Ribs - The BBQ Promised Land

Father's Day and the 4th of July are coming up, two of the top BBQing days of the year, and nothing says "Master of the Fire" better than a platter piled with tender, smoky BBq'd ribs.  These holidays give you the perfect opportunities to spend an afternoon drinking cold beer, messing with your fire, mopping the ribs with sauce and drinking cold beer (slaving over a hot fire to your spouse).

BBQ Rib Lexicon

To begin with, were talking about pork ribs not beef or lamb or Adam's.  Yes, there are advocates for BBQ beef ribs, but they're a small (tiny really) minority, and well, we're just going to ignore them.

Baby Backs - The small (hence "baby") ribs from along the back /spine of the hog.  Since the hog doesn't use these muscle groups much in daily hog activities, the meat here is tender to begin with and thus is popular with restaurants like Chili's (and that annoying jingle, "I want....").

Spare Ribs - These come from the underside/belly of the hog.  These are the larger breathing muscles which the hog actually uses quite bit.  They have more muscle and more connective tissue and thus are tougher to begin with, but more meaty.  Spare ribs are the mainstay of ribs, despite what Chili's would have you believe.

St. Louis Style Ribs - This a fancy name for how the butcher trims a rack of spare ribs, removing the extra flap of diaphragm muscle as well as the cartilage filled meat running along the bottom edge of the rack. 

Rubs - A mix of dry spices and salt, that are sprinkled on the raw ribs and rubbed into the meat before BBQing.  Rubs are universally used for both "wet" and "dry" BBQ techniques.

Wet Ribs - These are the sticky sweet ribs common to Kansas City, that come from brushing with a mop or sauce throughout the cooking process.  Tricia (the "T" in KT's) loves gooey sweet/hot sauce mopped on her ribs.  The sauce gets cooked onto the ribs in a delectable coat of goodness - a perfect compliment for the juicy, smoky meat of the ribs. 

Dry Ribs - Much better than it sounds, these are ribs that are seasoned only with a rub and BBQ'd without sauce basting.  Sauce is served alongside at the table.  Dry ribs are a favorite in Memphis, are my favorite and what we serve at KT's (and now you know who wears the pants around here).

The Membrane - The thin, shiny, translucent skin that covers the bones on the back of the rack (the concave side).  The membrane is an impermeable barrier to spice rubs and sauces and is tough and papery  and unpleasant to eat.  It needs to go right off the bat.

Baby Backs Vs Spareribs

Baby backs are certainly decent ribs but they're more expensive.  They're great if you're in a time crunch as they will be tender even if you are cooking them hot and fast. 

Spareribs are cheaper, bigger/meatier, have bigger pork flavor and get just as tender with a long slow smoke.   If you trim them St. Louis Style, you'll end up paying about the same as baby backs per pound (but they're still better). 

Basic BBQ Set-up

The essential set-up for BBQing is cooking with indirect heat, a.k.a. an offset fire.  This means you don't want the fire, gas or charcoal, directly underneath the meat, because over the long cooking time required, the direct heat will burn the meat.

Rather, you want the fire on one side of the grill and the meat on the other side, so it's cooked / smoked gently from all sides (yes, I plagiarized this section from the last issue, but it bears repeating and I'm lazy).

Racks, Foil and Atomizers

I recommend using a rib rack, which holds the ribs up on edge so you can fit more in your cooker (see today's quick tip).  I converted my turkey roasting rack into a rib rack by turning it upside and bending the handles back so the rack would sit flat.

Aluminum foil is handy for wrapping the ribs up in near the end of the cooking to accelerate the tenderizing of the ribs without drying them out.  It's also great for making "hobo" packets of wood chips, with a few pencil sized holes poked in it, to get the most smoke out of your chips.

A spray bottle filled with a sweet liquid such as apple juice, Coke or Dr. Pepper is a great way to coat the ribs occasionally throughout the cooking process adding a dark mahogany, glossy complexion to your ribs that will guarantee "oohs" and "aahhs"

Are We There Yet?

If your cooking your ribs around 250° then figure about 3 hours cooking time.  When you see a ¼ to ½ inch of bone exposed and the meat between 2 bones tears easily when you push the 2 bones in opposite directions - they're done.  Pull them off, slice them up,  pile them high and claim your title as Master of the Fire!