How’s it going? I’m loving this 52 degree weather! Sitting here in my office with the windows open, listening to the birds singing. The urge to go fire up that SQ36 is getting stronger!
A few months ago, I sent a survey to the people on my email list and a bunch of people said their biggest BBQ challenge is ribs. Despite some challenges, I want to say it’s very possible for you to cook outrageously-delicious ribs! 🙂
Read my article on how to smoke pork ribs that make you squeal and grunt. (You may even shed a few tears.)
But before we get into the recipe for smoking ribs, I’d like to address a few questions or concerns that came up in the survey I sent to my email list.
Common Rib Challenges
Here are some of the challenges and questions that came up in the survey. You can reply to this email if you have a problem that’s not mentioned here.
- How do you get pork ribs to fall off the bone? This may come as a surprise, but perfect competition-style ribs do not fall off the bone. At that point, the ribs are overdone. On a perfect rib, the meat hangs on the bone, but comes off clean when you pull (or in our case, bite) it off the bone.
- What kind of meat should I buy? You can buy pork ribs at your local supermarket or at a wholesale club. Wholesale clubs usually have better prices and selection. Plus their meat is often better quality. Fat equals flavor. Make sure the ribs have a good amount of fat along the rack. Ideally, there should be no bones sticking out past the sides of the slab.
- What temp should I cook at? Target temperature for cooking low and slow is 225-250 degrees F.
- Do you cook beef ribs the same way as pork ribs? I’m going to be honest. We have never cooked beef ribs, but I can’t think of any reason not to use the same methods and tricks we recommend for pork ribs.
- How do I make my pork ribs tender without drying them out? If your ribs are turning out bouncy, then they are still not done. If they are dry and tough, you overcooked ’em. The sweet spot of the perfect rib is between those two points.
Pretty simple theory. But in real life it can be tough, literally.
Since ribs only have a small layer of meat around the bones, they are not nearly as forgiving as something like pork butts.
So, it comes down to your time and temperature. This is what you want to shoot for:
- Even heat throughout the cooker, from one end of the cooking area to the other.
- Consistent temperature while the ribs are cooking. Keep it low and slow.
- Keep them in the heat until they are done, but no longer. (Read that again.)
By the way, this is a breeze on a Meadow Creek offset smoker. But I realize not everyone has the luxury of cooking on a Meadow Creek rig.
The truth is, you can cook great ribs on a yard-sale, rust-bucket Weber kettle grill. If you are trying to cook ribs low and slow on a regular grill, such as a Weber kettle grill, you’ve got to set it up for indirect heat. (On a kettle grill you would put your fire on the one side and the meat on the other with the top vent above the meat.)
Even then, it’s still easier to make outrageous ribs on an offset smoker with true indirect heat. But regardless of what you’re cooking on, keep in mind the three keys I shared above.
- If you do have hot spots or too much direct heat, rotate the ribs every hour or so. Monitor the temp at the meat level, to make sure you’re not too hot.
- If the temp in your smoking chamber rises and falls, it’s not the end of the world.
- BUT check for doneness when you think it’s getting close. Do not pull them until they are done. Do not dry them out once they pass the doneness test (step #10).
Also read step #2 on trimming the ribs. It’s important to know that sometimes one end of the slab can be done a while before the other end of the slab.
We normally don’t use foil for cooking ribs on a Meadow Creek offset smoker. But if I was smoking ribs on a regular grill rigged for indirect heat, I would probably use foil for the last part of the cook. (It’s important to leave the ribs in the smoke for the first part of the cook so they can absorb some flavor.)
Click here to read my article on how to smoke pork ribs that make you squeal and grunt.
Click here to learn more about Meadow Creek’s revolutionary BBQ smokers.
Feel free to leave a comment if you liked these tips or ask a question if you have any.
Have fun,
Lavern
