Baby Back Pork Ribs Recipes

[Norm]

I've never really had great luck making these before, mine turn out dry and tough. Anybody have a secret recipe they'd like to share?

I promise it'll go no further than us members. ;D

[Chris Burchfield]

I prefer them grilled with hickory. I'm in Memphis TN. to with all pork it's low temp and slow on the cook time. Doesn't matter if it's ribs, butts or ham. The preference on dry rub or sticky sauce is another preference. Regardless, I start out with skinning the membrane. Then I use the dry rub seasoning I create myself which includes, garlic powder, black-white and cayenne peppers, salt. Each according to one's pallet. Caution on the cayenne, a little goes a long way. I sear the meat on both sides over the hot coals which are piled at one end of the grill. This help seal the meat. They are then moved to the far end of the grill. I choke the air intake down so that the temperature is about 225F. This then takes three to five hours for ribs depending on how much control your able to have on your fire. Butt's and shoulders will take 12 - 16 hours. I also prefer a sticky sauce which I prepare on the stove. Though I start out with store bought Kraft original and hickory smoked bottles, I also add Sorghum Molasses, and a little cayenne pepper. I'll cook it down on the stove to get rid of the vinegar smell and taste. By cooking it down on the stove till it's thick, when the meat is about an hour away from done, I apply the sauce to the meat a couple of times. One mistake a lot of folks make is trying to cook the sauce onto the meat. If the meat is ready, but you are not quite ready to eat, wrap the ribs in heavy aluminum foil. This will help hole the heat and keep them moist.

The method above is well proven as I learned it from my dad and practice. At 49 yoa, and 260 lbs. I've had some practice. Again, the key here is "Low and Slow." Good luck.

[wwsjr]

A friend gave me this recipe probably 20 years ago, been using and passing on to others ever since. Little different from most BBQ Ribs. I buy side of ribs, then cut individually prior to cooking. I usually cook about 1 lb per adult to have plenty.

3 Lbs Ribs
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Catsup
1/4 Cup Sherry
1 Clove Garlic
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon Chili Powder

Cut into individual rib pieces, trim excess fat. Place in pot, cover with water and boil approximately 1 hour or until tender. Do not overcook as meat will fall from bone. Drain well and pour above mixture over ribs. Let marinate for at least an hour. Longer time will increase taste. I have marinated overnight. Grill until dry and brown.

We usually have corn-on the-cob, baked beans, baked potato, salad or slaw, and Texas toast with the ribs. Grits would probably be good, but I don't like grits.

[thurlow]

I usually do the whole slab because there is so much more meat;  there was a thread...........last year

[WH_Conley]

1 lb per adult?

You guys must be on a diet down there in Mississippi :D.

Wife usually sets the whole rack in front of me, course I'm just a growing boy, growing out more every day. :D

[limbrat]

I think pork likes sweet like seafood likes salt.
I puttem in hot water on stove or in microwave not to cook them but just to get them hot. then i cover them in a pan of cold water than has been seasoned with soy sauce and honey till they cool.
after they cool i pat dry and give them a rub with favorite pork seasoning.
I use natural lump charcoal and like cherry wood with pork. I put them on the hot part of the grill so they sear. After they sear on both sides i move them to medium heat and add sause.
I put 1/4 stick of butter of equal amount of olive oil in sauce nuke it till butter melts and stir well. The oli rises to the top and the seasoned oil is what i use on the meat at first on med. heat most of it cooks off and it keeps the meat from drying.
when it is about cooked i move it to the cold part of the grill. make my sauce 50% honey and lay it on heavy, as the meat cools it will draw up the flavoring.
Before taking it of the grill i lay the honey sauce to it heavy and move it back to the hottest part of the grill to carmelize the honey to the outside of the ribs.

bone sucking, finger licking, juicy, sloppy good

[Don K]

I do slow and low too. The day before I cook I take the whole racks of ribs  and wash and trim excess fat off them. Coat liberally with cajun seasoning, sea salt, pepper garlic and onion powder. Through in a big cooler, add some water toalmost cover and ice down. Leave in cooler until next day.

