YOU SHOULD FOLLOW COOKING MONSTER ON TWITTERMake East Texas Bar-B-Que Pork Ribs In Your Own Backyard?
Anyone (even a New England Son like me) who has ever spent even a little time in East Texas knows how much pride East Texans take in their barbecue.
For incredible flavor, great service and a terrific eating experience, it would be hard to beat Lufkin Bar-B-Que in Lufkin Texas, self-proclaimed “Best in Texas.” There you can get a wide variety of BBQ including mouthwatering beef brisket, chipped beef, pork, ham, “hot links” (a kind of homemade sausage with a spicy hot finish), chicken and turkey and a full array of sides including some of the best beans you ever ate. But if you like pork ribs, the ones you get at Lufkin BBQ are to die for. The meat is tender and falls off the bone, the collagen is so soft it has practically dissolved, and the spices are perfect – complementary but sufficiently gentle that you can taste every bite of pork.
In his book “The Great American Barbecue and Grilling Manual”, Smoky Hale inspires us with these encouraging words: “The best barbecue in the world is cooked in somebody’s backyard: not in restaurants, not in contests.” Can this be true? Is it possible to make bbq’ed pork ribs with a flavor and consistency approaching Lufkin BBQ in your own backyard? The answer is “maybe yes” – but only if you’re willing to wake up early in the morning to do it.
Like most “good cooking secrets”, the “secret” behind meat-falling-off-the-bone pork ribs is actually quite simple: long cook time over low heat. If you cook pork ribs over low (e.g., 200 degrees F) sustained heat for a long time, the collagen will soften, the fat will dissolve some and the meat will start falling off the bone. You will end up with some of the best pork ribs you ever made. Will your results approach the perfection of Lufkin BBQ? Unless you live close enough to Lufkin to drive to their takeout window, the answer to that question is not important. What is important is that you, your family and your friends will love the results.
Recipe for Making Meat-Falling-Off-The-Bone Pork Ribs In your Own Backyard
(Inspired by Lufkin BBQ, “The Best in Texas”)
Equipment:
Weber Kettle Grill or equivalent
Charcoal
Soaked wood chips
Charcoal chimney + newspaper
Water pan you can put INTO your kettle grill (8” dutch oven, or throw-away aluminum catering pan)
Clock or timer
Ingredients:
Pork Ribs
Spice Rub
Brown sugar and kosher salt (optional)
PREPARATION (BEST TO START THE NIGHT BEFORE)
THE RIBS: Get yourself some slabs of pork ribs. You can find these vacuum-packed at Walmart, BJ’s or the like.
PREPARE THE RIBS: Take the ribs out of their vacuum pack. Trim off excess fat, wash in running water and dry well with paper towels. Some like to remove the membrane off the back of pork ribs so seasonings can penetrate. The video below will show you how to do this.
DRY RUB: You want to sprinkle some spices all over your ribs. In East Texas, the spices are gentle and unobtrusive so you can always taste the meat. These are of course a TRUE secret – we can only guess. One dry rub that seems to work well is a mix of paprika and cumin with black or white pepper and a little cayenne. You might want to add some garlic powder and/or onion powder. “Rub” is a bit of a misnomer – you don’t need to literally “rub” the meat, you just sprinkle your spices over the entire surface of the meat. After applying the spices, be sure to salt the meat..
BROWN SUGAR/SALT OPTIONAL: East Texans seem to prefer their meat to taste like meat. But if you like your ribs with a sweet finish, you can cover your spice-rubbed ribs with a mixture of brown sugar and kosher salt. The sugar-salt mixture will draw moisture out of the ribs and add to the flavor. If you want to do this, START THE NIGHT BEFORE. Cover the ribs in the sugar-salt mixture and put it in your fridge overnight. By the next morning, your ribs will be coated in a spicy sugar/salt syrup made from all the water drawn out of your ribs.
SOAK YOUR CHIPS. Hickory, mesquite, whatever. Start soaking them the night before.
WAKE UP REAL EARLY. If you plan to serve your ribs at 6 pm, you should start cooking them no later than 7 or 8 am. One or two slabs may cook adequately in 8 hours, but if you load up your weber with 3 or 4 slabs you are looking maybe at 12 hours to do the job right. Better start early to make sure they’re done. If the meat doesn’t fall off the bone, you didn’t cook them long enough.
LIGHT YOUR CHARCOAL. Use a chimney and newspaper, not liquid lighter fluid. Why would anyone want to flavor meat with the taste of liquid lighter fluid? Liquid lighter fluid is bad for the environment and its bad for flavor. It’s a totally useless product we don’t need. How many briquettes? Remember, you’re cooking your ribs over INDIRECT heat. Maybe you’re talking 8 lit coals on each side of your Weber, with a pan of hot water in the center. The grease from the ribs falls into the water, not onto the coals, thereby avoiding grease fires and flames.
HEAT YOUR WATER. Boil some water to put into your center pan. You don’t want your water bath to pull down the temperature of your cooking chamber.
PUT YOUR RIBS ON. Okay, you have 7 or 8 hot coals on the left and 7 or 8 hot coals on the right of your cooking chamber (a few more if you’re cooking more slabs at the same time), and a pan of hot water in the center. Put your prepared slabs of ribs over the hot water. No hot coals should be under any part of your ribs so there will be no grease fires. Put the cover on your kettle and set your timer for 45 minutes or an hour.
