MGoBBQ: REEBS - 3 ways Comment Count

GoBlueBBQ July 4th, 2019 at 3:00 PM

So our latest idea to cover the cost of Joe's recipes was sign him up for FuegoBox. They send you three hot sauces a month to try, you pull these out at restaurants, your family looks at you strange, and you don't care. OR you could use them in your summer barbecuing recipes. Use the code MGOBLOG10 to get $10 off any membership. And scroll down to see what the results were:

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July 4th has always been one of my favorite days of the year. Whether it was spent catching walleye with my Dad on Drummond Island or firing up the grill for a family get together, the 4th is always relaxing. This year will be no different as I will be making a mess of ribs for friends. Once I received this month's FUEGO BOX, I knew ribs would be on the menu. The latest box has a great assortment of spicy rubs and sauces that pair perfectly with fatty pork.

Ingredients :

  • Ribs (We used Spare Ribs)
  • Parkay Squeeze Butter (I use that term loosely)
  • Light Brown Sugar
  • Honey
  • AlbuKirky Anchonero Hot Rub (Fuego Box)
  • Born to Hula Hot Sauce (Fuego Box)

[After THE JUMP: Only one of these ribs can become the ultimate REEBS.]

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Directions :

If you are picking out ribs at your local big box store, look for ribs that have a tight wrap. Make sure the cryovac bag is sealed with very little blood in the bag.

01

If the bag has air in it or seems loose, that means there is a hole somewhere. Put it back and grab another. Same thing goes for briskets or pork butts. Air is bad! I poked a hole in the bag below to show what it looks like.

02

I like to remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. If you need a refresher on how to remove the membrane, check out the rib recipe from a few years back. Click here. If you prefer to leave the membrane on, that’s fine too. Ribs come in different sizes and often have thin ends that need to be removed. Otherwise, the thin end will just burn. Trim off the thin ends to make the ribs more uniform.

03

Once they are squared up, its time to add a little binder. You can use mustard, pickle juice, olive oil or hot sauce. I used some of my new favorite hot sauce from Fuego Box called Born to Hula "GUAJILLO MONSTER” Hot sauce. It’s packed with flavor and isn’t too hot. Add it to both sides of the ribs and rub it in.

04

Once the binder is in place, add your favorite Fuego Box rub. I chose the AlbuKirky Anchonero Hot Rub. This has been one of my favorites for a few years now. Great selection Fuego Box!!! These ribs are spicy. If you don’t want that much heat, use a sweet rub on the front of the ribs and this AlbuKirky Hot on the back side.

05

Get the pit up to 225 - 250 degrees and toss on a few chunks of pecan wood. I’m using my new Primo Grill on this one. These are fantastic Kamado style cookers.

06

I actually removed one of the chunks of wood after this pic as it was too much. You don’t want to over smoke your meat or it will taste bitter. You want to see a little smoke coming from the smoke stack, not a huge cloud of white smoke. The pic below is the perfect amount.

07

Add your ribs once you hit 225 degrees in the smoker.

08

I decided to try 3 different techniques on these racks. The first is just letting it ride and spritzing with apple juice every hour. The next is the 3-2-1 method perfected by Johnny Trigg on the competition BBQ circuit. The “3-2-1” method is 3 hours on the smoker (Uncovered), 2 hours wrapped in foil and then 1 hour unwrapped. I think the 3-2-1 method is a little too long, so I went with the 2-1-1 method instead. 2 hours unwrapped followed by 1 hour wrapped in foil or butcher paper and 1 hour unwrapped.

09

If you want to try the 2-2-1 method, you will need either foil or butcher paper. Get the butcher paper from Amazon and use it for your ribs and briskets. It will last you a long time, I promise. Once you hit the 2 hour mark on the ribs, remove from the heat. Place a few pieces of foil down and add your PARKAY BUTTER or regular butter, a handful of brown sugar and some honey.

10

Place your rack of ribs (Bone side up) on the sweet tasty mixture and repeat the process on the top of the ribs.

11

Wrap tightly and place back on the smoker with the meat side down. We want the meat soaking up all that sweet tastiness. Be careful when you’re wrapping with foil. The bones can poke a hole in the foil and you’ll have a gooey mess. If using butcher paper, it’s really not a concern. You can see the butcher paper below is already starting to get sexy.

12

Place them back on the heat for an hour. MEAT side down on the wrapped ribs.