About 3 days before hand I will take about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of dales marinade and put in a pint fruit jar, add same spices as above except salt, a goodly sprinkle of each and heat in micro. until warm or on stove.  Put lid on and place in frig. Every time you open frig to get snacks, shake well. On day of cooking I strain out all solids thru a coffee filter. Put in spray bottle and add water to fill bottle. this is simply to moisten meat as it cooks.

Before placing ribs on grill I'll resprinkle with cajun spices and place over indirect heat, I like about 300 degrees no lower than 250. Add hot coals as necessary to maintain heat. As you flip racks spray liberally with marinade. After about 5 hrs , times may vary with grill, fire, and cook, ribs should have your mouth watering. Not done yet, remove ribs, some help is required here, and wrap in foil. Through into cooler or big pan and cover to retain heat. If you can wait a hour while fixing side items, the ribs will be drowning in their own juices. Remove hot ribs from foil and as knife gets close to them they will  pretty much cut themselves apart. Be sure to eat over a plate as the meat will likely fall off the bone and it would be :( to see them on the ground.

Nothing exact about my method, but with a little personal tweaking, it will be good. My ribs won the award for best food at our Relay for Life event this year. Two grills and 10 racks of ribs and there was no leftovers ;D

 

[Engineer]

See my reply in this thread:

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=7151.0

Hasn't changed yet. 

[moosehunter]

 Norm,
I put a pile of charcoal on one side if the Weber, the ribs an the other. Keep the Ribs stacked and rotate them through the stack every 5-10 min. A mere 3 hours or so later they are tender and ready for some sauce. I only put the sauce on them for the last 20 min.


I cheat on the sauce and buy "Dinasour BBQ Sauce", it's really good and I don't have time to make it.

[WDH]

I do the same as Moosehunter on my weber.  Pile of coals on one side, indirect heat, stacked the rubbed ribs like a teepee.  I put some green hickory on the coals to create extra smoke.

[Norm]

Thanks for all the tips folks. Thurlow and Jon I couldn't find that old thread, thanks for bringing it back.

I brined the ribs (real nice ones too) in water, salt and sugar for about 6 hours. Then coated them in dijon mustard with a sprinkling of cajun seasoning on top. It was too windy for the charcoal so I used my new weber gas grill with smoke burner. Now I've always been a charcoal purist but let me tell you this baby is nice. Weber Gas Grill Then indirect heat with some cherry and hard maple smoke for 4 hours. Finished it off with a chipolte sauce. Wow were they good! Wish I had a steamer to do the pineapple steam at the end like Thurlow's. Wonder if he needs to know what day my birthday is....(July 6th) ;D

[thurlow]

Norm, glad the ribs turned out, aren't they good............

  Wonder if he needs to know what day my birthday is....(July 6th) ;D

I have to constantly tell my wife that subtlety is lost on me, I'm too literal minded..................can't figure out what you're suggesting.   ;D  ;D  ;D

[WDH]

Norm,

After reading that post, I am going to brine me some ribs next weekend  ;D.  What is your brine concoction?

[ScottAR]

I use about 1/2 to 2/3rds of a cup of salt and Brown sugar to a
gallon of water.  Use non Iodized salt or cut it about in half as iodized salt
is stronger tasting or more salty I guess...

I've also tried cheap apple juice with a can of pineapple pieces thrown in.
Works Well.  I usually do this to pork loin roast or Boston butts.  Get a
food syringe and shoot some juice into it.  Indirect heat at 250-300 deg.
for 3-5 hours depending on how well I tend the fire.  :


I'm hungry again... 

[Norm]

I use about the same as Scott WDH only I use more water. I have a big non reactive pot I put a couple of inches of very hot water in. I then put in 1/2 cup of sea salt and 1/2 cup of brown sugar, stir until dissolved. Then put in the pork and almost fill with cold water. The rest of the way is filled with ice cubes to keep everything nice and cold. I find for pork that 6 hours is about right. Make sure to rinse in cold water before you cook. The other thing I like to brine is poultry, if it's a whole chicken our a full turkey breast I'll brine 6 hours. Cut up chicken needs a little less time. If it tastes too salty use more water in the brine.

[Paschale]

I've never really had great luck making these before, mine turn out dry and tough. Anybody have a secret recipe they'd like to share?

