Transporting Ribs


 
Jerry N.

Jerry N.

TVWBB Emerald Member
I will be doing ribs for New Years. The party is not at my house and I need to take ribs. My question is what is the best way to transport them. Should I do them the day before and heat them up on the grill when I get there or should I do the ribs and take them right away over to the party and start eating. The drive is about 30 minutes so I may need to heat them up a little bit no matter what. Or another thought I had was to do them on the wsm until just about done and then plan on finishing them there on the grill for say about an hour.

The bottom line is that I don't want to take my WSM over to the party and be there 5 - 6 hours but I still want my ribs to be done well. Any suggestions?
 
Finish the ribs. Place them on a tray, tightly foil them, wrap in towels and place in a cooler to keep them hot.

Serve them when you get there. If you do it as mentioned, you can hold them for a couple of hours with no loss of quality. Not need to re-heat them if you serve immediately when you get there.

FWIW
Dale53
 
Were it me, I'd do the ribs a day ahead of time and reheat them on site. Getting your ribs done precisely 30 minutes prior to leaving could be tricky depending on your cooking methods. Why create the potential for stress and a hurried cook when ribs reheat extremely well.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry P.:
Were it me, I'd do the ribs a day ahead of time and reheat them on site. Getting your ribs done precisely 30 minutes prior to leaving could be tricky depending on your cooking methods. Why create the potential for stress and a hurried cook when ribs reheat extremely well. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My usual method as well. Rather have them done in advance to eliminate the hassle. Then reheat once at destination. I'm all about stress reduction.
 
me too, did this a few times for the Xmas season.
I make sure the ribs have good colour/bark
then take them off and sauce them, cool quickly then refridgerate.
You want the sauce to stick well so they look good when reheated.
 
I will caution you that if you do the foil/cooler method that you need to get them just barely done, as they'll continue to cook in the foil. I don't knOw if the bones retain heat or what, but I transported some perfectly done ribs about 3 miles and they were way overdone when they were unwrapped. It still might be better than reheating, depending on what you have to work with at your destination.
 
Thanks for the input. I'm going to go with the cook and run (drive method). I tend to agree that the cook day before method would be better, but the weather isn't going to be good tomorrow and the ribs are still frozen - so tomorrow isn't a good day to cook.

I will take the advice and cook them just to done and maybe a little less. I'm not too worried about being over done cause it's just family and they'll be forgiving plus like most people, they think falling off the bone are good ribs. I'm okay with that too.

Thanks and Happy New Year!!!
 
I would do them the day before and finish them THERE.. All you would have to do is gas grill them with a little sauce...fast n easy. No worrying if they gonna be done in time!
icon_smile.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:
Thanks for the input. I'm going to go with the cook and run (drive method). I tend to agree that the cook day before method would be better, but the weather isn't going to be good tomorrow and the ribs are still frozen - so tomorrow isn't a good day to cook.

I will take the advice and cook them just to done and maybe a little less. I'm not too worried about being over done cause it's just family and they'll be forgiving plus like most people, they think falling off the bone are good ribs. I'm okay with that too.

Thanks and Happy New Year!!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Leaving a little room for residual cooking sounds like a good idea to me. Please update us on how the ribs turned out. I am always willing to learn, especially at the expense of someone else.
 
Good luck Jerry.
I'm doing four rack of ribs for a family get together today. The church we're going to has a small kitchen that I'm not familiar with. There will be others using the oven so I'm not sure if I'll have much access to it. So I'll be doing the cook 'n run too. I've done a bunch of cooks like this and have shown up with perfectly cooked ribs and what I consider overcooked. I always get the same "best ribs I've ever had" comments.
 
If you'll do a google search of "ribs+foil+bag+ hour", several sources should come up, and for good reason. As long as you don't cook the slabs past "the breaking point" this method of holding works just fine since you're not keeping them TOO hot, for TOO long. Residual cooking should be as much of a concern (or more) as with any other bbq cut, but a cook can still get some serving time "forgiveness" from properly holding ribs, just the same. Sure, glazed ribs are prettiest when first pulled off the pit. However, I'd be surprised if even the very best bbq joints and caterers refuse to use cambros or something else to hold ribs any prior to serving.
 
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