13

After 1 hour, remove the ribs from the foil/butcher paper. Save the juices from the foil and use as your basting sauce. Place the ribs back on the smoker. If you are not wrapping, start spritzing with apple juice at the 2 hour mark. If you start spritzing too early, the sugar in the juice will start to burn. You can see how saucy they are when they come out of the foil. You can also see the meat pulling off the bone and the ribs are more visible. Let these ride for another hour.

14

How do we know when ribs are done??? Some like to use an instant read thermometer and shoot for an internal temp of 190 degrees. I prefer the bend test. Take your tongs and pick the rack up about 3-4 bones in. If they bend almost completely over, they are done. If they break in half, they are over done. They will still be good, but I prefer some bite to my ribs.

15

Once they are done to your liking, place them on a cutting board and slice. I really liked the butcher paper method best. The butcher paper lets the meat breathe a little and still helps to steam and tenderize the pork. It also produced a darker rib. I loved em.

16

Take a look at the 3 different racks. Butcher paper on the left, spritzed in the middle and foil on the right. All were fantastic, but the BP method is my new go-to.

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The options are endless with the great selections from Fuego Box. I love this monthly delivery service and can’t wait to try the rest of the sauces and rubs provided.

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Comments

StrictlyShorts

July 4th, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^

This is great.  Love smoking ribs.  

 

Last summer i ventured up north and didn’t have a smoker and I cured the ribs over night then confited them before grilling them on the propane grill my buddy had at his place.  They turned out really well for not having a smoker. 

Goggles Paisano

July 4th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^

I've got some country ribs on the Egg right now.  Was going to smoke beef short ribs today but they didn't have any left at the store.  Anyway, all is well.  I use a mop sauce for basting that I absolutely love:

 - 1 cup white distilled vinegar

 - 1 cup of shitty beer (have a few Landsharks in the fridge that will work just fine)

 - 1 TBS of garlic salt and 1 TBS of brown sugar

 - 1 Tsp of black pepper and 1 Tsp of red pepper flakes.

ToDefyTheFrizzleFry

July 4th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^

I just threw on 2 racks of baby backs on my Weber kettle. I'm using the snake method, which has worked well for me with ribs, pork butts/shoulders, and brisket. I evenly place 3 wood chunks on the front end of the snake. For the ribs, I coat them in yellow mustard and then put on a rub I make consisting of brown sugar, cayenne, black pepper, salt, cinnamon, paprika, and garlic powder. I typically do the 2-1-1 as well, and apply a vinegar based mop sauce over the last hour. 

MMB 82

July 4th, 2019 at 2:56 PM ^

I love ribs, and prefer the smoked St. Louis style, where there is (quite) a bit of bite, and they are not slathered with sauce. In a recent podcast, Brian said people like me are (paraphrasing here) "crazy psycho killers," but I am one of those who believe ribs are ruined if the meat just falls off the bone. Some of the best St. Louis ribs I have even had were at Texas Jack's, in Arlington, VA. Go figure... 

M Go Cue

July 4th, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^

I’m with you mostly on that MMB.  While most competitions are babybacks (except KCBS), I always cook spares at home and prefer them with a bite that doesn’t pull off all the meat.  

I have found that if I’m cooking for a group, people tend to like their ribs fall off the bone.

Joe, those ribs look fantastic!  Shinin’ like a brand new penny! 

Luckey1083

July 4th, 2019 at 4:22 PM ^

Joe, everything looks amazing as usual.  I'll be firing up the smoker and doing ribs and walleye tonight here in Montana!  Happy fourth Joe and to everyone on Mgoblog

Roanman

July 4th, 2019 at 4:36 PM ^

It looks and sounds wonderful, but too much work for me.

I will be using a simpler method for a very good reason that will quickly become apparent.

Fire up the smoker to 275.

Hit the ribs with a combination of Billy Bones Rub, tiny bit of Franks Hot Sauce, brown sugar and melted butter.

Fill the chips box in apple juice soaked apple chips, the wet box with apple juice and water.

When I'm at 275, I put the chips and the ribs in and then reset to 225 for 4 hours.

Immediately upon closing the smoker, I make a large jigger of "Whiskey Daves".

Two shots of Bulleit Bourbon, one shot of Michigan Pure Maple Syrup and one shot of lemon juice ... x 5. Today, maybe 7 because my son is now old enough to drink and is staying home tonight. Shaken up real well and poured over a short glass filled with crushed ice, it doesn't take too many of those puppies on a hot day to start forgetting about stuff, which is sort of the point I guess. As a result, complex tasks sometimes don't go well.

