If you're in the mood to have the best BBQ ribs ever there's no reason to head off to some restaurant and pay premium prices, you can make them at home for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, unless you know what you're doing you'll end up with dry, tough, tasteless BBQ ribs. Many people try to make BBQ ribs only to give up, thinking only the so-called 'Pit Masters' can make great BBQ ribs. The key to making great smoked ribs is to apply the three important principles to the process; add flavor, make them tender and make them moist. Follow the steps below and you too can cook the best smoked BBQ ribs just like the pros!
First you'll need to choose a great rack of ribs. You should select a rack of ribs with some fat covering, not too much though. Also, pick the rack up and hold it by the end of the package to see how much it bends. The more it bends, the more tender it will be since it has less connective tissue. If it starts off tender, it'll have a better chance of ending up tender.
\"How To BBQ\"
Remove the membrane on the bone side of the rack. First lay the rack down with the bone side up. Start at the 2nd rib on the short end with a butter knife. Slide the butter knife under the membrane and gently lift towards the small end. Once you have a good amount of the membrane pulled up grab it with a paper towel and gently lift away. With some practice you should be able to get almost all of it in one pull. This is an important step if you want great ribs. After you remove the membrane trim off any excessive fat. Remember as the fat breaks down it will add moisture so don't remove it all! This is a key step if you want to make great smoked ribs. Save some of the trimmed fat, you can use it later in the cooking process.
Apply some barbecue rub. use your favorite, just try to find one low in sugar. If the rub has a high sugar content it might burn during the long cooking process. Rub the rack down with some yellow mustard first, this will make the rub stick to the ribs and not fall off during the cooking process. Don't worry, you wont taste the mustard. Apply a generous amount of barbecue rub to the rack and rub it in good with your hands, it is called 'rub' after all. A good coating of rub will produce a nice bark later on.
Put the rack in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. This will allow the rub to really get into the meat. The salt in the rub will pull moisture and proteins to the surface and make a great flavorful 'bark' during cooking. A cold rack of ribs will absorb more smoke flavor and have a deeper smoke ring.
Prepare the smoker. Get your smoker of choice up to 225 degrees. Make sure confirm the temperature with a thermometer. Add some wood chips of your choice now, personally I use a mixture of apple wood and maple wood.
Put the rack in the smoker meat side up and close the door or lid. Barbecue is NOT a spectator sport, walk away and leave it alone! There's no reason to stare at it. It'll cook this way for three hours.
Flip the rack every 45 minutes and spray with apple juice at that time, this will keep the surface of the ribs moist. If you notice the edges starting to dry out place some of the fat you trimmed earlier over the edges.
After about 3 hours you'll want to foil the ribs. Remove the rack and wrap it in aluminum foil, you can add a little barbecue sauce and/or apple juice to the foil pack for even more flavor at this time. Do not skip this step as wrapping the ribs in foil will make the rack juicy and tender as connective tissue breaks down.
After about an hour open the pack and check for tenderness, slide a fork between two large ribs and pull out, if the rack wants to come along for the ride then it's not done, go for another 20 minutes and check again. You want some resistance but not too much, there's still some more cook time left. This is perhaps the most important stage so don't rush it. I've seen some racks get tender in an hour, and some take nearly 3 hours.
Once the ribs pass the pull test take them out of the foil them and place back in the smoker, it isn't necessary to have the smoke going anymore but turn up the heat to about 300 degrees and sauce the ribs. In 15 minutes flip and sauce the ribs again. You can do this step on a grill if you have one available. Watch the temperature though! as the sauce can burn if the temperature is too high.
After applying sauce to the ribs twice remove the rack and enjoy your smoked BBQ ribs! I'm sure you'll agree that these are the best BBQ ribs you've ever had.
BBQ Ribs - How to Make the Best BBQ Ribs
Although the process for making great BBQ ribs seems easy there's actually some real science going on. From pulling proteins to the surface to breaking down connective tissue. There's a purpose to each step and it's all designed to add flavor and moisture to the ribs. For a more detailed look at making great BBQ ribs I suggest reading Smoked BBQ Ribs to learn more.
If you don't actually own a smoker don't despair, it's entirely possible to make great bbq ribs on the grill. I've adapted the process above to using a grill, read BBQ Ribs on the Grill to learn how easy this is.