[boar_d_laze]

BARBECUING RIBS FOR THE BEGINNING GENIUS

PRESENTED ONE STEP AT A TIME



Spares or Baby Backs?

There are two basic kinds of pork ribs: spare ribs and “baby backs.” They come from different parts of the animal. Spare ribs come from the belly side of the animal. Baby back ribs (a k a BBs) come from the – wait for it – back. BBs are also known as loin backs and loin ribs. It may ease some worries to know that BBs do not come from baby pigs.

Baby backs have a higher percentage of meat to bone, are easier to prepare and easier to eat. Spare ribs involve a lot more. Human perversity being both innate and perverse, the more you know about ribs, and the better you learn to prepare them, the more you’ll prefer spares. Naturally, your guests, rogue and peasant knaves all, will prefer BBs. Go figure.

Purchasing the Ribs

If you know something about ribs in general, and know how a particular slab is trimmed, the type of animal from which it was taken, etc., etc., you can tell a lot by size and weight. However, you never know those things, so they’re not going to help much, are they?

This means there isn’t that much I can tell you without going into so many contingencies I’d pass out from self-boredom. So... With spares, look for slabs which don’t carry too much fat and which seem to show plenty of meat between the bones. Avoid slabs which seem absurdly large or small. Baby backs are from a part of the pig which doesn’t carry much fat anyway, so large fat deposits aren’t a concern. Again, look for meat between the bones.

Removing the membrane

Removing the membrane allows you to season both sides of the ribs, and removes tissue that is tasteless, tough, and has a tendency to get caught between diners' teeth. Full-service butcher shops with butchers who know what they’re doing are becoming as rare as hen’s teeth. If you’re lucky enough to buy your ribs from one, ask her to remove the membrane for you. If, like most, you’re unlucky in butchers, here’s how:

There are two membranes on the back of the ribs. The top membrane, is thin and transparent, and for most preparations, should be removed during the trimming. If you do no other trimming, pull it off before seasoning. The other “membrane” is heavy, thick, fatty and is actually not a membrane but the bone pockets. Leave it alone.

Taking off the membrane is usually the last part of the trimming process. To remove it, lift a corner with a butter knife, the handle of the spoon, any dull tool or a finger; then grab that corner with a dry paper towel and peel back the membrane. The paper towel will give you an excellent grip on the otherwise slippery membrane.

Another way to remove the membrane is by finishing the slabs of ribs over direct heat on a grill, and charring it off. This is very useful for catering situations; but a pit of a pain at home. Despite the extra trouble, eventually you should try a grill finish to see if you think it's worth the extra trouble.

The Beginner’s Best Strategy

Experienced pitmasters get the "falling off the bone" question a lot from newbies. Very few experienced barbecuers like their rib meat that tender. Once we've bowed to the pressure from our Significant Others, and met the challenge of getting it that soft, we find the exercise was in vain and we prefer a little "pull" to our ribs

The best spare rib preparation for beginners is 3, 2, 1. For baby backs, it's 2, 1, 1. What do these numbers mean? The first number is time in the chamber at 225 - 235, unfoiled. The second number is time in the chamber at the same temperature, wrapped in a foil packet with a little moisutre. The third number is time in the chamber at the same temperature, with the foil opened, and occasional basting.

The result is a fairly tender (bordering on too tender) rib. The method is fairly certain, works well with less than excellent meat, is largely based on time cues (easier for beginners than touch and appearance); and is emotionally easier on most beginners than keeping the door closed for 6 hour or so.

The more experience you have with smoking in general and ribs in particular, the more likely you are to prefer your ribs cooked without foiling.

Trimming Spares.

Depending on where and when you bought your spares, some or all of the trimming may already have been done. Lay your slab flat, back up. That is, with the curve of the bones facing so the top of the cup is up (U).

• The meat may extend beyond the bones and onto a complex system of cartilage. The cartilaginous part is called the “rib tip.” Tips are messy eating and somewhat fatty. Naturally, some folks think they’re the best part of the slab. They are usually removed for restaurant service and competitions. When they are removed, the remaining ribs are usually referred to as “St. Louis,” or “Kansas City” style.

• On the end with the longer ribs, there may be a spongy bone separated from the ribs by cartilage. The bone is part of the sternum and called the “chine.” (Chine, by the way is a generic term for a straight bone attached to a number of ribs. It can be chest or back.)

• Running more or less the length of the back may be a flap of meat. Happily, it’s called the flap.

• On the end with the shorter-length ribs may be a triangular flap of meat. It’s sometimes called the brisket (although the same term is sometimes used to refer to meat at the chine). Also, the very shortest ribs may not run straight, and appear tangled.

