How to Make the Best Barbecued Pork

Most of the recipes on Cook’s Illustrated are full blown recipes; everything you need contained on a few pages. As I was looking for a new rib recipe I stumbled upon this article that gives overall guidelines; no list of ingredients. While I’ve seen most of the advice over the years throughout many of Chris Kimball’s recipes, I haven’t seen a recipe that adhered to all the steps. So today I made ribs according to these “how-to” instructions. The ribs came out delicious and finishing the ribs in the oven provides much more control and then my kids favorite rib recipe. Overall 5-stars; worth updating your favorite recipe to reflect.

Fall-of-the-bone tender

 

Comments:

1. Step 7: Baking instead of barbecuing the sauced-ribs is an insurance policy against the sauce burning. If you add too many coals when rebuilding the fire the sauce will over caramelize and burn. A properly-calibrated, low, 300-degree oven will give the ribs plenty of time to cook.
2. The trade-off of baking the ribs is that you can’t cook your beans down in the coals so that the juices from the ribs flavor your beans. You can use the any juices left in the foil and the end of Step 11.

Rating: 5-star.
Cost: $16.
How much work? Medium.
How big of a mess?  Low/Medium.
Start time 12 Noon. Dinner time 6:00 PM.

Cook’s Country original recipe is here. I used the spice rub and barbecue sauce recipe from here. The recipe as I cooked it today is as follows:

1. Use a paring knife to loosen the membrane of the back of each rack of ribs. It is chewy and prevents the spices from fully flavoring the ribs.
2. Using paper towel for added grip, pull off and fully remove the member. Cook’s Country says it should come off in one piece; not true, but it use your paring knife to restart the pulling process.
3. Season the ribs with a spice mixture, wrap them in plastic wrap and allow to the sit in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Steeply bank your coals on one side of the grill. This will cook low and slow, while giving plenty to grill space.
5. Soak your wood chips and wrap them in a foil packet, with slits to allow the smoke to escape. Let them smoke for 5 minutes before beginning to cook the ribs. Starting to cook the ribs immediately can give to harsh of a flavor.
6. Clean and oil the grill grate, and set the ribs on the cool side of the grill. Away from the direct heat, the ribs can cook for a long time without their exterior burning.
7. Cover the ribs loosely with a large piece of aluminum foil. Set the foil directly on top of ribs which will help trap steam and keep the ribs tender. Cook f0r 2 hours until the ribs are deeply red. The vents should be 1/2 open.
8. After 2 hours on the grill the charcoal will be spent. Remove the ribs from the grill and brush both sides with a total of 1 cup of barbecue sauce. Tightly wrap in aluminum foil.
9. Set the foil-wrapped ribs on to a rimmed baking sheet. Put into low a preheated 250-to-275 degree oven and bake for a few more hours. Baking the sauced-ribs will reduce the chance that the sauce will burn. Also because they are wrapped in foil there is no advantage to rebuilding the charcoal fire.
10. Test the ribs by inserting a fork into the ribs and lift up ribs. If the fork easily pulls out then the ribs are done. Otherwise, the ribs need to cook longer.
11. Allow the ribs to rest for 30 minutes, still wrapped in their foil. The juices will redistribute and the ribs will be very moist.
12. Finally, brush the ribs with more barbecue sauce, slice them between the bones and serve.