I found this to be a great primer for those looking to get started cooking ribs. It reflects much of what we discuss on the forum. It is copyrighted, but they specifically say to pass it on, so here it is. I hope you get something out of it. I had to post it in 2 parts because it was to big for a single post.
Texas BBQ Rub’s Step-by Step Guide to
Your Best BBQ Ever
Article 4
Tender Succulent Pork Ribs
In this Article you are going to learn some methods and secrets for cooking pork ribs, St. Luis Pork Ribs, Baby Back ribs, whole pork spare ribs, and then County Style pork ribs. In the world of smoking and grilling meat the most enjoyed meat you can cook for family and friends is a great pork ribs and you are going to learn how to do that right now.
When it comes to ribs the styles are different, the ribs cooked are different, but one thing remains the same. Ribs are made for smoking and grilling and they are a favorite of all. Whether you like your ribs wet, dry, with sauce, without sauce, fall of the bone tender and moist, or you like them where you can pick up the bone and eat the succulent meat right of the bone they are all good. It is your call on this. But there is not another piece of meat you can grab with your hands and eat right off the bone.
But the two common things everyone wants are great tasting ribs and a rib so full of natural juices that it drips out of the ribs.
Let’s cook some flavorful juicy ribs you will be proud of.
There are a few big questions you may be asking yourself and have tried finding good answers to:
1. Do I need to remove the membranes from the ribs before I cook them?
2. What is the easiest way to remove the membrane from the ribs?
3. Do I need to wrap the ribs? And if so when do I do it?
4. What is the simple 3-2-1 method talked about for cooking ribs?
5. How do I know when the ribs are done?
6. When do I add the sauce if I want to add some to the ribs?
7. How tender do I need to cook the ribs and how do I do that?
The answer to these questions and others will be covered in depth in this article.
PORK RIBS-Finding the right rib at the store
You are standing in the store with all of those ribs in packages and really don’t know which packages of ribs to pick up and take home and cook.
Well there are three basic things you will need to look for in a pork rib to help you decide which ones deserves your cooking.
1. The amount of meat on the rib (you want to have some meat on them so look at them carefully to decide which ones have the most meat on them. And it is best to find ribs that are fairly uniform in thickness across the rib). If they are frozen look at the thickness of the package cause you really can’t feel the meat. If they are not frozen you can feel the meat above a bone and feel just how much meat there is on that rib. You are looking for a nice even thickness with a good amount of meat.
2. Then you are going to look at the amount of fat on the rib itself. In spare ribs or St Louis spare ribs you are looking for a nice feathering of fat across the rib. You don’t want a rib that all of the fat is clumped in one side of the rib. For baby back ribs you want the same but these ribs are not typically feathered with a nice amount of fat so look for a rack that has just a nice amount of fat across the rib. In other words no large fat cap covering the entire rib surface.
3. You could stop right here and have some great ribs to cook on the pit or grill. But there is one more thing that makes serving the ribs once they are cooked easier to present to everyone. Flip the rib over and look at the bones of the rib. Try to find a rack that the bones are fairly straight across the rib. Usually you see a couple of straight bones and then all of a sudden the bones start curving. This is not a deal killer on the ribs it is just easier if the rib bones are straight when it come to cutting them for your guests.
Pick out a couple of racks of good ribs and now get them home and time to prep them.
But first…….the biggest question asked most when it comes to cooking ribs…..
DO YOU NEED TO REMOVE THE MEMBRANE ON THE RIB OR NOT?
The big question or debate among rib cookers is whether or not the membrane should be removed from the ribs prior to cooking or do you cook with the membrane on the ribs. Ask 100 people and it seems you will get 50 that say remove the membrane and 50 that say leave it on there.
The membrane is a very thin piece of cartilage that is on the bone side of the rack of ribs. It is the white heavy skin that covers the bone side of the rib. Remove it or not to remove it? Let’s discuss this and then you can decide.