The chine, flap, brisket, and splayed ribs are, more or less, undesirable. Remove the chine bone completely by cutting through the cartilage near the top or the ribs with a heavy knife or cleaver. Rest your free hand on the knife’s spine and rock it through. Remove the brisket up to where the bones are not tangled. Remove the flap by bending it back and cutting parallel to the slab. Try and leave a little bit, about 1/2" of flap attached. It presents a great appearance, and it’s a nice, contrasting texture on the finished rib. Reserve any piece with meat on it.

I prefer tips on, to tips off. But if you want to trim to "St Louis," hold the rib ends with one hand, grab the tip ends with the other and flex the slab back and forth until you get an idea of where the bones end and the cartilage ends. Then lay the ribs flat on your board and lightly score the line you think you’ll want to cut along. Test again to make sure you’re close to the top of the bone by flexing, then cut through the cartilage with a heavy knife or cleaver.

If you’re leaving the ribs whole, there’s a finishing cut you may want to make. There’s a cartilage system in the tips which runs perpendicular to the ribs themselves. If the ribs are served as pairs or partial slabs, this cartilage will be difficult for the diner to cut through. Cutting through this, between the cartilaginous tips is not easy because the tips run at an angle off the bone-end. To make the trim, turn the ribs so the tips face you. Put your index finger between the tops of the two longest bones and press slightly as you draw your finger towards your body, angling the line slightly towards the small ends. Now try and run a knife point between the tips. Once you’ve got the idea of how the cartilage runs, try and make a short cut from the end of the top to the top of the bone. These cuts will make the top of the slab look something like toes.

If this sounds too technical, forget it. Instead, after the ribs are cooked, cut the slab into individual ribs for service. What’s difficult to do on a plate, is easy on your board.

SLATHER

Remove the ribs from the fridge. Use a "slather" to create a base for the dry rub. Most people use plain yellow aka ballpark mustard (You won't taste it on the final product, it's mostly vinegar and turmeric). I prefer a slather with a little taste. Consider: 1/2 mayo, 1/2 Dijon plus a tbs or two or Worcestershire and a little chipotle hot sauce. Or, follow your fancy.

RUB

Season the ribs well, on both sides, with a dry rub, the largest component of which is brown sugar. For instance: 8 tbs brown sugar, 3 tbs Morton kosher salt, 1 tbs paprika, 1 tbs fresh cracked black pepper, 1/2 tbs granulated garlic, 1/2 tbs granulated onion, 1/2 tbs dry ginger, 1 tsp "five spice" powder, 1/2 tsp thyme. Also slather and rub the reserved trimmings such as the flap and (if they were separated) tips.

You can cook immediately, or return the ribs to the fridge for a little marination. A few years ago, a dry marinade was very popular. Now, not so much. It’s generally agreed that dry (and slathered) spices get maximum penetration within half an hour.

THE COOK

Allow the ribs to come to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Prep the smoker to run at 225 - 235. Use a water pan!

Place the ribs on the grate, bone side down. Lay on the trimmings as well. If your smoker runs evenly from side to side, walk away for three hours. If not, rotate the ribs at the one and a half hour point. Stay out of the cook chamber. Do only what you have to do to keep the temperature steady.

At the three hour point remove the ribs from the cook chamber and close the chamber door. Wrap the slabs in foil packets (you can put two whole slabs in a packet -- bone to bone -- if you've got a space problem, and add a little liquid before you seal the packet up. Beer is an excellent choice. So are juices and/or barbecue sauce.

Return the packets to the cook chamber, and lay them bone side up if one slab to the pack, and close the chamber. You don't need a water pan for this part of the process. Nor do you need to burn chip or chunk for smoke. At the one hour point, rotate the meat if your smoker runs unevenly. Otherwise, keep the chamber door closed. Tend the fire when you must, but keep the firebox door(s) closed as much as possible too.

After two hours in foil, turn the slabs bone side down and open the foil so the meat is exposed. You do not have to remove the foil from the chamber, you can fold the edges to make little pans, but you can remove it if you want. Sauce the ribs with a thin coat of your finishing sauce. Close the chamber, and cook for half an hour, and apply more sauce. After fifteen minutes more, begin testing for doneness and applying sauce every fifteen minutes.

To test for doneness: A clock does not test for doneness in barbecue. Pick up a slab of ribs with a pair of tongs, by holding the slab at one of the middle ribs. If the ends of the slab point straight down (an upside down U) the ribs are tender. Serve, or (better) remove them, wrap them and hold them for as long as several hours and reheat just before serving in a hot smoker, medium home oven (300), or (best) directly over a low fire on the grill .

