How to cook delicious ribs by baking, grilling, and smoking.

This is my special recipe for the preparation and cooking of delicious and tender pork ribs.  *For the best results use high-quality, extra-meaty pork back ribs (Baby Backs).
In this area, the best pork ribs are found at Fareway Stores.

BASIC STEPS:

1. Make the seasoning also known as the rub.
2. Ingredients are listed in parts.   A 'part' maybe a tablespoon or a larger unit depending on  how much seasoning you want to make. 
3. Prepare the meat
4. Pre-bake 
5. Smoke and Grill

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STEP  1.  Basic Rub Recipe

I like Badia brand because it's very rich in flavor

* HINT:  Your homemade rub will keep for a long time and it's good on lots of things so make more than you need for this batch of ribs.

Rub Ingredients

4 - parts  Smoked Paprika   Paprika is the base for the rub so use a good flavorful brand.

4  - parts  Chili Powder   is also a key ingredient so pick a good flavorful type of chile powder.  I use Pasilla blend.  It is a dark red chile powder.  It's not hot but has a very rich flavor from a blend of arbanol peppers and others.   Super Saver in omaha has a very good Mexican seasoning line with 4 or 5 types of chili powders. Try them all!
 
3 - parts  Brown Sugar

2 - parts  Sea salt or kosher salt1 - parts  Fresh ground black pepper 

2 - parts  Cumin   Get a fresh a package of fresh cumin.  The fresh flavor makes a difference.

2 - parts  Rosemary   Ground seeds are best but whole seeds are fine also).

1 - part  Garlic powder   or use 2 parts fresh minced garlic.

1- part  Cayenne powder

1 - part  Onion powder
 

Put all the ingredients in a small sturdy tupperware container.  Put the lid on and shake briskly until everything is well mixed.

Optional Upgrades to add to the rub blend:

1 -  part  Poultry Blend  (adds more savory flavor)

1 -  part  Thyme       (adds more savory flavor)

1 -  part  Cayenne  (added to the basic 1 part to kick up the spicy heat)

1-  part  Chopped Seranno peppers (adds flavor and a slight amount of heat)
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STEP 2  Prepare the meat

1.   Pick up a slab of ribs and hold the end up.  Use a butter knife or other dull tool and slide it between a bone and the membrane.  Pull the membrane away from the bone carefully as not to rip it.  Then grab the loose membrane and peel it down.  You should be able to remove the entire membrane as a sheet.   HINT:  Grab the membrane with a paper towel and you will get a better grip and the slippery membrane won't slip out of your fingers.

2.   Use Heavy Duty foil.  Pull off a long strip of foil with is about twice the length of the slab of ribs.   Lay the slab on the foil and apply the rub.
3.   Put a nice even coating of the rub on all the meat surfaces and the inside of the ribs and on the ends of the bones.  Massage it into the meat a bit...That's why they call it the 'rub'!

3.  After the ribs are rubbed, carefully wrap the foil around the slab.  Be careful to avoid poking  through the foil with the bones.  Lay the ribs on a cookie sheet with all the foil seams facing up.  This will prevent the juices from leaking out while baking and making a big mess in your oven!

4.  Refrigerate the ribs for as long as possible. 2 hours to 24 hours.  The longer they refrigerate the more seasoning flavor will be drawn into the meat. 

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STEP 3  PRE-Bake the ribs   This part is a little tricky because oven temperatures vary and if you have a ton of ribs going into your oven you need to monitor temps closely.

1.  Preheat oven to 365° F degrees.

2.  Keep ribs on the cookie sheet and place sheet on middle and top rack in the oven.  

      

3.  The ribs will cook at 365°F for 30 minutes, then

      Reduce to 335°F and cook for 30 minutes, then

      Reduce to 305°F and cook for 30 minutes

4.   Remove a slab from the oven and use a quick response meat thermometer.  The temp should be about 185°F or 190°F.  This is when you decide if you want  "tender ribs" or "fall off the bone ribs"  If you want fall off the bone/mushy ribs let them cook a bit more.  

When at desired consistency remove the ribs from the oven and let them sit at room temp while you prepare the grill.
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STEP 4  Smoking

1.  Soak some hickory chunks in water for an hour.

2.   Add 4- 5 hands-full of charcoal to the kettle grill.  Add fluid and light it.   After this charcoal is burning well added a few more hands-full of charcoal and let it burn.  When  charcoal is ashed over and gray spread the charcoal out and add the wood chunks around the edges.  After a bit the wood will start to smoke.  Put the lid on and reduce the temperature down to around 320°F - 375°F degrees. Use the top and bottom vents to regulate the temp by controlling the oxygen flow to the burning charcoal and wood.

3.  While the ribs are sitting on the cookie sheets, open the foil and create sort of a "foil bowl" for the ribs.  Keep the ribs in the foil bowl and place the bowls around the edges of the grill surface.  Put the lid on.  Again, use the grill the vents to control the internal temp.   Let the temp drop to 225°F to 300°F.

4.  How long should the ribs smoke?   Well there is no easy answer.  The smoking time varies but for good smoke flavor go at least 45 minutes.  With cooler temps you can smoke longer and pick up more smoke flavor but don't let the fire get too cool.

5.  Check the meat the meat temp should be 190 degrees.   Is it tender?  Is it staying juicy in the foil bowl?  Should you try a taste test at this point?  Yes you should!

6.  When ribs are tender and have enough smoky flavor for your tastes, take them off the grill.  Serve them right away or set them aside and grill's surface regain hot temperature again and then put the ribs directly on the grill surface for a bit of charring.  Add some bbq sauce if you would like.

    Be careful when handling extra tender ribs. The meat will fall off!

7.  You can add a bit more rub to the ribs for a flavor kick right before serving. 

Enjoy!!  If you decide to try my recipe please leave some comments and let me know how you liked it.