You can remove the membrane by peeling it off. Use a sharp knife and slip it under the membrane at one end of the rack of ribs and peal back enough to get a good grip on the membrane. Some suggest using a screwdriver to pry under the membrane instead of a knife, it is much safer. Try gripping the membrane with a paper towel or pliers and then peeling it off the rack. This takes some practice so just keep working at it. Adds time to your preparation so plan extra time to get these off if you so desire.
Tip: The best thing that I have seen used for removing the membranes from ribs is a catfish skin remover (not sure that is the correct name) but what it is it looks like a pair of pliers except the end is about 2 inches wide and you can grip the membrane with it and work it off the rib. You should be able to find one of these pretty easy at a good outdoor supply store.
My personal preference and the way I cook all of my ribs is to leave the membrane on the ribs when you cook them. That being said, I’m sure there are plenty of you out there that remove the membrane and I have no problem with that if you are getting a good moist rib after it has cooked. If you are grilling the ribs, then I might have a tendency to agree with you to take off the membrane.
A Big Advantage of leaving the membrane on the ribs is……...
TIP: The juices of the ribs are actually held in the meat by the membrane as the ribs cook: so they hold much more of their natural juices.
And as a note you can always remove the membrane after you cook the ribs if that is the way you prefer to serve them.
Some argue that spices and smoke cannot penetrate the membrane so you lose some of the flavor you are trying to get into the meat. If you are cooking your ribs at say 220 to 225 degrees the membrane will actually start to tear apart and can actually disappear as the rib cooks over a long time. It no longer is in its single piece stage and does not change or hamper any of the smoke flavor or rub flavor you are trying to get into the meat.
If you are grilling ribs, then perhaps the best way to get the ribs to their most tender and best tasting stage is to remove the membrane because the ribs you are grilling are not going to be exposed to the long periods of low heat but rather higher heat for a shorter period of time.
So, this decision rests with you. Try it both ways and find out which way you prefer the ribs. Membrane off or membrane on. Now let’s get into the discussion of the different types of ribs.
SPARE RIBS
The Spare Rib comes from the side of the pig, right next to the belly. You ever heard the term “side of ribs” well it comes from talking about spare ribs and where they come from.
You usually buy spare ribs in the whole “rack”. There are 13 bones in a full rack of ribs. As you learned earlier try to find racks of ribs that are nice and meaty, feathered with a nice fat, and have some nice straight bones for easier cutting and presenting to your friends and family.
There are two distinct sides to the rack of ribs, a bone side (covered by the membrane) and a meat side. The rack will be a little curved. You can buy spares with either the skirt (an extra flap of meat attached to the bottom of the rack) on or the skirt off. Most of the wholesale and supermarkets sell their spares with the skirt on. Just leave it on there and cook it and enjoy.
Spare ribs are a little meatier than baby backs and they are fattier because of where they come off the pig. And they usually cost 2/3 as much as baby backs. Remember that fat is where the flavor is and spare ribs just have a better covering of fat across the rib than do baby back ribs.
Some folks cut the spare rib rack into what many will call St. Louis cut spareribs. Basically, they cut the bottom of the ribs off right above the knuckle and square up the rack. Hey folks cook what you enjoy cooking because people will eat any rib you cook if it done correctly. If you do like to cook the whole rack of untrimmed spare ribs there is some of the best tasting meat down in the knuckles of the rib. So enjoy them.
An Interesting Note
You see restaurants advertising ribs on their menus either as a whole rack or half rack. These can be any number of ribs that the restaurant wishes to call a rack or a half rack. So a half rack can be 3 ribs and a full rack can be 6 ribs. Not exactly a full rack of ribs, as we know them.