I promise it'll go no further than us members. ;D

Hey there Norm,

I've been practicing my ribs too, and whipped up a BBQ sauce the other day that I thought was good enough for me to remember what I put in it for the next time.  It was pretty tasty!

Ingredients for the sauce:

1/2 of a red onion, minced
minced garlic--about four cloves
Can of diced tomatoes
Ketchup--probably 1/3 of a cup or so
Gulden's mustard--probably two or three tablespoons
chipotle pepper--maybe 1 and 1/2 tsp
ancho chile pepper--probably 1/2 tsp
cumin--probably a teaspoon
smoked Spanish paprika--about 1/2 tsp
cherry wine vinegar
raspberry wine vinegar
(enough of both to give it a nice zing, though could've used red wine vinegar)
liquid smoke--probably 2 tsp or so
brown sugar--probably 1/4 cup, maybe less
maple syrup--probably a tablespoon or two
plenty of black pepper
juice of half a lemon

Method: saute onions and garlic, then mix in the rest. Let simmer for awhile, then season with salt. Blend it all together to form a thick sauce.

[Engineer]

My sauce varies depending on what happens to be in the front of the fridge and the spice cabinet when I go huntin' for ingredients.  I know that it always involves a base of root beer, brown sugar, tomato paste, garlic and mustard.  The spices I can't recall.  There's enough acid in the root beer and mustard and paste to not need vinegar or lemon, and I tend toward a very sweet sauce.   Offsets the saltiness of the brine.   The rub I use is from a book, packed away so I can't grab it offhand, but its' Raichlen's Barbecue Bible (?) and I think it's called Big Time Barbecue Rub.  Lot of paprika, garlic and cayenne.  I hate chipotle and anything else that's smoked hot pepper.  Prefer my heat pure and mostly unflavored, tending toward cayennes and Asian peppers.

[Paschale]

I hate chipotle and anything else that's smoked hot pepper.  Prefer my heat pure and mostly unflavored, tending toward cayennes and Asian peppers.

I'm the exact opposite.   ;D  I love chipotle anything, and adobo sauce, and smoked Spanish paprika.  I think just about anything's better when you smoke it.  I even have some smoked sea salt in the cupboard that I like to throw into the sauce.  But it's just like you said:  I just whip up something with whatever I have lying around.  The cherry and raspberry wine vinegar give it a nice fruity acidity that I like.  But I'd sure love to give yours a try--they sound tasty!   8)

[Norm]

Thanks for the recipes guys. I've never really messed with the chipotle until recently. One of my favorite ways to do hot peppers is to grill them until blackened and then put in a bag to loosen the skins. Peel the skins and use as you would any other pepper in a recipe. I'm not a huge fan of paprika but almost every rub calls for it. The smoked spanish variety sounds good I'll have to get some.

[Engineer]

I'm usually not eager to give a blatant plug for a company here, but I get all my spices from a company called Penzey's.  They have a very nice website and a couple of dozen retail stores around the country.  They have an excellent smoked Spanish paprika which I do like.  Also most any other spice and herb you can think of, plus a lot of blends of their own.  I really like their Bavarian seasoning and English prime rib rub for meat flavoring.  Paschale, I'd imagine you've heard of them, if you aren't already a customer.

[Paschale]

I'm usually not eager to give a blatant plug for a company here, but I get all my spices from a company called Penzey's.  They have a very nice website and a couple of dozen retail stores around the country.  Paschale, I'd imagine you've heard of them, if you aren't already a customer.

They have a store here in GR, and I go there all the time.   ;D  High quality stuff, all the way around.  I've been using their southwest blend as a dry rub on my ribs, and it works great.

[Norm]

Thanks for the tip about Penzey's. I ordered a nice variety of spices that I have a hard time getting around here. The smoked spanish paprika is excellent. I'm making grilled lamb with an excellent marinade using some.

[WDH]

Norm,  I brined a pork loin today, and it is on the grill now.  With some fried squash and black eyed peas, should be a good repast  ;).

[SwampDonkey]

Should I bring a table, bib and napkins?  :D :D 8)

[WDH]

Well, you have the table (a nice one too, I might add) ;D.  However, by the time you get here, The food will be gone :D.