Cooking great baby-back ribs is considered by many rib afficionados to be a science, though with some TLC, near competition-quality baby-back ribs can be achieved by using your own backyard BBQ smoker, but only, if you have good quality ribs and a tried and tested recipe.
Everywhere I go, I see that ribs are most commonly grilled or braised on a charcoal BBQ relatively briefly, and while good results can be had by those who have become adept at cooking ribs this way, the best results come from a low-and-slow smoking process using the right combination of wood chunks to give it a truly distinctive aroma and flavor.
Ingredients
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Non-Iodized Table Salt
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (dried out by exposing on grease-proof paper at room temperature for several hours)
5 Tablespoons + 1 Teaspoons Chili Powder
2 Tablespoons + 2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin
4 Teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
4 Teaspoons Black Pepper freshly ground (important)
4 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
4 Teaspoons Onion Powder
To make great baby back ribs, you need to pick the best quality loin baby back ribs you can find, around 2lbs in size, trimming off the inner stomach-side membrane. Any remaining excess fat should again, be trimmed off and discarded.
For the dry rub, combine all of the ingredients together in bowl, and then transfer and store in an air-tight container.
Preparing the baby back ribs
Sprinkle the ribs with the dry rub a few hours before cooking and allow them to come to room temperature.
Avoid over-seasinging, a light and consistent coating is all that is required. You will see that the spices will form a pleasing red coating after sitting for about an hour or so. This is what you are looking for.
Cooking the baby back ribs
For the best results, smoke the baby-back ribs in a Weber Smokey Mountain, Big Green Egg, or a Kamado.
First of all fire up the smoker by using 12lbs or so of charcoal and 3 chunks of White oak and 2 chunks of Cherry wood. The wood chunks should be approximately 3" in diameter.
The charcoal should be started in a chimney-style starter avoiding the use of starter fluids as this can (and usually does), impair the flavor. Wait until the charcoal has turned grey/white.
At this stage, remove the bark from the White Oak and Cherry wood, and do not soak them.
During cooking you will notice that there is far less smoke being produced as you would normally see when using moistened wood chunks, this is perfectly O.K., and the flavors will permeate the ribs just the same.
Keep the smoker's water-pan topped up with tap water, using boiled water that has been allowed to cool slightly if you prefer, and regulate the temperature by utilizing the lower vents on the smoker only.
Avoid closing the top vent at all costs as this will produce less desirable results, and if your smoker doesn't happen to have one, use a BBQ thermometer probe so that you can keep an eye on the smokers internal temperature.
The ribs should be placed on rib racks and cooked at around 225 degrees for 3 hours at which points the lid should be opened for the first time, and then turning the rib slabs over. At this point all vents on the smoker should be opened fully.
With the smokers vents opened, the internal temperature of the smoker should hit the 240 to 270 degree range.
Monitor the ribs progress every 30 minutes until done. You will know when they are ready as the baby back ribs will turn brown in color and the meat will have pulled down over half an inch on the longer bones, usually after 1-2 hours more smoking.
Remove the baby back ribs from the smoker and generously sauce both sides before cutting into individual ribs.
Allow the ribs to rest for at least 10 minutes prior to serving, wrapped in tin foil to preserve the moisture and delicious juices.