PUT ON YOUR CHIPS: Before you close the chamber, put some water-soaked wood chips onto your coals to make some smoke.
STOKE YOUR COALS. Every 45 minutes or hour or so, pull the cover off your weber, add another 5 or 6 coals and add some more water-soaked chips. You’re goal is to maintain a constant smoky temperature of between 200 and 225 degrees F for 8 to 12 hours.
TURN YOUR RIBS: You want all surfaces of your rib slabs to be exposed to the smoky environment within your Weber, so you may need to turn them around every now and again.
WAIT PATIENTLY. You’ll know your ribs are done when the meat starts falling off the bone and the rib slabs start falling apart.
Author: Rob | Tags: bar-b-q, barbecue, bbq, lufkin, pork, ribs, summer, texas
This is crazy talk!
1. Texas ribs? Texas is all about the cow. Ribs in Texas are for tourists, unless they’re cow ribs. Even the sausage in Texas is beef. But I love ribs.
2. You cook ribs for 8-12 hours in a Weber kettle? That’s quite a temperature control challenge and my hat is off to you, although the small number of briquettes you use will really keep that temperature low. Instead of putting your briquettes on each side and cooking in the middle, try piling your briquettes on one side and using a rib rack on the opposite side to cook multiple slabs at once. Arrange the lid so the vent is over the ribs and the briquettes are on the side away from the vent, and the smoke and heat will be pulled right across the ribs. Use the bottom vents (and the top vent only if necessary — it’s better to keep it fully open) to keep the temp down. You’ll get tender ribs in 4-6 hours, if that.
3. Once you’ve soaked chips for more than an hour, you’re fine. Actually, I’d suggest you use chunks. If you keep your temps low and control your air draft (easy to do in a Weber kettle), you don’t need to soak chunks. Throw in a chunk and forgettaboutit. And don’t over-smoke (the classic technique for bad ribs). Consider using a milder wood, like apple or oak, so you don’t over-smoke ribs.
4. You can cook ribs hotter than the classic 225 degrees, although they’ll cook fine (just slower) at that temp. They cook up very tender, and much quicker, at 275. Ribs are fatty. Cook them too slow and they sometimes taste like ham. Your preference, though.
5. Jeez, don’t waste your time boiling water. Use the vents for temperature control unless you’re cooking in the winter. One of the great myths of BBQ is that water pans “add moisture” to the meat. A more accurate description is that they add humidity, which helps stabilize temperatures in cookers, and they serve as an excellent heat sink. Try filling up your water pan with “play sand” (sterilized sand designed for use in sandboxes) , cover the pan and sand with foil and see how that works for you. It’s not quite as temperature-controllable as water, but cleanup’s a lot easier — just peel away the foil and throw it away. I actually use the bottoms of terra cotta flower pots for this role now, but water still is the best heat sink — and also the messiest.
6. I like all of your ideas about rubs. Lately I’ve been buying free-range pig ribs from farmers’ markets and just using a little paprika, cayenne, salt and turbinado sugar (I like the sweet edge)…but JUST a little.
7. The secret to most good BBQ, IMHO, is meat selection and consistent temperature application. Look for ribs that have fat running vertically in the direction of the actual rib — not diagonally. And removing the membrane is a must (and not that hard once you learn a trick or two).
8. You’re on the right track. If you’re a Weber kettle fan, you might want to consider a Weber Smoky Mountain cooker. Use that, and you’ll be able to hold consistent temperatures for 14-18 hours on one load of charcoal — and you’ll be cooking briskets and Boston butts for pulled pork.
Comment :: Frobozz — June 9, 2008 @ 11:39 PM
I make ribs and I am in East Texas, Canton to be exact. I love beef ribs and pork ribs equally. I am actually slow cooking 2 beautiful racks of pork baby backs right now. I am cooking them in the electric roaster bcuz I didnt know that we were out of gas in the grill until this morning. I let them sit in the rub I made over-night which is simalar to most rubs. Then I put them in the pre-heated roaster @225. I add 1 can of diet soda, 1 whole onion, 1 green pepper, and some jalapenos. I baste them every hours or so checking my liquid level. If it has been low I add white wine vinager or jalapeno juice out of the jar. This is the first time doing this, but I am going to cook them a total of 12 hours and the last 20 min get rid of the liquid and add the sauce to the pan after turning it up as high as it will go so the sauce will carmelize. I also dr. up my store bought sauce. I add honey and aprocot jam. I may not today since I really just am lazy, but normally.
Comment :: Chris — October 11, 2008 @ 12:57 PM
Thanks for sharing how you make your ribs! They do sound tasty. Here’s another comment received from a friend in Beaumont:
Sounds pretty good but instead of using a Weber you need to use a real smoker with a fire pit and smoking section. You use oak or hickory. I season up the ribs using spice from Pitts and Spits in Houston (can probably look them up on the internet). It’s called something like sweet and spicy rib rub. Then I smoke the ribs for about 2 hours and then wrap good in aluminum foil and leave on pit for another 2-3 hours. If you don’t wrap them up the ribs dry out. I keep the temp about 200-225F. The ribs are delicious and if you got a good smoker you’d have the best ribs on the east coast. You can also buy a smoker from Pitts and Spits but they make them out of stainless. They are top of the line but expensive.
Comment :: Rob — October 13, 2008 @ 12:03 PM