to the way I feel about Fallin-off-the-bone Ribs. I will deffinately give some "properly cooked" ribs a try soon though.

Ok, I was going to try and stay out of this because most of the suggestions almost made me want to cry. While I might not agree 100% with everything sawdustguy said (pretty much just opinion and preferences) his advice is by far the best given. Although you may not want true competition style ribs which is just your decision.

Even if you aren't going to be using a smoker great ribs are very possible. Just please don't boil them or put them in a crock pot, that kills them. Also, don't pay much attention to time.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is what kind of ribs you are cooking. Most people are saying 5-6 hours but for baby backs that is waaaaaay to long, even low and slow. When the meat starts to pull up on the bone they are about done, that is what you need to look for.

I have made tons of ribs in both a smoker and in the oven. In the oven what I would reccomend is to remove the membrane and rub down both sides with your rub of choice. Let that sit and hour or so and hit it with some more rub. Put these into a pan and shake just a little bit of liquid smoke over them. Cover the pan in foil and toss into an oven at 225-250. When the meat starts to pull up on the bone pull them out and toss them onto a super hot grill and glaze turning every couple minutes.

I fully second the mustard as a base/glue for the ribs. I've never done the sweet and heat addition after rubbing and smoking, but it's now in my arsenal. Damn, I love this site.

dataz722 said:

Ok, I was going to try and stay out of this because most of the suggestions almost made me want to cry. While I might not agree 100% with everything sawdustguy said (pretty much just opinion and preferences) his advice is by far the best given. Although you may not want true competition style ribs which is just your decision.

Even if you aren't going to be using a smoker great ribs are very possible. Just please don't boil them or put them in a crock pot, that kills them. Also, don't pay much attention to time.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is what kind of ribs you are cooking. Most people are saying 5-6 hours but for baby backs that is waaaaaay to long, even low and slow. When the meat starts to pull up on the bone they are about done, that is what you need to look for.

I have made tons of ribs in both a smoker and in the oven. In the oven what I would reccomend is to remove the membrane and rub down both sides with your rub of choice. Let that sit and hour or so and hit it with some more rub. Put these into a pan and shake just a little bit of liquid smoke over them. Cover the pan in foil and toss into an oven at 225-250. When the meat starts to pull up on the bone pull them out and toss them onto a super hot grill and glaze turning every couple minutes.

Click to expand...

This is pretty much my method (for babybacks) having never smoked them. I learned it in a restaurant that did them this way. They should only need somewhere between 2-3 hours in the oven (usually closer to 2 and very rarely as much as 3 hours ime).

I actually think I prefer them pre-cooked in the oven one day, wrapped up, chilled, then glazed on the grill the next day. This lets the gelatin set and gives it a little more texture, if you like that.

the best way to prepare pork ribs is by lowering them carefully and gently down into the trash bin and covering them up so no one must see them.

And then going out and buying some Beef Chuck ribs.

GilaMinumBeer said:

the best way to prepare pork ribs is by lowering them carefully and gently down into the trash bin and covering them up so no one must see them.

And then going out and buying some Beef Chuck ribs.

Click to expand...

And don't forget the bottle of patron, right?

dataz722 said:

And don't forget the bottle of patron, right?

Click to expand...

Bwahahahaha. Might wanna wait til after the ribs are cooked for that.

SWMBO insisted that I preboil ribs before grilling them. I protested, but she seems to have a phobia about under cooking meat. She is the same about just about every meat.

I think there is something about Xmas turkey that I heard rings true to me. Americans tend to be afraid of under cooking, while Brits tend to be afraid of over cooking. I try to go for the middle ground aside from steaks, of course.

I use this recipe as a guide and make minor changes here and there but it works very very very well. Never have I had one complaint and always am asked for the recipe.

http://www.cookingcache.com/pork/competitionbbqribs.shtml?rdid=rc1

I have experimented by changing spices, replacing most of the salts with their powder equivalent and the last stage on the grill.

hmm... I sure could go for some ribs right now.

with spares, I use the 3-2-1 method

3 hours of smoke
2 hours foiled
1 hour saucing

My buddy (who does great ribs for us) is a big proponent of the double cook method.

He uses the grill both times, but you could easily do oven then grill.

Cook once, low and slow with rub to almost done. Then let them cool, re-rub, and grill again (usually next day for him) to get the spices charred on there and a nice crusty outside.

jezter6 said:

My buddy (who does great ribs for us) is a big proponent of the double cook method.

He uses the grill both times, but you could easily do oven then grill.

Cook once, low and slow with rub to almost done. Then let them cool, re-rub, and grill again (usually next day for him) to get the spices charred on there and a nice crusty outside.

Click to expand...

I will agree that those are damn good ribs. They aren't "fall of the bone" though. I prefer ribs that don't fall off the bone when you take a bite but some people don't.

The 3-2-1 method as mentioned at the top of this page is foolproof and yields fantastic results, although there are other trade secret/family recipes/different ways that all make different ribs that are all delicious.

Google the 3-2-1 BBQ Rib method and you really can't go wrong.

+1 to a bunch of stuff! I always pull the membrane off and grill on a weber @ 225-250 for all long as the beer lasts or the kids scream that they are hungry. I use a mix of 2/3rds apple juice 1/3rd ol #7 bbq sauce and drench often. If time is a factor I have boiled for 30 min then the grill for 30 min. Not as good, but wuill do in a pinch.

