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Since moving to a condo, grilling for me has been infrequent. But lo and behold, I've been asked to grill ribs for a labor day get together. I'm kind of out of shape with respect to rib recipes (other then those I make in the oven).... So, I'm looking for a crowd-pleasing rib recipe, probably more on the traditional side. I'll have access to a gas grill but not a smoker. I suspect there will be 8-12 people. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks as always!

Gerard

Gerard,
I wish you could go to a friend of my nephews house this weekend. He is having his annual Rib Cook Off. He usually has about 200 people attend. His whole driveway from what my nephew tells me is all grills and smokers.

They sell little aluminum packets of wood. The serious barbecue folks kind of snicker at them, but they actually work fine. I break them down into three packets with foil. It throws up quite a bit of smoke, so doing it in three packets seems to work pretty well. They work well on a gasser.



Or Andrew Perry Lang suggests if you have some really good quality charcoal, you can grate a bit into your sea salt to give a very nice smokey flavor. I'd try this at home before I used it on a crowd.

Wino has a very good approach to ribs, that I've benefited from. Maybe he will share it. I am in the Philippines, but I follow some US based BBQ forums closely. So just get good ribs, give them a rub, if you can find some Simply Marvelous rub that has a pretty strong following. Then decide if you are serving them dry or wet (with or without sauce). Or do a mix because there always are lot of varying opinions.

Gerard, I like to bake my ribs using the cherry cola rib recipe on epicurious. I know it's scandolous but it gives me greater control over the finished product and I always get raves on my ribs. Just remember to remove the membrane no matter what method you choose.
I rub with BBQ 3000, wrap and bake, then finish with a bbq sauce on the grill.

Gerard,

The two early CI recipes for dry ribs (Spares in 1995 and Loin Back around 1999) are excellent with good rubs and clear instructions. The important points are removal of the membrane, a good rub, and upside-down roasting rack to hold 4-6 slabs, a large heat sink which may be firebricks or a kettle of boiling water, indirect heat, smoke for the first hour at most, and 275 - 300 degrees. Four hours is usually enough depending on the outside temperature and wind.

Remove the ribs, cover in tight foil and place in a large paper bag. Put this in a cold oven for an hour. Serve the ribs on the next day after a slow oven heating session.

Let me know if you would like more details.

Tim

ps: A Weber kettle is the best way to cook ribs. The best procedure for low-even heat is to use about 14 natural briquettes for each 75 minutes of your session.

Ya cain't leave a request like that alone; it'd be like ignorin' a chili query - only shame would befall ya! Ergo, as per the Steve's note:

After failed attempts with baby back ribs (not enough meat, usually dry, very expensive) and side ribs (not enough meat) I only use back ribs (lots of meat!!!). For me, I want lots of edibles for whatever time and effort I’m putting in – back ribs give me the most bang for the inputs.

I have a large, wooden cutting board on my counter with 2 large cookie sheets – one at each side of the cutting board and a wire rack on top of each cookie sheet. I’ll do 2 racks of ribs, hence 2 cookie sheets. I place the first rack of ribs on the cutting board to remove the fascia because it slides around less on the wood cutting board. Removing the fascia on the back of the ribs is most easily done with a method I learned from Cook’s Illustrated. Using the back of a teaspoon, start at the smaller end of the ribs and slip the spoon between the bone and fascia – prying it loose enough to grab the resultant flap with a paper towel between your fingers. The paper towel gives you the friction to hold on as you peel the fascia away from the rest of the ribs; usually in one long tug! Removing this is not critical; I can’t notice the difference others do. I just prefer it aesthetically; the fascia becomes very brittle with the cooking.

With the fascia removed I cut along the nearest rib that will make 2 equal sections as I find it easier to handle the meat this way in my cookers (either my Weber Smoky Mountain or my Weber Silver Genesis gas grill), but you could just leave it in one piece (very impressive to serve this way!). These 2 pieces go onto one of the wire rack on one cookie sheet. Repeat with the other.

As my rub contains very little salt, now I lightly sprinkle kosher salt over all of the back sides of the ribs and then more heavily dust this side with my dry rub. Let the ribs rest like this for 30 minutes at room temperature, and repeat for the other side. This is a critical step. The salting and resting period must be observed. According to Serious Eats and Cook’s, the salt acts as a brine, opening the proteins and sucking the seasoning deeper into the meat. It is allowable to now drink cold beer… After enough beer or 30 minutes, whichever occurs first, turn all the ribs over and do the other side.

