Ribs

Hubby wants to try to do ribs on the grill since it's going to be a beautiful weekend. I've only found them at Kroger so far, but was hoping I found find some locally that were a bit fresher. I know someone had mentioned a place out near LaGrange but can't remember the name...

Also, do you boil or bake before putting them on the grill? Is there much difference between the methods on the end result?

Somebody ought to put out the bat signal for Steve P....

Start with a dry rub recipe, I like Alton brown's dry rub which you can find(along with about a thousand others) on foodtv.com. After that you really have two options as far as I'm concerned.

1. Indirect heat on the grill, you can use soaked wood chips in an aluminum foil pouch for smoke as well.

2. Start the ribs, wrapped in foil, in a LOW oven, like 225-250, and finished on the grill to get some char on them.

Either way you go, as the ribs are finished you can either add more dry rub or add a wet sauce, or both. Another source is the Barbecue Bible, a great book that I've used for recipes for years.

Honestly it's all about you're personal preference, how you like your ribs to baby back vs. spare ribs and how much work you want to put into them and how adventurous you want to be with the recipe. Good luck!

Found some great looking ribs at Burgers this morning. Looks like we are going to try a dry rub and indirect grilling with some hickory chips followed with a wet sauce near the end of cooking. Just seems a bit more authentic than the baking method. Hope they are good...if not my danes will eat well...again.

I always get my ribs from Kingsley's.

I second Alton Brown's dry rub - actually, his cooking method works well for me. In short, put on the dry rub, then cook for a long time in a low oven in a braising liquid in foil pouches, then thrown on a very hot grill for a crisp char. Pour the braising liquid into a saucier and reduce until BBQ sauce consistency; baste on the ribs just before pulling them from the grill.

Somebody ought to put out the bat signal for Steve P....

You rang ?

OK bat-girl, riddle me this...What kind of grill do you have (Charcoal or Gas)...we'll go from there.

2. Start the ribs, wrapped in foil, in a LOW oven, like 225-250, and finished on the grill to get some char on them.

BLASPHEMY !!!

Next thing you know someone is going to say they LIKE them "falling off the bone". <sigh> I can tell right now I'm gonna have to have a boat load of ya'll up for BBQ after the derby stuff has died down.

Looks like we are going to try a dry rub and indirect grilling with some hickory chips followed with a wet sauce near the end of cooking. Just seems a bit more authentic than the baking method.

<phew>...Thank GOD !!!...I was affeared you's gonna do 'em in the oven. Your a good woman Madeline.

2. Start the ribs, wrapped in foil, in a LOW oven, like 225-250, and finished on the grill to get some char on them.

BLASPHEMY !!!

Next thing you know someone is going to say they LIKE them "falling off the bone". <sigh> I can tell right now I'm gonna have to have a boat load of ya'll up for BBQ after the derby stuff has died down.

Hey, it's not exactly traditional but it works in a pinch.

2. Start the ribs, wrapped in foil, in a LOW oven, like 225-250, and finished on the grill to get some char on them.

BLASPHEMY !!!

Next thing you know someone is going to say they LIKE them "falling off the bone". <sigh> I can tell right now I'm gonna have to have a boat load of ya'll up for BBQ after the derby stuff has died down.

Hey, it's not exactly traditional but it works in a pinch.

OK...Ok...I grant ya. Now say two "Hail Mary of BBQ" and three "Our Father of the Smokers" for pissing off the Bah-ba-Que Godz.and then carry on.

We have a gas started charcoal Weber, one of the round ones with two charcoal baskets. We also have a chimney starter if that's helpful.

Ribs turned out pretty good, just used a premade pork rub we had in the pantry from Penzeys...not ideal but pretty good and then topped it with some sweet baby rays. Pretty good first attempt, but can use a little tweaking.

My dad is bringing in some Moose ribs this weekend...gonna have to figure out how to do those since Moose meat has very little fat...

I know Weber makes a rib holder for the grill, is that worth picking up?

We have a gas started charcoal Weber, one of the round ones with two charcoal baskets. We also have a chimney starter if that's helpful.

Sounds like you've got everything you need. Those Weber "Char-Baskets" are dah bomb aren't they. I just bought a couple a month or two ago and have been using them to refine a couple of our competition "Q" recipes. Love 'em.

Funny you would mention Penzy's Rub...I've always been a huge fan of Penzy's but (in an attempt to simplify) I used one of their pre-concocted rubs just last week and <sigh> was very disappointed in the results. I suspect there might be some MSG in the one I used, since I'm very sensitive to the stuff and it seems to "attack" my taste buds in exactly the wrong way. Just a suggestion...when (if) you blend your own rub be kinda-sorta careful with the amount of sugar you put in it. The sugar has a tendency to burn/caramelize at the temps you are probably using. If you use sugar, I'd suggest Turbinado sugar, it has a higher burn point.

Can't wait to hear about the results of the Mastodon...errr I mean Moose ribs cookoff.

Moose was a partial success. We found a lot of recipes calling to boil them and slap them on the grill for a few minutes, much like many of the pork rib recipes. Wanted something a bit better so tried doing them on low heat for 4 hours. The meat had an incredible flavor, some of it was a bit tough to get off the bone...not bad once you could pull it away though. We picked up a rub at Jungle Jim's and it turned out to be quite spicy and that didn't help. We also had some stew meat and did moose kabobs...really good stuff and very tender! Soaked it overnight in an IPA, luckily it didn't taste as bad as that beer, just a nice subtle hint of the hops.

Hoping there is more moose come fall, pretty sure we know what to do next time. It seems to have several layers to the meat with membrane in between so a long, slow bake before grilling should take care of that, or smoking might even be a better method. The meat is incredible on it's own, doesn't really need much seasoning or saucing.