Recommended BBQ smokers
Essential reading
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Product Description |
| Hungry for something different? Then try America's Best BBQ. Here, two of the world's top barbecue experts present their favorite barbecue recipes from across America. Only Ardie and Paul, the go-to sources on barbecue, can earn the trust--and the secret recipes--from some of the nation's barbecue legends. Tasty sides include tips, tricks, techniques, fun memorabilia, full-color photos, and firsthand recollections of tales from the pits culled from over a century of combined barbecue experience. With more than 100 recipes for mouthwatering starters, moist and flavorful meats, classic side dishes, sauces and rubs, and decadent desserts, this book should come with its own wet-nap. * Whether it's spicy or sweet, Texas or Memphis, this is the best collection of American barbecue recipes. * Ardie's BBQ alter ego, Remus Powers, PhB, has earned profiles in many barbecue books, tons of magazines, and more than a few national newspapers. He's graced the Food Network and PBS, appearing in various documentaries on 'cue and great American cuisine. * Paul has appeared on The Today Show, Discovery Channel, CBS This Morning, Talk Soup, and Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal. He was also featured in AARP's Modern Maturity Magazine, Saveur, and The Calgary Herald, and he has written articles for Food ? Wine, Fine Cooking, and Chili Pepper magazine. |
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Product Details |
- ISBN13: 9780740778117
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
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Customer Reviews |
 A must-read for barbecue fans |
| Review Date: April 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John Dawson, Boise, ID USA |
It's not often that I find a cookbook that is actually fun to read. They are usually very utilitarian, with little literary meat on the bones. This is clearly not the case with America's Best BBQ. I don't know what I enjoyed more, the authentic and varied recipes, or the barbecue stories and lore that they are steeped in.
While the book is historical, it also has an incredible variety of recipes. It includes everything from starters like Volcanic Goat Cheese, Rocky Mountain Oysters, and Fried Cheese Stick Grits, to Burgoo, to mutton ribs, and all the barbecue standards in between. The range of recipes is excellent. Even better, most of the recipes are from the originators themselves.
I found the following statement from the introduction very interesting.
"Each joint in this book is, in our view, one of the best in America. They are all on the same playing field, with varying strengths and weaknesses. That aside, we have each named our Top Ten joints in the back of the book."
Barbecue is very competitive and often chock full of ego, as is the restaurant industry generally. It's very refreshing to see the authors give their honest opinions about what they feel are the best.
If you love barbecue, its history, and great recipes, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. |
Form and Function Mix Well Here
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| Review Date: June 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Spudman, Pasadena, MD United States |
To call this book a cookbook would be like equating Ted Williams with all other baseball players. America's Best BBQ contains recipes collected by the authors in their travels and networking. The book itself is more like a piece of Americana, a glimpse of a subculture that most of us only know superficially.
Davis and Kirk not only share some incredible recipes, but also introduce us to fascinating people and interesting places the reader might want to visit in his or her travels.
I really like the design and look of the book. It takes on its own ambience as one of the barbecue joints within might. There's plenty here to whet the reader's appetite and sate his curiosity. Open to any page and find classic neon, well-worn signs, incredibly vivid food photographs, simulated spots of BBQ sauce, brown paper, and more pig icons than you've ever seen in one place.
Like barbecue cooking, this book is meant to be enjoyed slowly so that one can taste all of the flavors proferred by the authors.
At the end of the book is a lengthy discourse detailing the pros and cons of gas vs. charcoal grilling with a tableful of tips for both schools of cooking. This section is so informative that I read it twice.
America's Best BBQ is obviously a work of love by the authors, a down home friendly book. I don't have interest in trying rattlesnake meat or bull testicles, but within the covers there's probably something of interest for most readers. |
Recipes, History and personality fills the pages........
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| Review Date: May 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: T. Farabee, USA |
Recipes, history and texture fills the pages of this well gathered book. Ardie and Paul have managed to take us along on an excellent adventure to the best smokehouses, pits, shacks, rib joints, roadhouses and restaurants.
Each page is filled with history of actual BBQ Joints around the U.S.A., we learn about the owners, their customers, their BBQ success and YES their RECIPES. From Fried Green Tomatoes in GA, to Slaughterhouse Five Ribs in KS. We are truly taken through a BBQ lovers dream and invited to roll up our sleeves and give it a go in our kitchen. Finger licken' GOOD!
Great photos, well written and thoroughly enjoyable this is one of the best books on BBQ that I've seen. There are several serious BBQ'ers that will be getting this for Christmas. Perfect gift.
Highly recommend.
Great! |
A lovely way to do something completely unhealthy
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| Review Date: May 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Shala Kerrigan, Anchorage |
I got this book because my husband loves to grill, and isn't much interested in just slapping a couple burgers on the grill.
