Choose The Right Grilling Method To Make Ribs Tender
Slow cooking at medium-low heat is the key to delicious ribs on the grill. It lets the collagen in tough meat progressively degrade and melt throughout the long cooking period.
Whenever your ribs are too tough, merely cook them for a longer period, as soon as youve reached the correct grilling temperature.
How Do You Make Grilled Ribs Tender
Low and slow cooking is the key to delicious ribs on the barbecue. Even during long cooking process, low cooking heat allow the collagen in the tough meat to gently disintegrate and soften. If your ribs are rough, just cook them for a little longer, as long as you keep them at the proper temperature.
How To Make Baby Back Ribs In The Oven
Grilling not an option? Its super easy to make tender ribs in the oven too. Depending on the size of your oven you may need to cut them into smaller racks. Bake them in the oven at 275° wrapped in foil for 2 hours. Then remove the foil and cook for an additional 1 to 1.5 hours until the ribs temp is 200° or you can easily pull the meat off the bone
The first time I made these in the oven someone had given me some apple wood chips, so I now add a small pan of soaked wood chips to impart some nice flavors when I make them in the oven.
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How To Cook Smoked Baby Back Ribs On A Charcoal Grill
You can smoke baby back ribs on whatever grill, smoker, or pellet grill you have. For this recipe, David uses his Weber Performer kettle-style grill. This grill is ideal for grilling and smoking anything you want. Its easy and simple to use and doesnt cost a fortune for someone whos just starting out with smoking meat.
How To Hold Ribs
Sometimes time and circumstances wont allow you to enjoy your BBQ ribs immediately, in which case its imperative that you hold and store them in a way that wont heavily impact flavor or quality.
Remove the ribs from the grill and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Using plastic wrap, wrap the ribs tightly in a few layers. Its key here that you dont use aluminum foil as BBQ sauce and foil can actually react due to the acidic nature of the sauce.
If you are going to be enjoying the ribs any later than an hour after cooking then put them in the refrigerator. For tips on how to then warm them back up again, check out my guide on how to reheat ribs.
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How To Make Bbq Ribs
If you want to grill BBQ Ribs, and who doesn’t? You simply need a BBQ dry rub for ribs and/or your favorite homemade BBQ sauce. I prefer to use both, but you can use either based on your personal preference.
Dust the ribs liberally with the dry rub prior to grilling, this can even be done the day prior if desired. The BBQ sauce will be applied to the ribs during the final hour of cooking. The heat from the grill will transform the BBQ sauce into a delectable sticky jam clinging to the meat! You can even make great BBQ ribs in the oven when it isn’t grilling season!
How To Prepare The Ribs
The key to any good round of ribs is proper preparation. This stage can make or break the success of your meal and neglecting good prep will give you bland, inferior ribs. Simply throwing them as you bought them onto the grill isnt going to cut it.
For your rib choice, I suggest going for pork. And then there are 2 varieties: Spare or baby back ribs.
Personally, I prefer spare. Theyre cut from the belly-end of the ribs, so are much meatier. Baby back are a little shorter but still an excellent choice. Cooking time tends to be about 4-5 hours for spare and 3-4 for baby back.
Its also important to bear in mind that your grill will dictate the size of the rack that you can cook at once. We want as much of the ribs to be exposed at once, so its not a good idea to pile them on top of each other. As a result, you will probably only be able to fit one rack of spareribs on the grill or two racks of baby back. Keep this in mind when preparing your ribs.
You will then need to cut the ribs down to just the rib rack. If you havent done this before, check out my full guide on how to trim spare ribs.
Start by removing the membrane from the rack. Not a lot of grillers do this, but doing so removes this thin skin off the back of the ribs, allowing them to be tender and packed full of flavor.
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How To Prepare The Grill
Our main aim here is to turn our grill into a smoker. This actually takes a bit of skill because we need to keep a good, constant heat of about 250F/120 C. Not only will this require the use of a good meat thermometer, but also a little knowledge of indirect cooking.
If youre unfamiliar with indirect cooking, its a method that places charcoal lumpwood under one half of your grill grate, leaving the other side clear. You then put your meat on this clear side, allowing the heat inside the grill to cook it rather than the direct heat from the flames.
For a full guide check out my guide to indirect grilling.
With this approach, were going to be a bit creative and call on the help of a disposable aluminum pan. Were going to fill it with water and use it to add moisture to our grilling environment, in turn helping to regulate the temperature. More on this in a moment.
Make sure your BBQs grates and drum are both thoroughly clean before cooking. There are a lot of benefits to having a spotless BBQ, so if your grill is dirty then Id put aside half an hour to really clean it.
