baby back ribs

Unknown · April 2000

I am looking for help with some ribs i am planning to cook tonight. I have just recently purchased a large green egg and have never done my rib recipe on it. It involves cooking them in the oven for 30 minutes with vinegar and water, and grilling for thirty minutes or so on a traditional charcoal grill for about 45 minutes while constantly basting with a homemade vinegar and ketchup based sauce. My question is concerning how i should approach cooking this same recipe with my egg? [p]thanks

Cat · April 2000

hudson,[p]Baby backs don't need pre-cooking or constant basting on the Egg. I do them in a rib rack over direct heat at a dome temp of 250. They take about 3.5 to 4 hours.[p]Others lay them flat on the grill & turn them every 45 minutes or so, or cook them indirect over a drip pan or ceramic mass; see the Recipes section on the BGE site for methods from JSlot & JJ, as well as Tim M's site (link below) for several approaches.[p]If you want to use your ketchup-based sauce as a glaze, apply it to the ribs during the last half hour or so; tomato-based stuff risks burning otherwise.[p]Hope this helps, and welcome to the Forum -[p]Cathy
[ul][li]Tim's site[/ul]

sprinter · April 2000

hudson,[p]Welcome to the forum. Great advice here for the asking, and all willing to share. Holler here often and you'll never be steered in the wrong direction. You may be steered in a somewhat curvy path at times as everyone has their own methods, but the destination point is always the same.[p]Almost all barbecued/grilled meat recipes can be adapted to the egg. With ribs specifically, its been my experience that there is NO need to precook or .....gulp..... boil them before cooking them on teh egg. This is done with other grills to keep them from drying out. It takes a good long time at relatively low temps to break down ribs to make them falling off the bone tender. To do this on a normal grill is nearly impossible as the heat would dry them out. Therefore, the boiling does the breaking down of the meat, and the grilling mainly just cooks sauce onto them.[p]The eggs ability to retain moisture allows these lower slower cooks to naturally break down the meat while retaining moisture and more importantly flavor.[p]For your ribs I would plan on about 250 degrees direct on the grill for about 3-4 hours (depending on the size of the rack). Baste them for the last 1/2 hour or so and you'll have some awesome ribs. There are others hre with a LOT more rib experience than I, CAT, Tim M, Nature Boy, Gfw (others as well), they will chime in here also with more experience.[p]Hope this helps,[p]Troy

JimW · April 2000

hudson,
There are untold numbers of times and temps for great ribs. Cat and Sprinter have given you two. One more would be dome temp at 300F for 1 hour 45 minutes, basting with sauce every 5 minutes for the last 20 minutes. Any way you go you can rest assured that the ribs will beat anything you've had before.
JimW

Dr. Chicken · April 2000

hudson,
Welcome to the forum! You are gona love this site and everything that comes off the Egg! Get set to enjoy![p]I cook ribs indirect! Like the info Cat & Sprinter have given you, you do not need to "par-boil" them ahead of times. I'm sure if you'll look at Tim M's site or Gfw's site they will give you specific's. I generally put a rub on them the nite before or marinade them overnight. I then put them on the Egg indirect over a drip pan with water, apple cider or what-ever in the drip pan and cook them 4 1/2 hrs to 6 hrs with smoke from hickory, pecan or mesquite depending on the type of ribs and other things. I baste the outside of the ribs once, during the last 1/2 hr of the cook. They are fantastic like this! If you get a chance, look at NB's Mahogany ribs recipe in the new recipe file! It sounds great & everyone that has done it has been amazed![p]Good luck and welcome again to the forum! Stop back often and you'll meet some terriffic people![p]Dr. Chicken

sprinter · April 2000

JimW,[p]See what I mean hudson, here come the twists and turns in the road, all pointing at the same destination point of great ribs. Sit back, watch, read, and learn and you'll be eating the best ribs you've ever had no matter which way you try.[p]Troy

Nature Boy · April 2000

hudson,
Great advice already. No need to precook.
I haven't tried doing them quickly like JimW mentioned, but I would be interested in seeing how that works. [p]Like Cat and Sprinter mentioned, doing them direct at 250 works very nicely. The lower temps allow for some very nice smoke penetration. I have had best results with cooking in the 3-5 hour range, as it seems to render most of the fat nicely...leaving you with pull-clean-from the bone meat. Direct seems to produce smokier results, with more crusting.
Indirect seems to produce a more moist and tender rib.[p]I usually cook either direct 225-250, or indirect at 300 on a second grid elevated over a liquid filled drip pan. Times are about the same either way. 3-4 hours until the meat starts pulling back from the bone, and a rib can be twisted off. Once when I was cooking at 300 over a drip pan, I went to flip the ribs while I was saucing them (after 3 hours) and the bone slipped right out and I ended up with the bone in my tongs, and the ribs on the back grid. Tender![p]Don't forget to remove the membrane. Slathering the ribs with mustard and applying a rub works very nicely to tenderize a bit, add flavor (not mustard flavor), and helps make a nice bark.[p]Good luck, and let us know if you have any questions!
BTW, Cat's Babyback recipe (under Pork Recipes) is special.[p]NB[p]

Dr. Chicken · April 2000

sprinter,
I will second that!!

Cornfed · April 2000

hudson,[p]Others have already given better advice than I can give, but I thought I'd chime in that on my Small, I've found direct with a rib rack to be the way to go. I don't have firebricks nor do I think they are recommended for the Small. Since you're so close to the direct heat source, ST and I have found that the rib rack is very handy.[p]As far as seasoning goes, I've pretty much found that the smoke is your best seasoning, but I usually add a rub consisting of salt, black pepper, cayenne, garlic, all spice, thyme, brown sugar, and sometimes others. I like to put dry spices on to experiment but have noticed that pretty much any basic rub I've used has turned out great with the smoke.[p]Welcome aboard,
Cornfed

Gfw · April 2000

<p />hudson, you've already received great advice form the previous posts - NB's Ginger Mahogany Ribs (the picture) truely are great but require a little more time - I've done ribs in as short a time as 3 hours and as long as 6 hours - all were great - next time it will be Cat's recipe.[p]If you have nothing to do, check out the link - when you arrive use the search option and look for ribs, there should be a few entries.[p]Welcome to the foruma and good luck!

[ul][li]Gfw's BBQ[/ul]

Tim M · April 2000

Nature Boy,[p]And he cooks a mean rib - let me tell you. I am not sure about his brisket though......yet[p]
Tim

Earl · April 2000

hudson,[p] I would just like to say welcome, all the others have
given you excellent advice.[p] Earl

baby back ribs

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