Baby Back Ribs

Looking for something to make at your next BBQ that your friends and family are sure to enjoy? Using a combination of honey, brown sugar, spices, bbq sauce, and don’t forget the butter we will be creating some ribs that are just bursting with flavor and guaranteed to be fall off the bone tender.

Cooking Basics

Ribs can be a little intimidating if you have never cooked them before but they are pretty simple to make and they are always a huge hit at BBQs. Another great thing about ribs that you dont get with a lot of other recipes is you can count on them taking a certain amount of time. If they are nto done in that time they will be close and I will give you some tips on how to know for sure that they are ready. In this recipe I am going to show you 2 alternatives for flavors with ribs. Most of the recipe will be completely the same. The only difference will be the rub and bbq sauce we use on the ribs. In one variation we will be going with just a straight sweet flavor and in the other variation we will add in some heat to the mix. I find that mixing sweet and heat together makes for a really great flavor combination that a lot of people enjoy.

Before we get into the recipe lets talk about the different types of ribs you can find in a store. There are 4 main kinds of ribs you will find when shopping.

• Spareribs - These are long cuts from the belly behind the shoulder. They usually have 11 - 13 ribs in a rack and have meat above and in between the ribs. Thsi types has the least amount of meat on each rib but they can be delicious when cooked properly
• St. Louis Stype Ribs - These are the same cut as spareribs but they have been trimmed more to get rid of breastbone, cartiladge, or tips.
• Back Ribs - These are also known as riblets, baby back ribs, or loin ribs. These are smaller then the spareribs and St Lous Style and have more fat to them, which I think helps them get even more tender.
• Country Style Ribs - These come from the shoulder end of the loin and have the most meat on the bone out of the 4 types.

All of the types of ribs are delicious but all are prepared and cooked slightly differently. This recipe is going to be for Baby Back Ribs.

Meat Prep

There is very little prep work that goes into making ribs. The one thing that I like to do for ribs is to remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. The membrane blocks the smoke and seasoning from getting to the meat on that side and it doesn’t add anything to the taste. This can be a pain the first time you do it but once you have done it a couple times it is pretty easy. I have included a link to a tool that helps make removing the membrane easier. If you are not interested in that you can use a spoon and a paper towel. What you will want to do is turn the ribs over so the bony side is facing up. You will start on the narrower end and scrape the spoon across the first rib a few times. Doing this will loosen up a little of the membrane. This is pretty hard to get a hold of and that is where the paper towel comes in because this grips it suprisingly well. Grab the end of the membrance with the paper towel and just pull down the ribs. The entire membrane should pull off in 1 piece. If for some reason it doesn’t just repeat the steps you did initially wherever it tore. Once this step is complete its good wipe down the ribs with a paper towel and also feel around to make sure there are no bone shards or anything that got missed by whoever was trimming the ribs. Also remove any pieces of fat that are sticking out.

Once this step is completed we will apply the rub. We want to do this the day before we are going to cook the ribs to give the rub a chance to sit. There are a number of binders you can use to help hold the rub on if you choose. Some people choos enot to use any. They all work fairly well and none of them affects the flavor of the ribs when they are finished. A few options if you want to use a binder are yellow mustard or oil. I have gone with no binder and I have also used oil and I did not notice a real difference. I always like to start seasoning on the bony side so that the meaty side is the last one done to give it less chance of any rub coming off. Apply a good layer of binder if you choose to use it and then put a liberal amount of your rub on. Make sure to coat the sides as well as the top and bottom of the ribs. If you are going with the sweet variation I suggest using Honey Hog BBQ from Meat Church. These guys have some amazing rubs. If you want to go with a little heat I like to use Pit Boss Sweet Heat rub. I will include links below for you if you are intereste din those particular rubs. If you already have some other variation of rub you can feel free to substitute for that as well. Once you finish the bony side flip it over and repeat the steps for the top of the ribs. After you finish this step you will want to wrap your ribs in searn wrap and store them in the fridge overnight.

Fire Up The Pit

Cooking the ribs will take four and a half to five hours. When you are ready to begin we will need to preheat the smoker or grill to 225 degrees. I like to use hickory, apple, or maple if you are smoking. You will then place the ribs over indirect heat with the meat side up. We are going to close the lid and allow them to cook for 2 hours this way.

At the two hour mark we are going to remove the ribs and wrap them in tin foil meaty side down along with some apple juice, butter, brown sugar, and honey to help them cook. This is sometimes referred to as the texas crutch. We need to make sure there is a tight seal in the tin foil to make sure they cook properly. This will really tenderize the meat and make it ready to fall off the bone. Once the ribs are wrapped we will throw them back on the smoker for another two hours.

At this point the ribs should be almost done. At the four hour mark we will remove the ribs from the wrap and place them back on the smoker meaty side up. Now is when we will coat them in some bbq sauce. If you are going sweet I usually use Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce. If you want to add a little heat I just tried out Kosmos Q Pineapple Heat Rib Glaze and it was a nice change from what I normally use. It had a really nice sweet taste wiht just a little bit of heat to balance it out. Now we are going to close the lid and let the sauce carmelize. That usually takes about a half an hour or so. At this time we need to verify the ribs are done. There are a few different techniques to help indicate if ribs are ready. The first indicator to look for is the rib bones. As the meat cooks it will shrink and pull away form the ribs a little so you will see the ends of the ribs sticking out when they are close. Another method to help is called the bend test. If you pick up the ribs in the middle and lift with tongs them you should see them give and start to pull apart just a little. Another test is the pull test. If you grab a rib you can try to twist it. If you can rmeove it this is a good indicator that the ribs are ready.

When they are done take them off the smoker and give them 10 minutes to rest and then dig in.

Final Thoughts

I love making ribs for bbqs because you can actually count on them being done at a certain time and it doesnt take all day to cook. I also love that is is easy to try out different flavor profiles by switching up rubs and bbq sauces that you use so they can be fun to experiment with. Another thing you could try to experiment with is how much bark you get on your ribs. Bark is the exterior of the ribs that can get crispy with the rub. In this recipe I use aluminum foil to wrap and braise the ribs for a couple hours which makes them turn out incredibly tender but gives them really no bark at all. Some people like ribs different ways so this is something that is worth trying to experiment with. Instead of wrapping in aluminum foil you can try butcher paper which will give you more bark on the ribs. Some people don’t wrap at all. I have never tried this method so I dont know how much it would affect cooking time but feel free to experiment to find out just what kind of ribs you love best.

Recipe