Once clean, remove the cooking grate and light the charcoal. There are a few methods to this, so if youre not sure how to do this then take a look at my guide on how to light a charcoal grill.
Youll need enough charcoal to cover half the grate area, and also enough to create 2-3 layers of charcoal.
About Cooking On A Charcoal Grill
While grilling with charcoal doesnt offer the instant gratification of cooking on a gas grill, the results are more than worth the extra time and effort youll put in. The meat will sear more evenly, and a charcoal fire will impart more rich, smoky flavor than a gas flame. This difference isnt as noticeable if youre grilling pre-cooked sausages such as bratwurst, but when youre using the grill for long, slow cookingas with this smoked beef back ribs recipeyoull definitely appreciate the boost in flavor.
Look for charcoal with as few additives as possible. If its advertised as additive-free, thats the kind you want. Avoid any match light varietiesthese contain lighter fluid additives that will adversely affect the flavor of your meat. You should also steer clear of briquettes that advertise real mesquite flavor or something similar. If youve done your work properly, the meat will achieve that flavor on its own.
If you can find lump charcoal, consider using this in your smoker instead of briquettes. Lump charcoal is actually wood that has been fired into charcoal, so it burns more cleanly and produces less ash than briquettes, which are typically formed out of sawdust. It also burns hotter, but this shouldnt be a problem as long as your smokers adjustable air vents are in good working order.
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How Do I Add A Smoke Flavor To My Ribs
You can get a perfectly smoked flavor with a gas grill! When we want to add a nice smoke flavor, we use a smoke box that sits right on your grill grate while your food cooks.
You will use wood chips or pieces that come in a variety of choices. With St Louis style ribs we really like the apple wood chips, but you experiment and try different flavors!
Heat the smoke box up on the grill grates Using long tongs, open the box and add the wood chips. Alternately you can heat the box with the wood chips in it to not burn yourself.
Once the grill has smoke coming out of it, lower the temperature of the burner that the box is on. Add the ribs and cook as directed. If you are cooking indirect heat, put the box over the middle burner that will be off when cooking the ribs.
Do St Louis Style Ribs Have A Membrane
Louis Style Ribs Have a Membrane? The ribs, which are smoked using the famous and popular St. Louis style, have their skin removed from the ribs and the peculiarity of cooking in this style is that the ribs are divided into two parts: the part of spareribs and the part of loin-back ribs. So, they are cooked separately.
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Rinse Then Dry The Ribs
After trimming, its a good idea to wash off any residual brine and/or blood that is on the ribs.
Note on rinsing: don’t hold the ribs under a running faucet. This will splatter raw meat all over your kitchen. Instead, add cold water to a large measuring cup or pitcher and gently pour over the ribs into your sink.
Then, dry the ribs well with a paper towel.
How Long Do You Cook Pork Ribs On The Grill
Normally I would recommend using an instant read thermometer to gauge the doneness of meat on the grill however, that method can be a little tricky with this method. Its recommended that pork is done around 145°F, but you need to cook pork ribs to around 190°F to 200°F to really break down fat and collagen, resulting in a tender finished texture. Also, given that the ribs are wrapped in foil, its hard to figure out where to put the thermometer without unwrapping the ribs.
Ive tested this recipe several times and have found that 1 hour over direct medium heat will give you tender ribs that dont fall off the bone . Just make sure youre maintaining 350°F 400°F within the covered grill, and the ribs will turn out great every time.
In this recipe, the ribs go back on the grill uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes longer to allow them to soak up hickory smoke and a barbecue sauce baste. Youre not really cooking the ribs during this phase just infusing them with flavor.
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What Is The Best Charcoal For Cooking Ribs
I like to use hardwood lump charcoal for high-heat tasks like sizzling grilled steaks or grilled burgers, but that doesnt function as well for slow-cooking ribs. Instead, I like the original Kingsford Briquettes. They produce less extreme heat and burn for a longer, more constant period of time. Its ideal for cooking ribs.
Video #: Smoking Ribs With The Snake Method
This video is really different from the first video for two reasons. The first is that it shows you a completely different way of arranging the charcoal. This method is called the Snake Method or the Fuse Method. The second difference is that, after the ribs get plenty of smoke for the first couple of hours, they are wrapped in aluminum foil.
He doesnt really go into why the ribs are wrapped but pitmasters do this for two reasons. First off, wrapping the ribs in foil accelerates the cooking process and get the ribs off the pit faster. Secondly, wrapping the ribs helps protect the color and prevents them from taking up too much smoke.