To cook baby backs, adjust the times so that instead of 3, 2, 1, they are 2, 1, 1.

To cook to "fall off the bone," cook 3 hours out of foil and 3 hours in (or 2, 2 for baby backs), and allow only 15 minutes or so to finish the ribs un-foiled. The longer braising period will tenderize the meat to where even your outlaws are happy.

Hope this helps,
BDL

[MaryB]

Good post. One style not mentioned is dry. No sauce at all, maybe a final shake of rub. 6 slabs I did today had minimal trimming, membrane removed, heavy coat of rub on both sides and into the pit. I foiled at first with the SnPP but with the Klose it isn't needed. I just have to flip the ribs over every hour to keep them cooking even, the tuning plates in my small Klose are only 2 inches under the grates so quite a bit of radiant heat. The fat dripping on them and vaporizing adds a lot of flavor in my opinion.

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by MaryB

Good post. One style not mentioned is dry. No sauce at all, maybe a final shake of rub. 6 slabs I did today had minimal trimming, membrane removed, heavy coat of rub on both sides and into the pit. I foiled at first with the SnPP but with the Klose it isn't needed. I just have to flip the ribs over every hour to keep them cooking even, the tuning plates in my small Klose are only 2 inches under the grates so quite a bit of radiant heat. The fat dripping on them and vaporizing adds a lot of flavor in my opinion.

Mary,

Yes there are other ways. I don't cook like this myself, either.

It's a method for beginners who don't have a Klose or a Lang or a Backwoods or anything comparable. It's a recipe that keeps things as simple and successful as possible, and gives some experience in getting ribs into and out of the smoker. Once a pitmaster gets the hang of things like good fire control, not using too much chili in the rub, keeping the chamber door closed, etc., a lot of other things become doable. But until then it's nice to get some successes under their belts. The 3,2,1 and 2,2,1 are as close to bulletproof as any rib method gets.

BDL

BDL

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Once a pitmaster gets the hang of things like good fire control, not using too much chili in the rub, keeping the chamber door closed, etc., a lot of other things become doable. But until then it's nice to get some successes under their belts. The 3,2,1 and 2,2,1 are as close to bulletproof as any rib method gets.

BDL

BDL

Boar, thanks for taking the time to make your post. It's much appreciated. I've checked back at your other thread,"Smoking Ribs for the Soon To Be Expert ", a few time and noticed that it looks like a dead link.

I certainly wouldn't call myself a pitmaster...but I do enjoy smoking and get good results. I smoke at home and at work on the same type of smoker, a Brinkman horizontal smoker. At this point...I could smoke for the entire day with pretty consitent tepmperatures.

I really started to get the handle on smoking this past year, once we got a smoker at work. I've had good/consitant results with shoulders, BB ribs, brisket, ham and sausage but I'm looking to find out a bit more. Which is what led me to check back on your other thread, "Smoking Ribs for the Soon To Be Expert." But the link doesn't connect to a thread.




I'd love to hear any advice you can offer on...what's next?

thanks,
dan

smokingmeatforums, so far this is probably the most helpful forum I've found for smoking meats. Do you know of any other good ones?

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

Boar, thanks for taking the time to make your post. It's much appreciated. I've checked back at your other thread,"Smoking Ribs for the Soon To Be Expert ", a few time and noticed that it looks like a dead link.

It is a dead link. Server problems wouldn't let me post the instructions (same as here). Server problems wouldn't let me take down the link either. Then, I just forgot.

I certainly wouldn't call myself a pitmaster...but I do enjoy smoking and get good results. I smoke at home and at work on the same type of smoker, a Brinkman horizontal smoker. At this point...I could smoke for the entire day with pretty consitent tepmperatures.

Like it or don't, you're the pitmaster. There are a lot of Brinkmanns, which one? The Smokin' Pit Pro?

I really started to get the handle on smoking this past year, once we got a smoker at work. I've had good/consitant results with shoulders, BB ribs, brisket, ham and sausage but I'm looking to find out a bit more. Which is what led me to check back on your other thread, "Smoking Ribs for the Soon To Be Expert." But the link doesn't connect to a thread.

Good, consistent results with brisket isn't easy. I congratulate you. If you have specific questions, I'll be glad to answer them. If you're looking for the next step up -- with butt, it's probably injecting; with brisket, it's probably a combination of better meat and injecting; ribs, better meat and rub; birds and fish, brining. Speaking of brining, you can do some interesting things with ribs, too.

