The ULTIMATE BBQ Ribs
The ULTIMATE BBQ Ribs by PitBoss Scott!
There are so many styles of pork rib from baby backs to St Louis cut and they really do vary in quality quite widely. The best place to start is with the best quality rib meat from a specialist butcher. Too many ribs have most of the meat cut off the top and you’re left with a thin rack of bones. Farmfoods has upped its game with USDA imported St Louis cut ribs at record low prices. But check out Davidsons butcher for Iberico or baby back ribs and Bobs Butchers of Hatfield for online sources.
We tend to cut off any pieces of meat not attached to the rib and usually detach the end bone at the thin end as it will dry anyway. Remove the membrane from the back side. Work the back end of a tea spoon under the skin in the middle of your rack and pull up to create a little pocket. Then use your finger to work under the membrane all the way through. Simply pull up and the membrane will come off nice and easy. To help grip the skin maybe use some paper towel. There’s plenty ways to do this but avoid cutting the skin as far as possible and try and remove in one lift.
With the membrane off, you can add a binder if you want. This can be yellow mustard, a light oil spray or some people even use mayo. We tend to use an oil atomizer and spray the rib with a light coat. The paprika in the rub mixes well with oil so it dissolves in nice and easily.
Apply a medium coating of rub to the surface of the meat. Remember rub will not stick to fat. So trim any large sections of fat off if you want a uniform colour on the ribs. We use Sweet Bones & Butts for the best colour and sweetness on the top side of our ribs and then on the underside or bone side, we use Pigasus for a little spike of heat.
Allow the rub to soak in so it becomes all wet. You can accelerate this process by spraying the rub with a mix of apple juice and cider vinegar (80:20). If you put dry rubs into a hot smoker the sugar can burn more easily if it’s not soaked into the meat surface.
Set up your cooker for indirect cooking. Place the ribs bone side down on the “cool” side. We tend to cook ribs around 285F. Use good quality lump wood charcoal and some wood chunks. Fruit wood is perfect for colour (Cherry especially), but you can add bolder flavours like oak and hickory. Use around 4-6 chunks and place them around the charcoal basket so they smolder.
With the ribs cooking, it’s obviously time to pop a beer and stick on some tunes. If your cooker is holding temp around 285F then don’t even look at the ribs for 2 hrs. Check on them to make sure the underside isn’t burning, clean off any marrow coming out the ends of the bones. Spritz the ribs to maintain colour. You want them to be mahogany. Keep them unwrapped until the colour is just before mahogany if that makes sense.
When the “bark” has set or the rub layer has set up, so it doesn’t come off with a finger nail scratch, you can wrap the ribs in foil or even butcher’s paper. We tend to use foil as it eliminates any air gaps and stops steam destroying your set bark. We tend to wrap ribs around 75-80C internal temp and then take them to 96-98C internal. Higher and they will fall off the bone. We like a little bite so 96-97C is perfect.
In the wrap you can get quite creative by adding flavours. People add butter, sugar, maple syrup, honey, hot sauce, bbq sauce and even cooked streaky bacon to add more flavours.
Once the ribs reach temp, open them up and allow them to dry out a little from the wrap juice. Then add a layer of Red House BBQ sauce with a silicon brush. Allow the sauce to “tac up” for about 10-15 mins. This is a great time to add another wood chunk and get added flavour into the sauce.
The ribs benefit from a little rest of maybe 20 mins before slicing up. Use the bones as a guide and cut mid-way between. You can stand the ribs on their side, so you can more easily see the cut line.
So many options for different ribs with other flavours but the above is our USA style BBQ rib guide. Try Chinese Salt n Chilli pepper ribs, teriyaki ribs or Korean pork ribs.
How good do our Sriracha ribs topped with spring onions and chopped peanuts look 😋
Wayne Tilley
Hi, do the above temperatures apply to pellet smokers also. Many thanks.
Nick Fine
A&O seasoned ribs are the best!! Baby backs with a dual coating of Sweet Butts and Bones and Fools Gold is absolutely incredible. I wrap mine with brown sugar and Dr Pepper and then sauce with Red House. They’re the greatest ribs in the world according to everyone who has tried them!! Thanks A&O
p.s. Posting about ribs on my birthday is an omen/sign ;)