Ribs- How do you cook them?


 
I prefer baby backs. Remove membrane, apply rub and smoke for around 4 hours using apple and pecan, spraying with apple juice a couple of times then sauce them and put them on the Patio charcoal grill for a short while to finish.
 
I use mostly baby backs from whole foods, sometimes st. louis style. No membrane, I usually use John Henry's rubs (pecan or hickory)
Smoke for around 4-5 hours at 220-230, with hickory-apple most of the time, spraying with apple juice 2-3 times,(sometimes use apple juice-soy sauce-whiskey spray).
i like sauce on the side, either a homemade N.C style, or something like Bronco Bobs, or Andy Nelson's (local).
 
I used to be a babyback guy, but have converted to spares, st louis cut, membrane pulled..dusting a secret rub (ha!) and smoked with 3:1 apple to hickory for 6+ hours at about 230..hit some of them with honey about 20 min before I pull them for the wife who likes the sweet (happy wife..happy life) and then lightly sauce them all as I take them off.
 
I like St Louis cut ribs. They seem to be meatier than the baby backs PLUS they usually go on sale so I can stock up. I don't remove the membrane just score them so that the fat renders out. Rub them real good with your rub.I sauce them ONLY because the family likes them that way. I prefer dry but I just do what I'm told
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Hi,

I made some spares today, St. Louis Style. I did the 3-2-1 method. Dry rubbed and cooked for 3 hours at 250 degrees, 2 hours foiled at 225-250 degrees, 1 hour unfoiled at 225-250 degrees. Sauced the remaining 30 minutes. Best ribs yet!. I can honestly say, I have never cooked ribs long enough before today. They were spectacular.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Joe P:... 2 hours foiled at 225-250 degrees, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The amount of time in foil is really subject to individual preference. For me, 45 min. in foil is plenty, but that usually comes at the 4 hour mark. I think 2 hours would be too much, but that might be different if started at 3 hours. If you and your "bosses" liked it - you done good !
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Paul
 
St. louis here. I just trim fat and remove membrane. Throw rub and then sauce on before smoking, and don't touch them until they are done, about 6 or so hours later. They come out nice and gooey/ caramalized that way. Cherry and apple wood combo.
.......Take it easy.
 
St. Louis style spares, membrane removed. For the wife and kids, I dust with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and celery powder. For me and almost everyone but the immediate family, BRITU rub or some other tweaked rub from Willingham, Smoke and Spice, or The BBQ Bible. I roll mine as I usually make six racks at a time. Smoke wood is either cherry or apple. Periodic sprays with apple juice. I foiled for the first time two weeks ago and I'm sold on it. So, foil with apple juice after four or five hours and back on for 30 to 60 minutes. Pull from the WSM and let 'em rest for a bit then serve with homemade sauce on the side.

Nothin' fancy but they seem to disappear quick enough.

Alan

"Vegetables aren't food! Vegetables are what food eats!"
 
I love the BRITU rub and don't change that. I go 4.5 - .5- .5 with only 30 minutes in the foil. I've found that the longer periods in the foil, while doing a great job making the meat "fall off the bone" tender, also makes them a little too moist. But even if it does, just put them on to finish without the foil at the end. The KC Masterpiece original mixed with honey is great, but sauce is such a personal choice, I usually put out a few differet types.
 
I use the BRITU method with slight mods to the rub most of the time with Baby Backs. But I'm going to give the 3-2-1 method a few tests with Spares to compare the two methods.
 
Clay,

I love the torch idea! Does it give you a nice crispy surface in addition to carmelization?

To me,the perfect rib embodies that crispiness on the outside, and a tender yet not completely "fall off the bone" texture inside.

If anyone thinks they've mastered their ribs to achieve this, using minimal steps, I would appreciate the advice!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael Campisi:
Clay,

I love the torch idea! Does it give you a nice crispy surface in addition to carmelization?

To me,the perfect rib embodies that crispiness on the outside, and a tender yet not completely "fall off the bone" texture inside.

If anyone thinks they've mastered their ribs to achieve this, using minimal steps, I would appreciate the advice!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats pretty much the Brittu method. I personally sauce mine with an hour to go. This way its a nice almost carmalized sauce. The BRITU method gives the outer skin a, I don't want to say tough, nice texture yet the meat comes off the bone. I think this is what your looking for.
 