Of course, there are always sides, rubs and sauces to keep things interesting.

I'd love to hear any advice you can offer on...what's next?

Well I started this thread to try and get some conversation going on smoking. Unfortunately, the only taker until you has been Mary B. I'm not sure I have much to offer her. In terms of smoking, I'm hoping to get some people that work with small offsets and WSMs and are fairly new to the game.

smokingmeatforums, so far this is probably the most helpful forum I've found for smoking meats. Do you know of any other good ones?

It's nice to find a group of people who use a similar cooker to yours. The equipment in smoking is very idiosyncratic and different smokers place very different demands on the cook. So, it's a good thing to work with people who have some insight into your processes. You might want to take a look at the National Barbeque News forum: National Barbecue News Forums There are quite a few people there with medium-small and small offsets, as well as a few people who really know how to smoke. There are also a few a-holes. I don't participate there as a result of friction with a couple of them which led to me getting kicked off for awhile. I never went back. Still, most of the participants are good. There's also a good forum at BBQ-4-U.com but only a few small offset users.

BDL

[MaryB]

The day I quit learning you better bury me I am always open to new ideas and techniques. Just because I can crank out food thats not half bad doesn't mean I know it all!

[Chef21]

Mary, have you ever visit the creamcheese.com (kraft) site? they have an entertaining recipe widget that has bbqing suggestions but a lot of recipe ideas for gatherings/events.

[MaryB]

Never been there so I will take a peek. Kraft and BBQ in the same sentence scares me though

[oldschool1982]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Well I started this thread to try and get some conversation going on smoking. Unfortunately, the only taker until you has been Mary B. BDL

Hey BDL!!!!! I'm still trying to get through reading the starter

Actually it's been mighty hectic here and I am just getting around to the post. I do enjoy a good talk on "Q".

After I have a chance to catch up on things I'll stick my foot in my mouth so.....until later

[boar_d_laze]

oldschool,

hasta la proxima,
BDL

[Chef21]

Mary, the entertaining recipe widget on the site also has a variety of dips, appetizers, etc.

[henry]

I own a WSM and am a member of a competition BBQ team (award winning).

I use the mustard slather BDL described but I might try his mayo slather sometime, I think the dijon would be interesting.

There are 2 websites I like, The Virtual Weber Bullet - For the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker enthusiast and The Smoke Ring- All you need to know about barbecue

The first has pictures of the spares to St. Louis style BDL describes. Both have tons of information for beginners and others including competitive teams. Lots of pictures too.

MaryB, are you a restauranteur or caterer?

H.

[RPMcMurphy]

How about for the guy who doesn't have a "real" smoker, only a fancy weber grill with one of those "smoke" boxes (little cast iron jobs)

possible?



Or should I just get dads old smoker, he just got a new Bradly Electric job with the little hockey puck things.

[Ninja_59]

Thank you for all this knowledge

[oldschool1982]

I wanted to address BDL's points one by one but in the interest of a shorter reply I will just cover RP's question in this post.

It's always nice to have a smoker of any type. box you mention is, IMHPO, only good for adding flavor while cooking not for the smoking process. Getting your Dad's old smoker if you can would be perfect but in a less than perfect world.....There is a method that some restaurants use that might help.

(Disclaimer: In some respects I'm a purist about things so I'd have to say I don;t like this method from a true BBQ sense. It's not one that I would go out of my way to use but I'm also a realist and know of as well as have been in situations that call for alternative solutions. Improvise, adapt and overcome, when in a pinch, is sometimes the only other option.)

The first thing you do is prepare the ribs as BDL has mentioned but you need to marinate the rids for at least a hour in a mixture of 1part Liquid smoke,1/4 part lime Juice and 1 part water.

Next, go ahead and use your rub normally but no slather is required since the ribs are we from the marinade. The process make it more difficult to use one but not impossible. If you are intent on using a slather you'll have to wait.

Place the ribs on a sheet pan (typically I use half size) 2 per pan. Add 1 cup of water and then wrap the pans first with parchment paper, next with plastic wrap and fianlly with foil. Make usre you have a tight seal around the edge.

Place the ribs in a 225 degree oven for 1hr 45min. Unwrap ribs after that time, drain off water and now apply your slather and finish in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Cut ribs into two rib portions and proceede to the grill. Take what ever the final sauce will be and thin to 2:1 sauce to water and depending on the rub, you can also add this to the slather.

Grill the ribs until the sauce starts to carmalize turning frequently and brushing slather after each turn.

Like I said in the beginning this is just an option for those that don't have a smoker and no matter what.....happy grilling!