GilaMinumBeer said:

the best way to prepare pork ribs is by lowering them carefully and gently down into the trash bin and covering them up so no one must see them.

And then going out and buying some Beef Chuck ribs.

Click to expand...

ALAMAK!!!!!!

Oh well....like I tell my wife. More for me! :rockin:

Give me the fall off the bones ribs. I have yet to make them this way, but I prefer them that way. As long as they don't get too soft, and have lots of spice and flavor.

I'm doing ribs tonight in the wood fired oven. I think I'll give Sawdustguys recipe a try.

Homercidal said:

Give me the fall off the bones ribs. I have yet to make them this way, but I prefer them that way. As long as they don't get too soft, and have lots of spice and flavor.

Click to expand...

Homer,
When cooking baby backs, Mrs. Jass and I share responsibilities.

Mrs. Jass - salt/pepper/rub of choice. place ribs in 9x12 baking pan atop a baking sheet. drizzle with white distilled vinegar. add water to pan but ribs should be below the water/vinegar point. cover pan w/foil and bake ~300 for 3+ hrs. You'll know they're finished when the meat begins to pull back from the bone. Remove from heat/dump liquid and allow to cool/rest.

Hugh_Jass - re-season ribs w/ salt/pepper/rub of choice. Place on hot grill and mop frequently with sauce of choice. (this stage you're really just warming the ribs, firming the exterior texture of the ribs, and caramelizing the sugars in the sauce).


I've smoked ribs w/the 3-2-1 method and they're plenty tasty. The above method will get you a true fall off the bone rib that is not "mushy meat" The downside to this method is the lack of the smoke ring/flavor.

Hugh_Jass said:

The downside to this method is the lack of the smoke ring/flavor.

Click to expand...

IMHO there is no substitute for smoke flavor but in my years of competitive bbq'ing I have learned early on that smoke ring is a chemical reaction during the smoking/cooking process that does nothing to enhance the taste or flavor. It simply lends to the presentation of the meat. As a matter of fact quite a few competitive bbqer's enhance the smoke ring by using some Morton's Tender Quick. It WILL give you a monster smoke ring.

As a side note when smoking brisket or pork shoulder I recommend injecting with a product called FAB or Butcher BBQ. When the animal is slaughtered there are a lot of phospates lost. These products add those phospates back and a few flavor enhancers (FAB has MSG, Butchers BBQ does not). The phospates help the meat retain moisture during the cook for extremely juicy meat and adds a ton of flavor. It is well worth a try. FAB is available online from the Ames Conpany, Butchers BBQ is also available online. Good Q'ing..... Gotta go, I am smoking some Atomic Buffalo Turds for supper.


BTW...If you are interested in learning how to cook great Que, stop by the BBQ Brethren http://www.bbqbrethren.com. Their mantra is "From the backyard to the American Royal". My handle is the same as here "Sawdustguy".

I really need to rev up the smoker, I have over 6 lbs of home grown Jalapeños I need to get packed away for winter cooking, I prefer my Jalapeños smoked, then I vacuum pack for use throughout the winter and spring til the new crop is ready. I also have some Bhut Jolokia I need to dry out on a rack set on top of the smoker. The weather here has finally cooled off a bit, maybe make some fresh pork sausage and smoke a few of them along with some ribs.

azscoob said:

I really need to rev up the smoker, I have over 6 lbs of home grown Jalapeños I need to get packed away for winter cooking, I prefer my Jalapeños smoked, then I vacuum pack for use throughout the winter and spring til the new crop is ready. I also have some Bhut Jolokia I need to dry out on a rack set on top of the smoker. The weather here has finally cooled off a bit, maybe make some fresh pork sausage and smoke a few of them along with some ribs.

Click to expand...

Can you give details about smoking those peppers? Thanks

PTN

PTN, the Bhut Jolokia get placed on a cookie cooling rack (buy new ones, spicy oatmeal cookies aren't as good as you would think) I single layer them and just straddle the hotbox with the rack, the heat will dry them out nicely, as for the Jalapeños, I also cookie rack them, and place in the smoker, heavy on the Mesquite smoke at first, and taper off rather quickly to just 225-250° using hardwood charcoal chunks, and slow roast them til they are dried and firm but not crispy, cool and vacuum pack them in bags until ready, with my climate and watering schedule my Jalapeños are unusually hot, comparable to a store bought Habanero pepper here, the smoke really makes them amazing in chili, minced in some tuna salad, in scrambled or even deviled eggs, really anything that benefits from some smoke and some spice. I even add a touch to my percolator campfire coffee during deer season.

Sawdustguy, I'm with you. I don't like my ribs falling off the bone either. I have a rack to cook tomorrow and am searching for a recipe that doesn't use sugar. I had some great ribs at a BBQ at FT. Dix a couple of years ago and forgot to ask for the recipe. I'm even more of a newb when it comes to ribs than I am with brewing. The last time, I used Penzy's BBQ 3000 dry rub and Sweet Baby Ray's for the moist. They were okay but weren't quite what I was looking for. Anyway, just figgered I'd add my 2 cents.