HRM Parent Blog

As a father of 3, I don’t get too many days off.   So when Father’s Day comes along, I have 3 requests; sleeping in, BBQ’d ribs over fire, and beer.   Make that 4 requests, no dishes.   OK, 5 requests, a nap (because I never sleep in).    Anyway,  I have been striving to make the perfect ribs at home for years.   I had the perfect ribs once in Texas, and I have been trying to replicate that at home ever since.  I have read probably 15 books on the subject and countless internet articles.  The ideal rib has a delicate balance between the wood smoke, the moist natural flavor of pork, and the sweet BBQ sauce with a hint of spicy heat.   This recipe is for a die-hard rib fan with an afternoon on their hands, sounds like Fathers Day to me.

Weapon of Choice. The pro’s prefer to make their ribs on a water smoker.  Fancy.  But you can make great ribs on any backyard BBQ from the $150 Canadian Tire special to the $2000 monsters you see at Home Depot.  I have a 8 year old Weber Genesis that has never failed me, along with a Weber Performer Charcoal BBQ. 

Seeing that most people have propane style BBQ’s this recipe is tailored toward that.  Charcoal is a whole other story.

There are 4 ingredients to great ribs;

1.  A great rack of ribs - I strongly suggest Costco ribs for both price and quality, you can get 10 lbs of ribs (2 full baby back racks – enough for 4 people) for about 25 bucks.

2.  A great rub – recipe below

3.  Sass –your favorite BBQ sauce

4.  Patience – of course patience on Father’s day includes a six pack (minimum)

Preparing your ribs – The Rub

About 30 minutes before putting the ribs on the grill you want to prepare your ribs. 

1.   Remove the “silver skin” ( the thin membrane at the bottom of the rib)

2.  Put the rub on the ribs.

Here is a great rib rub recipe:

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

Setting up your grill

Set up your grill for indirect heat , low and slow.   Great ribs take time.   General thinking has most people boiling or broiling ribs before they put on the BBQ, if you do this I just can’t look you in the eye,  but I digress.  Truly great ribs take time, low and slow, broiling or boiling always ends up with mushy ribs.  

Most propane BBQ’s have multiple burners, this means turn one on, and leave the others off.  Place the ribs over the “cool” area, where the burners are not lit.  You want to attain a temperature on the grill somewhere between 225F and 275F, make sure you don’t go above 300F.

Cooking the ribs - The 3-2-1 Method.

·       3 hours of low and slow smoke

·       2 hours of wrapped (the Texas crutch)

·       1 hour back on the BBQ

Now the 3-2-1 method is extreme, and you need to make sure the temp is as close to 225F as you can for as long as you can.  You can do this in 2.5, 1.5 and .5, shaving off about 1.5 hours for a total time of about 4 ½ hours to great ribs, but the temp would need to be 250F. 

Step 1:  Low and Slow - Prepare a smoke pack of wood wrapped in tin foil.  You can pick up different wood chips from Canadian Tire or Home Depot.  The best ones for ribs are hickory, maple, cherry, or apple.  Put one pack directly on the burner that is lit, with about one handful of wood chips inside, this should provide about 20 minutes of smoke. 

Put the ribs on the grill, on the “cool” side, opposite the burner.  Open a beer, chill out, these need to sit here for the next 2.5 – 3 hours.  Don’t open the cover, if you’re looking you’re not cooking.  Don’t add any more wood, you can overpower the flavor with smoke.

Step 2: Wrap it up - After the ribs have smoked at the low temp for 2.5 to 3 hours, wrap the ribs up in tin foil, putting a little liquid at the bottom to make them moist, you can use whatever you want, be it apple juice, beer, cola.   Put them back on the BBQ and leave for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Step 3: Add the sass and heat up the grill - Unwrap the steamy ribs from the tin foil pouches and put back on a grill.  At this point you can heat up the grill to 350.  Lather on your favorite BBQ sauce or make your own, recipe follows.  Ensure that you get a good amount of sauce on the ribs and make sure you don’t burn or over char the sauce on the outside allowing for a good carmelization of the sauce on the ribs.  This should take about 20 -30 minutes, if you put them over direct heat, make sure you watch them to prevent over-charring.

That’s it – take them off the grill and enjoy your ribs and your Father’s Day!

Homemade BBQ Sauce

1 cup Ketchup

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup yellow mustard

2 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp molasses

1 tsp (or more) Tobasco

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well blended.

Roger Williamson is a professional technology geek, a father of 3, husband of 1 and an avid live fire cooking enthusiast who spends his free time in Fall River cooking outside.  For any questions about your rib adventure, email: fallriverbbqguy@gmail.com (just not on Father's Day, cause he'll be a little busy!)