I boiled some ribs

AZRP

Anybody that knows me knows that I love experimenting with different ways of cooking. Lately I've been playing with babybacks and today I had a thought. Probably 90% of people say you should boil them then grill. This is blasphemy to BBQ people, but it got me thinking. Boiling removes flavor but what if you boiled in a vacuum bag? So I took a rack and cut it in half, seasoned with salt, cayenne, and mint and sealed them up in Foodsaver bags.



Got some water boiling and dropped in the ribs, when the boil returned I turned it to low and covered the pot.



At 10 minutes into the cook I thought things were starting to go south. There was air starting to show up in the bags. At 30 minutes I was sure this was a disaster because the bags had turned into balloons. I have no idea where the air came from but was concerned that the meat would not contact the hot water.



At 40 minutes I took them to the grill, 325 direct raised grid. I cooked them turning every 10 minutes and spritzing with apple juice and cider vinegar. I cooked them another 40 minutes. They were pretty but I really had my doubts.



I rested them for about 10 minutes while I cooked some corn in the pot the ribs cooked in. Then cut the rack into individual ribs. I don't sauce when experimenting so that I am just tasting the product without being influenced by the sauce.



I have to tell you these were as good as any rib I have ever put in my mouth and they were done in only 80 minutes. They had a perfect bite off the bone, all the fat was rendered, and they melted in my mouth. I'll boil again. -RP

Fidel

Great experiment Randy. Thanks for sharing the results.

FlaPoolman

Better do it outside,, I have this picture of the bag exploding in your kitchen about the same time Kim walks in the door :laugh:

AZRP

I like your new tag line. -RP

AZRP

Well I can tell you I will never boil wort on the kitchen stove again. -RP

Spring Chicken

Great idea/test.

Wonder if other hard-to-cook meats would work using that method?

Spring "Hot Water On The Stove" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Photo Egg

Good news. In the summer you don't have to boil in AZ.
Just lay the bags out on patio for an hour. :laugh:
Great post,
Darian

ResQue

But you gotta make sure you flip them!

Frank from Houma

Blasphemy

Nice Eggsperiment

Lawn Ranger

You are a genius. I've secretly known it for some time, but now it's official. Nice job, Buddy!

LR

LImp Brisket

I may try that but, I won't tell anyone I did.

Bacchus

Very cool RP!

AZRP

Thanks Ron, if they had a little Blues Hog on them they would easily have been the best ribs ever. -RP

Ross in Ventura

Thanks for the post Randy, some very good information there

Ross

Little Chef

Randy: What a great idea!! You need to come up with a 'name' for them....something better than boiled ribs... :laugh: . I have a strong feeling this method will be used frequently in the future!! Great post!

AZRP

Thanks, means a lot coming from a chef! They were really incredible and I thought they would suck. -RP

AZRP

Hey Michelle, how about "THE" ribs :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:-RP

Hoss

WHOWOULDATHUNKIT???? I'll give dat a try.LOOK OUT MYRON!!! Chicken balls in a cupcake pan are SO LAST YEAR!

AZRP

Ya know you crack my ass! :laugh: -RP

BigDaddy - OCT

Wow, much better outcome than I expected. I read the subject line and was prepared to answer with a simple, "Why?". But as you seem to have a knack for doing, very cool idea!

Bruce

AZRP

Dude, you have to be in your element now that college football has begun. I'm a basketball guy, but since Stoops has gotten things going here I'm migrating towards football. We play Iowa tomorrow, should be a good game. -RP

Susan Egglaine

You have had your thinkin cap on Nice job!

Mainegg

talk about "hot tubbing" LOL very cool and nice pics to show it all. it sure brings good ribs within reach if you have not done advance planning!

Smokin' not stirred

Hey Randy, good idea. Did you use any wood? I am wondering if the lack of time in the egg and being precooked would affect the ability to absorb the smoke.

icemncmth

You do know that most restaurants steam their ribs..

A lot of chefs are no cooking meat in this same method.

Clay Q

Just goes to show; There are three ways to skin a cat, (I use this line with my students),- different methods same results.
Well, this puts a new view on ribs for the egg. I've been getting excellent results using the 2 hour higher temp method and was thinking this is it but now I have your new method to try.
Nice work and thanks for sharing! :cheer:

BobS

That was a great experiment and great results!

When I had a gasser, I thought that the only practical way to cook ribs was with a quick boil first. I think that the idea of doing it in a vacuum bag is EXCELLENT, because you are not washing away the flavor.

That wasn't air that got in the bag - you had just started making steam out of the juice in the meat. If you throw a sealed plastic bag in a microwave it will do the same thing in seconds.

Doing the ribs on the grill, with a Guru is not exactly hard work, but if I ever get the urge to do some ribs fast, I will definitely give that a go.

Deckhand

Sounds like this might be the trick for beef ribs that are moist, tender and retain flavor without getting mushy. An unscrupulous cook might be tempted to sneak a few drops of liquid smoke into the bag with other seasonings...

civil eggineer

Try the pressure cooked method...slightly faster with similar cooking environment. The ribs come out incredible. I will crawl back under my rock now.

Beli

About "The Ribs"for a name.. :laugh:

AZRP

I got plenty of smoke flavor because I used my home made smoked cayenne pepper. -RP