Strong and saucy
Cooking the ribs in the sauce creates those incredibly sweet morsels of tender meat. But here’s the problem: If the sauce is strong, and most are, you cannot taste the meat.
Sauce-cooked ribs always are fall-off tender. To do it, parboil your ribs for 10 minutes. This removes some of the fat. Drain and add your secret barbecue sauce and chill for at least 12 hours. Then grill, mopping on plenty of sauce as they cook.
The Texas way
The other way, known as Texas-style, involves grilling the ribs in a dry rub and adding barbecue sauce only when they are done. The dry rub is the tenderizing marinade here. No fat is removed, as it is in parboiling, and this results in juicier ribs. Your dry rub penetrates deeply into the meat. The goal is not to overpower the ribs.
Rub the meat on all sides, making sure the fat gets a good dose. Then refrigerate overnight. Grilling should be as slow as possible. Sweep the charcoal to a corner of your covered grill and place the ribs on the opposite side. Add soaked wood chips (hickory or apple are great) and cover. Fifteen minutes before serving, mop on the barbecue sauce. This will take about 15 minutes a side.
On a gas grill, cook on the highest rack level and try to maintain a temperature to 300 degrees. For smoking, place soaked wood chips in an empty tin can, label removed, and put it on a low rack over the flame. Cover to build up the smoke.
This can take up to two hours. You’ll know they’re done when they are crusty and the meat moves freely on the bone.
Then serve with your favorite barbecue sauce or a variety of them. Some of your guests won’t want any red stuff at all. These are the people from Texas.
Send food questions to jim.hillibish@cantonrep.com
TEXAS DRY RUB
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon lemon pepper mix
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons chili powder (sweet) or one of chipotle powder (hot)
Mix the above in a plastic food bag. Sprinkle and rub into the meat on all sides the day before. Refrigerate overnight in the bag.