BABY BACK RIBS
The Baby Back ribs are sometimes referred to as “back” ribs or Loin Back ribs. The baby in baby back actually comes from the size of the ribs themselves. They are much smaller in nature than the spare ribs, as the rack on baby backs will weight only 1½ pounds to 4 pounds. They appear to be thicker than spare ribs because of the shape of the bones and they have a little less fat on them and very rarely do you see a nice feathering of fat across a baby back rib. The meat from the baby backs comes from the loin (the back part of the pig, where the better cuts of meat on the pig are located). Remember you are looking for a nice amount of meat on this rib so try to get them close to the 4 pound range to ensure you there is a good amount of meat on the ribs. You may find some baby back ribs that say extra meaty on them as they will tend to have more meat on them than the typical baby back rib and they sell for a premium price.
Baby backs are generally the most versatile of the ribs to cook. You can grill them or smoke them. They are, in my opinion, the best rib to grill as they are smaller and leaner and will cook in a shorter period of time than spares they are more geared to the high temperatures that grilling is all about. Because of their size they will cook quicker than spare ribs.
If you were grilling baby backs then I would recommend removal of the membrane prior to cooking. They are not going to be exposed to the smoke and fire long enough to break down the membrane by cooking. So spend some time and remove the membrane.
COUNTRY STYLE RIBS
So-called country style ribs are not ribs at all. Now don’t get mad because these little gems are cut to look like a rib but they come from the blade side of the loin or in many cases they are a pork butt cut into strips. They resemble fatty pork chops cut into pieces that resemble a rib. These you can get for under a $2 a pound when you find them on sale and they make great BBQ. Nothing wrong with them they just are not a real rib.
They have no membrane and are usually cut in about 1 inch thick pieces about 3 to 5 inches in length. Recommended cooking of these is low and slow. But they can be grilled as well.
COOKING RIBS – EASY AS 1-2-3
Simply rub down the rack of ribs you are cooking with Worcestershire sauce and apply Texas BBQ Rub to the ribs. You can order some right here and it will be shipped to you fresh and full of flavor for those ribs. We recommend either the Original Texas BBQ Rub or our Grand Champion Rub for your ribs. Which one of those depends on if you like a little sweet followed by a nice mellow spice kick delivered with our Original Rub or the less spicy Grand Champion Rub. They are both fantastic! Try out both of them if you are not sure which one to use and find your favorite one. Our Original Rub is a 5 time National Award Winning BBQ Rub and is my go to rub. Don’t wait any longer order right now! It only takes a couple of minutes to order and your rub will be delivered to your mailbox or set on the front porch by the post office. You can go to our secure order form by clicking on this link:
http://www.texasbbqrub.com/shopping.htmSimply apply Worcestershire sauce or some other liquid to the rib then simply apply Texas BBQ Rub to the meat side of the rib. For spare ribs about ¾ cup on the meat side of the rack of ribs. For baby backs it will be about 2/3 as much rub to cover the rib rack. I recommend putting your rub on only the meaty side of the rib. Putting rub on the bone side and then cooking bone side down the rub is just going to fall off. For country style ribs you will have to do each “rib” separately by adding just a little rub to the “rib” after you cover with Worcestershire sauce.
Place the ribs on the grill or pit with the bone side down. For country style ribs just lay them on the cooking grate.
For indirect smoking/cooking (no wrapping), cook at 220-225 degrees for about 5 to 6 hours for whole untrimmed spare ribs, 3 to 4 hours for baby backs, about 4 to 5 hours for the St. Louis cut spare ribs and about 3 to 4 hours for the country style ribs. No need to turn them over they will be fine and you don’t want to loose any rub by flipping them over during cooking. Using Texas BBQ Rub you will notice the ribs going thru a phase where they are looking kind of dry. At this stage the rub is setting on your rib and forming that great tasting bark. After a couple of hours of the rib looking dry you will suddenly notice the rib starting to glaze back over as the juices of the rib are starting to be pulled out of the rib. They will look like you have actually sauced them or covered them with some kind of liquid. This is Texas BBQ Rub working on the rib from the inside out and at this time your ribs are getting close to being done.
How do you determine when the ribs are done?
........................... Continued in Part 2 ................