Four/Five hours later (the ribs can sit in the smoker for a good long time after the heat goes off) I fire up the grill to 450, put the ribs bone side down for maybe 4 minutes, then meat side down for a vey quick searing.  I will occasionally hit the ribs with just the tip of a brush dipped in the maple syrup for a finish.

Pretty good ribs, especially with a Caprese salad, and about as much work as I'm capable of on the 4th of July.

UM Fan from Sydney

July 4th, 2019 at 6:52 PM ^

If anyone does not season the shit out of ribs, you’re doing it wrong. I know many folks who cook the ribs and just smother them in BBQ. Seasoning is needed. I boil ribs for one hour, season them with a rub, put them on grill, spread BBQ on them, and then feast. They would be on the grill for maybe ten minutes.

jpo

July 5th, 2019 at 7:46 AM ^

I recently purchased the Pit Barrel Cooker 30-gallon drum. It has made smoking a breeze. I HIGHLY recommend it. You can do eight racks of ribs simultaneously. You don’t have to worry about turning anything over as the heat completely surrounds the meat. There is no part of the meat that absorbs the brunt of the heat (as weird as that seems, because you’d think the lower hanging end would cook faster - but it doesn’t). At $300 delivered to your door, it’s a bargain. 

LeCheezus

July 5th, 2019 at 7:59 AM ^

Couple of quick notes:

1.) I’m glad to see at least some contingent of MGoBlog disagrees  with Brian’s terrible straw man filled opinions on smoking ribs

2.) My main issue with prepackaged rubs is that they almost all contain a lot of salt.  I started dry brining for 8-12 hours (basically prep the night before you cook) and I really think it makes a big difference.  You can probably get away with dry brining and using a rub with salt for big cuts like pork shoulder but with thin cuts like ribs I’d be worried about them turning out too salty.

Ive yet to try the butcher paper, I’ll have to give it a go.

TheLastStraw

July 5th, 2019 at 9:19 AM ^

Thoughts on sous vide ribs?

I'm sure it is heresy to cook your ribs sous vide, but I'm curious whether you have tried it and what you think. I have an annual cookout where I do close to fifty pounds of ribs and I needed a method that would let me cook in such quantity. I turned a coffin cooler into a huge sous vide. I can prep the ribs with a dry rub the night before, add some liquid smoke (I cheat), and put them in the sous vide for a really long cook at a ridiculously low temperature -- 24 hours at 152 degrees. I pull them out and dry them off (they have essentially been cooking in their own rendered fats for 24 hours). I keep some sauce simmering on a burner next to me, sauce them on the grill, and leave them on the grill just long enough for the sauce to start to thicken and cling to the ribs. 

I've gotten more compliments on these ribs than any other method I've used. It is pretty close to fool proof. Plus for a large event, I can keep pulling out fresh off the grill ribs every 10 to 15 minutes for as long as hungry folks keep asking for them.

mgobleu

July 5th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^

I'm not a blue ribbon bbq champ or anything but I adore my pellet grill. I have a Camp Chef but I don't think you can go wrong with a Traeger or Rec-Tec either. 

A couple points:

1- there is maintenance involved. You will have to vacuum out the chamber every few cooks or so. Really not a big deal though. 

2- pellets aren't quite as available as propane, so you do have to think ahead just a little. But more and more hardware and outdoor stores are keeping good stock. 

3- pellets are a little more expensive per hour than propane. You can figure on about .60-1.00 per hour to operate, depending on pellets and temperature. 

Other than those, (none of which are really that big a concern, seriously), there's not a single thing that a propane grill does better or more conveniently. As far as an egg or kamado, I share your concerns, but I still want one. That said, the pellet cookers are so easy and consistent to operate, and do such a great job, I can't recommend them enough. 

P.s.- I'd love to show you the 1/4" flamingo pink smoke ring I got on a brisket yesterday but the strictures of mgoblog on mobile prevent it.

GoBlueBBQ

July 8th, 2019 at 5:42 PM ^

They certainly have their place.  I'm ok with the Pellet cooker as they are super easy to use and typically put out a great product.  I like the REC TEC and the Green Mountain pellet cookers.  If you have some coin, look at the Memphis pellet grill.   They can run in the $5,000 range tho.  Or look into the Yoder smokers.  The pellet grill is very versatile.