What’s up party peoples? I had a bunch of people reach out about the ribs I cooked from Mountain Primal last week, so here you go! Step-by-step instructions to get some really great ribs. Now, I’m no chef, but I do love to cook and do quite a bit of it. Most all of my “recipes” are done on the fly and never measured, but I will recap what I think is the most accurate. Long story short, any slow-cooked meat needs just that- TIME.
One of my favorite Kitchen sayings I’ve heard over the years when people want to rush food is “Do you want it right, or do you want it right now?” Cooking takes time and unless you are a trained chef, cooking on high heat is probably not the best route. Anyway, here we go…
Time needed: 8 hours and 30 minutes.
Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs
- Start with Quality meat.
It’s tough to turn mediocre product into something incredibly delicious without completely covering up the original flavor. I got these ribs, along with some other meats coming soon, from Mountain Primal Meats out of Basalt, CO. They are from Berkshire pigs, one of the oldest registered breeds of pigs in the world, originating in England. In 1875, the American Berkshire Association was formed to keep the breed pure and plentiful. And THEY ARE DELICIOUS
- Remove the Membrane from the back of the ribs.
This is a little trick that my Papa taught me years ago. It allows for that easy bite on the rib where the whole things doesn’t come apart. Simply flip the ribs over and use a paper towel to remove the membrane on the back.
- Coat Ribs in Mustard & Rib Rub
I always coat my ribs (and boston butts) in mustard because it helps break down the proteins on the outside to allow the flavor to penetrate further and it helps the rub to stick and create that craveable bark we all love. You won’t taste the mustard, so don’t worry if you don’t like it. For a rub, I’m using the Tacticalories bosco brotherhood special blend, but they’ve got some amazing other blends as well. I usually make my own and include black pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and brown sugar. Again, not one for measuring a lot, but use a tablespoon but the brown sugar– use about 3x as much brown sugar (sugar = caramelization = bark).
- Get you smoker going
I use a Green Egg for ribs, but you can use any type of smoker. You can even cook them in your oven and use a little liquid smoke if you don’t have a smoker at your disposal. Set it to 225 degrees. I like to use apple wood chunks (I use chunks, not chips because they last much longer) for ribs because it adds a sweet note to the meat. With ribs, you don’t need that much lump charcoal (about the same amt. as you’d use for a steak) because the cook isn’t that long, but if you’re going more than 4 hours, make sure to fill up fire pit.
- Smoke & Wrap
This is where the tenderizing really happens. After smoking my ribs for 2-3 hours, I then wrap them TIGHTLY to create a seal so that the meat doesn’t lose any more moisture. This create a steaming effect that pulls the meat from the bones. I use honey, butter and brown sugar (you can also put a little more rub in here) in my wrap. This gives the ribs that sticky finder taste we all LOVE! Once I wrap the ribs, you can either toss them into a cooler or I stick them back on the egg and cut off all the air. The residual heat will bring them to final temp as well as create succulent, tender ribs.
- Slice and Serve
After wrapping, I begin preparation of my sides. Once those are complete, I remove the ribs, slice them into 2’s and serve. Bone Apple Tea!
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Let me know how the smoking goes!
Go, Do & Grow!
-Jamey