Cindy and I have disagreements from time to time regarding how food should be cooked. She came across a recipe for baby back ribs in Family Circle magazine that she wanted to try. It basically called for dry rubbed ribs to be put into an oven bag and cooked in the oven for 75 minutes, then finished on the grill for about 15 minutes.
I think any ribs cooked in an oven is wrong. My method of "low and slow" cooking - cooking the ribs on a grill, with indirect heat and hickory smoke, at about 220 to 250 degrees for a minimum of 2 hours - is the only way to cook ribs, I believe.
So, Cindy and I decided to get a slab of ribs each and do ribs our way.
Here's Cindy's recipe for her rub (actually, she got this from Weber's Big Book of Grilling:
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon of sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon of cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of onion powder
1 teaspoon of cumin
Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the rub ingredients and stir together.
Prepare a cup of flour.
Remove rib rack from packaging and rinse in cool water. Turn ribs so the meaty side is down. Insert a small knife under the edge of the thin white membrane, the grip membrane and pull from back of ribs. Discard membrane. Cut rib rack in half.
Season the meaty side of the ribs with the dry rub, pressing the seasoning into the meat. Sprinkle the cup of flour into a heavy-duty oven bag set on top of a cookie pan. Add the ribs and tightly seal the bag. Bake at 425 degrees for 75 minutes.
Prepare charcoal grill for medium-hot coals. Carefully remove ribs from foil bag as steam will be escaping. Grill ribs on direct heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, meat side down first for about 5 minutes. Turn and baste with your favorite barbecue sauce (Cindy used Cookie's Western barbecue sauce) and let cook for five to ten minutes. Remove from grill and eat!
Will's Rib Rub -
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt.
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (salt, garlic powder, paprika, white pepper, oregano, black pepper, cayenne pepper)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried sweet leaf basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 tablespoon sugar
Mix ingredients in a bowl and duplicate the above instructions in preparing the rib rack (removing membrane and seasoning the ribs).
On a Weber charcoal grill (or equivalent), place coals on two sides for indirect heat cooking, with a pan of water in the middle. Prepare coals for medium heat (about 300 degrees). Soak about a pound of hickory wood chunks in water for about 15 minutes and place on coals just before putting the ribs on the grill.
Place rib rack meat side up over the center of the grill above the pan of water (you can place the rack on a piece of aluminum foil - something I've been doing a lot lately to keep the juices from dripping into the water). Reduce heat (by closing vents) to about 220 to 230 degrees, allowing no higher than 250 degrees. Cook for a minimum of two hours. Stir the wood chips from time to time to keep smoke rolling, but don't over smoke the meat.
Remove from grill and serve.
The Results -
Both ribs were pretty good. I thought Cindy's may have been a little over-cooked (possibly because the recipe called for the oven to be so hot - I sort of questioned that when I first saw the recipe), but the basting of the ribs with barbecue sauce on the grill gave them a good flavor. They were a little dry, but still good.
While my ribs didn't fall off the bone, they were still moist and tender, with a nice pink inside because of the hickory smoke. We tasted the good in both styles of ribs.
I don't know if there really is a true right way to do ribs. But I've been doing mine the same way for a number of years, and they've turned out pretty good each time. I'll keep 'em out of the oven and on the grill for the foreseeable future.
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