I had been having problems with my ribs until just last weekend. I did two seperate smokes using babybacks. I took the membrane off and used mustard and BRITU rub. I'm not sure who posted this method (a variation of 3-2-1), but it worked great. I smoked them for 3.5 hours at 250 lid temp. Then I foiled with a little apple juice for 50-60 minutes at 275 and then unfoiled for 25-30 minutes to let them firm up. By far the best ribs I've ever made. Props to whoever originally posted this method.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael Campisi:
To me,the perfect rib embodies that crispiness on the outside, and a tender yet not completely "fall off the bone" texture inside. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I like a crisp exterior too and do not care for fall-off-the-bone.

You can use several approaches, altering the variables as and if needed to compensate here or there. Skip the sauce--serve it on the side. Don't make your rubs with lots of sugar (I make most rib rubs with sugar in the 10-12% range but occasionally go as high as 20%; to compare, BRITU is around 40%), apply generously, and increase your cook temp for finishing.

Compensations: If you prefer to foil during cooking remove the ribs from the foil just as they are starting to get tender and finish with increased heat (you can raise the heat before unfoiling to streamline the process, if you wish); 275-300 will do but you can go higher. If you'd rather not foil cheat the heat up after a bit more than 1/2 of the cook has passed. If you'd prefer a sweeter rub you'll probably be all right if you apply a bit less and take the heat higher at the finish (you need to be careful here) but I'm surmising--I don't care for very sweet rubs. You can also finish your ribs direct but you have to be on top of them lest you burn or dry out the meat's exterior. I prefer to go with a higher indirect heat.

It's hard to be exact and guarantee results because there are variables that can change and affect the outcome. I rarely make the same rub twice and do not often even cook with the exact same approach (though, overall, my approaches are somewhat or fairly similar). However, if you play with the variables a bit you should be able to make what you're shooting for. As you experiment be mindful of how the variables that you confront, create, or deal with affect the outcome. That way on future cooks you can make adjustments as needed and produce the doneness and texture you seek pretty much every time.

A torch can work too.
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I like doing spare ribs, but do them kansas city style. ( I live in kansas city ) the only diffrence between kc style and st. louis style is the skirt on back is cut off. smoke for 6 hours and spray with apple juice about every 2 hours till done. If I am short on time i will do backs, from time to time I like to do beef ribs. untill i got my WSM me and beef ribs did not get along, always to dry and tough to chew. but now i rather do beef backs or spares.
 
Well, I'll share how I did the ribs we had for supper tongiht with ya'll, if I can type without my fingers sticking to the keyboard.
My fingers are still greasy!
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Y'know, if you ain't gettin' messy eatin' ribs, then they ain't good, right?

These were Danish ribs, sold in a 10# box at Kroger. They're a little lean, and not the meatest ribs I've ever seen, but the price was right, and they turned out dang good.
I've always thought I couldn't do ribs right. I usually bat about .500 when cooking ribs.

I've arrived! The Competition Ribs method (3-2-1) works for me.

Ya'll can look at the pictures here. No need to sign in, click "view without signing in".

I used Sam's Choice Charcoal for the first time. $4.97 for 20#. Haven't seen the ashes yet, so I don't know how much ash Sam's makes.

I decided to try the Minion Method of firing up, with about 1/2 a ring, and 3 nice chunks of Hickory.
I lit the chimney starter on top of the grate from my grill, placed on top of the charcoal ring.

I used Blues Hog Rub, which always works well for me.

In the photo of the thermometers, you can't see it for the glare, but the round thermometer is sitting on 250°, while the ET-73 is showing 223°. Quite a difference, eh? Gotta check that round one next chance I get.

I cooked 'em for about 2 1/2 hours, then foiled with brown sugar and apple juice, for about an hour, then out of the foil and back on the top grate for about 30 minutes.

These ribs had enough meat on 'em to get me full, what with the store-bought beans, slaw and fries!

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever been arrested because you tried to drive to a vacation destination as the crow flies.
 
Steve, they really were good.

I had no issues with the Sam's Club, other than either I didn't put enough in the ring to start with or I didn't light enough in the chimney starter. I only lit 16 of those big suckers.

I had to add a few small shovelfulls of orphan briquettes after about 1 hour when the temp started to drop.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You own a homemade fur coat.
 
I love BB's, but my biggest challenge is being patient enough on the Spares, so I have to say Spares are my favorite because when I get them right, it's a thing of beauty.

I normally cook at about 230 to 250 for about 6.5 hours. Sometimes I will foil at about the 4 hour point for only about 50 minutes. I find when my temperature is higher in the foiling I get the desired tenderness w/o turning them into pulled pork. Lately, I've been draining the drippings from the foil and adding that to the sauce that I serve on the side. Nice genuine flavor to the sauce. I always crisp at the end, sometimes with a sauce and honey glaze and other times with pineapple pepper jelly. I don't care who you are, that's some good stuff right there!
 
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