I know how long it take for either of my grills to reach smoking temperature so I will start that grill such that as the meat reaches its 30 minute mark for the second time with the dry rub, the wood is starting to smoke. (I like efficiency since I have been unsuccessful in creating more time…) Frankly, it is much easier for me to use the gas grill for this and it wastes a lot less charcoal – as you will see. So, for now, we will proceed as if we are using a gas grill – a grill for which you know the accurate internal temperature.

Ribs are never cooked directly over the heat source. My 3 burners occupy a front, middle, back position as opposed to left, middle, right. So I place my wood chips in a small aluminum ‘boat’ or packet on my front burner with that burner on high; the other 2 burners are on medium only until the wood smokes and then they are turned off – this just saves time by speeding up the internal heating process for the grill. Because I cut down an old apple tree years ago, I use apple wood – it’s free and very mild. I like hickory, mesquite, and oak but they cost money that I could spend on wine… Suit your taste buds!

I use about 2 large handsful of wood, not soaked, wrapped in tin foil that has been pierced sparingly with a fine knife – too many holes leads to flames. You want to restrict the air so that the wood can only smolder. To achieve this, your internal temperature must reach about 450F – initially. Now the meat goes on. I use a rack that allows each rib to be upright like church pews and not touching each other and I set it at the back of the grill. Close the lid and don’t open for 2 hours. HOWEVER, this is much too hot for the whole two hours.

After closing the lid and seeing that the other burners are off and that smoke continues to roil from the grill, slowly lower the flame under the wood chips every 5 minutes. What you are trying to achieve is the lowest temperature to protect the ribs but high enough to char all the wood. My experience is that the wood will stay smoking with considerably less flame as more of the wood smolders. So, while I start with 450F, within about 15 minutes I’m down to an internal reading of about 300F. The smoking is generally over within 30 minutes and then the internal heat is reduced to 225F – no more - and even less is better than any higher.

At this time you are really just using the grill to cook the ribs; they could more easily be finished in the oven where consistent temperatures are more readily maintained. However, the dry heat of the grill is an advantage, it seems to produce a nicer look to the meat and it is romantic… Nonetheless, near the end of 2 hours on the grill, I turn my oven on to 350F. Using a smallish, roasting pan with lid, I spray the pan with Pam (not the lid), tear off a piece of foil that will sit between the pan and the lid, and get out a bottle of my favorite BBQ sauce and basting brush. This is Phase 2.

Remove the ribs from the grill, and place each one in the roaster, making sure to baste only the meat side of each VERY lightly with the sauce. I don’t use more than a tablespoon per section. Thus, they are stacked in the roaster, covered with the foil, lid placed on and the foil crimped to hold the lid securely in place. Place in the hot oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 215F.

DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN FOR 2 HOURS. THANK YOU. This temperature seems critical from my research and it is easy to do if you care about ribs and love technology. I have found anything above or below this to be too much or too little.

Rib eaters seem to either like chewing the meat off the bone or having it fall off. At 215F, at 2 hours you will have chew. At 2.5 hours it will fall off the bone. In either case, they will be sublime.

Lately, we have fallen hopelessly in love with guacamole as a side accompaniment!! Our guacamole is simply salt, pepper, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and lemon or lime juice all mashed and left to set 15 minutes in the fridge.

Hope this helps.

Wino (Mr. Bill)

Best Ribs in the Universe

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I'm so sorry for taking so long to get back to everyone that so kindly responded (was away on vacation and purposely did not access the Internet). In any event, thanks so much for all of your helpful suggestions! I'm looking forward to my return to grilling this weekend!

Gerard

Gas grills vary considerably in their ineptitude at turning pork bones into a religious experience. If I was facing dinner for 12 using a grill with an unknown capacity for smoking and indirect cooking, I would probably plan on following Jean’s procedure. There is plenty opportunity for flavor and relatively little risk of disaster. I’m not completely sold on Cherry Coke since I am Dr. Pepper fan, but I am always ready to try something new.

I just finished assembling my new Huntington four burner gas grill and I have high hopes for its ability to BBQ. My old grill would only do two racks of ribs. I think I can double that on my new grill.

Jim, I've made the sauce once but usually I use a combination of two bottled sauces.

Made these last weekend again using St.Louis style side ribs for company and they were gobbled up. This is such an easy and almost bulletproof way to do ribs. The other great thing was I was able to bake them in the morning before my kitchen got too hot and then they were ready to grill at dinner time.
We've been to the ribfest in our local town a few years and never get good ribs; they are tough, fatty, and insanely overpriced. There's a local joint that does fantasic ribs and pulled pork in the true bbq tradition at a more reasonable price, but I'd be bankrupt using them to feed a crowd. We've hit the teenage boy appetite years and inviting another family of 4 over is equivalent to 6-8 more mouths.