Cooking For Engineers

[ihockeynut]

I used your recipe to make ribs at home for the first time and they worked out great. The family raved about them.

Thanks for sharing your hard work.

Dave

[ebforest]

I'm on my 2nd go around today using this method for Ribs. I had never BBQ'd ribs before and found this site about a month ago, the ribs turned out pretty tastey (though I didn't love the cut of meat.) So now I'm trying to educate myself about where to find better cuts of meat, really need to find an actual butcher around here, and ready for round two!

Thanks for the very thorough walk through and the pictures are outstanding.

-Ed

[Guest]

This is my first time making ribs and I plan on using this recipe this weekend.

I was wondering what temperature the grill should be at? I have a 3 burner gas grill with a built in thermometer. Low, medium, or high heat could also help. I am worried about over/under cooking the ribs.

[Michael Chu]

[eric L]

Wow, thank you for this. Been a while now, and your still getting comments! Good job!
Anyway, having scorched every attempt at BBQ ribs, I thought I'd try looking up a method on line and found yours! It was an eye opener. I loved the descriptions and pictures, and I just realized it is on a site titled Cooking for Engineers! That explains everything! As a former mechanical engineer, and now working in the field of Metrology, I was thinking to myself as I read it, this is the kind of guy we need working for us writing calibration procedures for ISO certification, haha.

This sounds great, can’t wait to get started, thanks again.

[pandy34]

Hi Everyone,
I just bbq'd babyback ribs in the smoker for the first time. Smoked it 2 hours with rub, then 2 hours in tinfoil at around 225-240F, and 1 hour to dry. It came out a bit dry for my liking. There was still a bit moistness but not enough. What is happening? Are my temperatures too high? The internal temp of the ribs when i measured it last was 197F. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Dilbert]

at 197'F the meat was definitely overcooked.

the usual recommended temp for pork is 160'F - but I hardly ever go that high, as I prefer a moister cut.

too high a temp -
or
too long -

time&temp are related - and certainly smoking in the rub warmed the meat - the 225-240'F temp works for me, I'd check the internal temp at about 45 minutes and see how the ribs are doing.

good luck!

[kara123]

After you smoke the ribs and put them directly onto the bbq with bbq sauce, do you you increase the temp or leave it the same?

[Michael Chu]

[ted]

Thanks for the recipe. I was doing home improvement, forgot about the sauce, and over-reduced it by a bit. I still liked it, although I might tweak it a bit. Maybe a tiny bit more molasses and less tomato or ketchup? I love the spiciness.

The grilling technique worked well for me. Just under 2 hours. Still getting used to my new BBQ. Seemed to cook a little more at the top that the bottom, so I flipped in rib rack halfway through.

My BBQ thermometer said 240 and my surface therm said about 225. Got some smoke from my box for a while but then I left it and I think it stopped. Need to maybe move my smoker box directly over the flame.

[Guest]

I have cooked (or tried to,) Spare Ribs many times on the propane Webber BBQ and have had mixed results. Mostly not good, over / under cooked and always charred.
Yesterday I used a slight variation of this recipe and the results were spectacular ! I used a rub (no hot spices, wifee can't handle anything hot) Please no jokes..... , then smoked the ribs for about 2 hours with apple / hickory chips mix in an electric smoker 170*(Big Chief) then tented them with aluminum foil on a raised cake cooling rack on a cookie sheet with apple juice underneath, in a 300* oven for 2 1/2 hours. I slathered them with homemade BBQ sauce for the last hour uncovered, which set the sauce to a rich sticky glaze. Removed them and wrapped them tightly in the foil I used to tent them. Let stand for ~45 minutes.
The best ribs I've ever cooked, maybe the best I've ever eaten. Firm Juicy Satisfying Meaty Smokey & Sweet, everything you look for in a good rib.
Superb, simply Superb!

Thank you for sharing your recipe, It's very similar to the one found in "The Best of the Test Kitchens" cook book. Awesome book BTW.

Ron

[Erani]

For a quick (30 mins) rib, coat well with Worchester sauce, broil till lightly browned in oven at 450F. Cook in pressure cooker for 20 mins.
Coat with BBQ sauce, my favorite is Honey Chipotle, broil at 450F until tinged with dark edges. Eat and enjoy. (Microwaved jacket potatoes to accompany are just fine)

[Guest]

Anybody old enough to remember what Mom's pork ribs tasted like 50 years ago?
OMG, please go to http://cawcawcreek.com/. Their heirloom pig strains go back to the Spanish colonization of America. They're also allowed to forage and pasture. Want to impress? Most of you have never tasted pork like this. Pork used to have a good deal of fat. These ribs do also.
BTW, the pork chops will bring tears to your eyes. No, I don't work there. Anyway here's how I do my ribs as of today:

Bradly Smoker - set to 230 degrees - two hours worth of hickory briquettes. Vent wide open.
Pull ribs from refrigerator and apply your favorite rub. I use Jack's Old South. www.jacksoldsouth.com
Let ribs come to near room temperature with the rub on them. No, I don't take the membrane off the inside.
Put ribs in heated smoker and walk away for 3 1/2 - 4 hours. Yeah, just walk away. There is so much fat on these, that it's much more difficult to dry them out.

If you insist on sauce (I just use it for dippin'), sauce and re-heat in oven broiler or on the grill. Not too hot, you don't want to burn the sugar in the sauce.

Prior to finding this pork, I'd tell myself every time I went for BBQ in a restaurant, "I can make ribs as good as these (maybe)." Now, there's no doubt, I can make ribs better than I've ever tasted in a restaurant. I have to admit, I've never had them in St. Louis or Memphis though.

[Kimmer62]

I don't seem to have any wood chips and would still like to grill the spare ribs I have. Other than not having a smoky flavor, will this work? Should there be any changes to the recipe?

THis looks amazing and can't wait to try it.

[Dilbert]

>>will it work

yes - no problem.

the "flavor" wood chips bring the smoke-taste - but not much heat/etc.