Whether or not you should wrap your ribs and exactly how to wrap them is a matter of preference and debate. Dont worry about that part right now and instead take a few minutes to learn how to set up a snake!
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Selecting Beef Ribs For The Charcoal Grill
Pork ribs get most of the press, but smoked beef back ribs are an excellent choice for the smoker. Since the meat requires this type of long, slow cooking in order to achieve that fall-off-the-bone tenderness, its a perfect match. The cooking process itself should take at least four hours any less, and your ribs may come out too tough and chewy.
To cook beef ribs on a charcoal grill, youll want to start with some high-quality beef back ribs. The back ribs come from the rib roast , so the meat is naturally more tender than the tougher, fattier short ribs, which are located on the lower portion of the animal. Remember that short ribs might also be labeled as braising ribs, crosscut ribs, flanken ribs, English short ribs, or Korean short ribs. If youre unsure as to whether the cut youve picked out will be suitable for the grill, ask your butcher.
Pro Tip: Always strive to maintain cordial relationships with the people who work in your local meat department. A knowledgeable butcher is an invaluable asset to the home griller.
Cooking Costco Ribs On The Grill
How To Cook Costco Ribs On The Grill? Are you a Costco ribs fan? If yes, this article is especially for you. After in-depth research on the Costco ribs, we provided you with the best recipe for Costco ribs. This blog will cover how to cook Costco ribs on the grill and oven and Traeger.
But before we understand the recipe, it is essential to understand what is actually the Costco ribs. So, Costco ribs are not just about the bones they are different from the other ribs because they contain a good amount of meat. Costco ribs are delicious due to their slightly sweet and smoky flavor. One important thing to remember while cooking Costco is that you always have to cook it on a low flame. In case it is not cooked on the low flame, the meat over them will get hard.
Now, lets understand the food recipe that can give your weekend barbeque party a new look.
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Choose The Right Ribs
The pig supplies four types of ribs: baby backs , spareribs, rib tips and country-style ribs. You want to use the baby backs, which are cut from high on the hog . Baby backs have the most generous marbling and the tenderest meat, which makes them relatively quick to cook and a natural for newcomers. When possible, buy ribs from a heritage pork breed, like Berkshire or Mangalitsa. They cost more, but their intense porky flavor justifies the price.
Are Grilled Ribs The Same As Bbq Ribs
You may be wondering if grilling ribs is the same as barbecuing ribs. Technically, theyre two different types of ribs using very different techniques.
Barbecue comes from the Spanish word barbacoa, which originated with the Taino people one of the native inhabitants of the Caribbean islands before the arrival of Europeans. The Tainos would cook meat over smoking embers for a long period of time so that the meat would be infused with the smoke flavor and remain tender. That technique evolved to our modern form of American barbecue, but the essential technique has remained the same: you are basically smoking the meat over a very long period of time. While you can do this at home, it is a long, labor-intensive process that can sometimes take a full 24 hours and uses a lot of fuel. As well, you need special equipment to cook BBQ ribs.
Grilling, on the other hand, means to simply cook food over flames covered with a grate. You can grill pretty much anything very quickly. The only problem is that for tougher cuts of meat, like ribs, you need long, gentle cooking to get the meat tender. The solution for most home cooks is to boil, braise, or bake the ribs first until theyre tender and then grill them to get a nice smokey char. As long as you have a grill any type of grill you can grill ribs quite easily.
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Six Unwrapping And Saucing The Ribs
The ribs have now been on the grill for at least 3 hours. Technically speaking, they are cooked through, but they are not yet barbecue.
Remove the ribs from the foil and place them back on the grill, rotating them again as you do so. Again, check to make sure that the fire is still active and that there is water in the water pan. If the grill needs additional fuel, add it now. It isnt essential to add more smoking wood, but the temperature needs to remain strong to finish the ribs.
Once unwrapped, the ribs should appear wet. They should bend easily, but not fold. If the bones are loose or the rack folds in the center, it is time to take them off the grill. Otherwise, continued cooking. You can test the temperature of the ribs with a good meat thermometer. Unfortunately, this can be a challenge. Fully cooked ribs will reach an internal temperature of 185 to 190 degrees F . The bone will be a different temperature from the meat and to get an accurate reading you will need to check the meat without getting too close to the bone. Test in several locations.
If the grill temperature is consistent, the ribs should need another 30 minutes to an hour to reach perfection. Close the lid and continue cooking until they reach the right internal temperature.
Once the ribs reach the right level of doneness, remove from the grill. If you want to add barbecue sauce, read on.
Once the saucing is complete, remove the ribs from the grill and place them on a large cutting board.