It fulfilled and exceeded expectation. Just reading it, I can feel the pounds settling in on my hips. It's full of meaty recipes, stories about bbq pits and smokehouses around the country and great ideas. It's not a how to grill book like some of them are, it assumes you know the basics. Then it gives a ton of things to do with those basics. Some of the recipes require specialty ingredients, but most of them don't. There is a recipe for making chili powder I know he's going to try soon and he'll tweak and modify it until he finds the perfect balance between my tastes and everyone else's in my family (I don't like spicy, they do. I'm adapting within reason).
Most of the recipes are on the high fat and meat side, or on the high fat/carb side. That said, they look like a fantastic occasional treat and there are some seafood recipes, like smoked catfish.
So.. to sum it up, a lot of fun, a lot of stories of places I'd like to go, great color photographs and some absolutely wonderful recipes. I'm glad I got it and I know my husband will love it too. |
I Gained 5 Pounds Reviewing This Book
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| Review Date: May 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Shawn Kovacich, The Greatest Little City in the World |
Okay, I have made a new resolution that I am not going to review any more food/cook books. You have to actually try a couple of the recipes in order to give a full evaluation of the contents of the book and after doing that with this book, I gained 5 pounds! Yes, the food was delicious and I probably ate way more than I should have, but I still gained 5 pounds. Hmmmm, perhaps that is why I never have reviewed a vegetable book.
This book is well laid out and includes the recipes for 100 different barbecue items that are from throughout the United States. Each recipe include the name, complete address, phone number, and website for each place featured in this book. The photographs are exceptional and being printed on glossy paper really makes them and their subject matter standout. Also included with each recipe is a brief history of each barbecue place.
So what is my favorite recipe, well I really don't know I tried out several of them and liked every one. I have just over 90 more to go and then I will have tried all 100 recipes, but wait a minute, if I continue at this rate that means I will gain another 45 pounds! Okay, I have to cut this review short and hop on the Stairmaster for a couple of hours.
But while I'm doing that, pick up this book and try some of the recipes. I guarantee you that your taste buds won't be disappointed, but don't blame me if your waist line and backside gain a couple of inches.
Shawn Kovacich
Author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series. |
BBQ Road Trip
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| Review Date: May 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Sunny Sewing Honeybee, |
Are you the type of person who likes to brag over the back fence with your neighbor about who makes a better hamburger patty or hot dog? If so, this isn't the book for you. _America's Best BBQ_ is for people who are serious about BBQ--that is, people who like ribs and steak. But there are also some basics, like coleslaw and chili (the peach cobbler is delicious!).
Calling this a cookbook or recipe book would be selling it short; it's more like taking a road-trip to all the best BBQ joints around the United States, complete with nostalgic and current photos, and fun enough to read (as I did) from cover to cover just for the facts and information. Each recipe is preceded with interesting information about the barbecue joint the recipe is from. There are also mini articles interspersed, like one about movies with barbecues in them, and a special about barbecue-themed postcards. Information about basic barbecuing is also included, such as tips on using a charcoal or gas grill.
While most of what I can say is positive, unfortunately, you may find that you need special equipment other than your grill, such as a smoker or deep fryer for some of the recipes (not to mention, raccoon or rattlesnake for a couple!). Additionally (and here I waffled between leaving four or five stars), there are several recipes that call for specific sauces from the barbecue joints who offered the recipes. This is understandable since they probably didn't want to divulge all their secrets, but it may be frustrating for the person following the recipe. Thankfully, the authors usually give another option or idea if the original product is not readily available. |
Yummy, Fun & Full of History
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| Review Date: May 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kimberly Wilson, Loveland, CO |
| I don't know about you but I love to read cookbooks. I may not always cook with them but I love reading them. If you love to read cookbooks, this is a must, especially if you like BBQ. This book is full of fun stories and pictures and tons of history. The recipes just make it that much more of a good read. A good recipe is a great recipe when you know how or where it came from. One of the places mentioned is an hour away so you know where I'll be heading this weekend... |
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks really juicy and tender; falling off the bone, stick to your ribs meal. And flavorful too.
delicious, and very interesting…foolproof rib cooking well done for sharing :) kisses xxx Rico|Recipes