Best BBQ Ribs Recipes, Preparation & Cooking Tips

Whichever recipe has whet your appetite, use my guide to prepare the best BBQ ribs you’ve ever tasted. We’ll start with the different cuts of pork ribs and then work through a three step process for preparation.

Choice Of Cut

The rib of the pig is split into three jointed bones. The closest to the spine are the baby back ribs, then come the St Louis ribs and finally the third joint is the rib tip.

In England the St Louis cut isn't widely recognised, it’s usually prepped with the rib tip and this 2 joint combination is what’s generally referred to as the spare rib. It’s the bones left over once the belly has been removed and is the staple of many a Chinese restaurant. (Note that in England spare rib can also come from the neck end.)

In general, butchers in the UK cut the ribs differently to their US counterparts. This means the meat is trimmed closer to the bone in the UK because they can get more money for the loin or belly. This leaves a problem with the St Louis cut because there's suppose to be more meat on there and can often lead to a technical thing we competitors call a 'Shiner', where the bone shows through. There are more UK butchers adapting to the required BBQ cut who offer online shop facilities to post your order like JL Butchers and Bob's Family Butchers. If you are buying from your local butchers, ask them to leave plenty of meat on the bone (with no shiners!). The UK has an awesome range of rare breed pigs, if your butcher has these then jump at the chance, believe me it will be worth it!

The diagrams below give an anatomical representation of the different cuts of pork rib:

And here it is in cross section:

My favourite BBQ ribs recipes use the baby back (loin back) ribs because not only do the look good without a great deal of trimming, they are easy to prepare and a side is pretty much good enough to settle any appetite. From a practical perspective a side of baby back ribs sits easily in a rib rack and that means I can get a good number of sides in a kamado with room to spare. They also cook pretty quickly too.

How much meat is on your ribs depends on your butcher and how close to the bone he / she trims the loin. Get to know your butcher because that way you’ll get ribs trimmed just the way you like and if you ask nicely you’ll also get the membrane removed (step 1 in the preparation process).

Most of the UK teams buy their pork ribs from Makro (Bookers), big yellow boxes in the freezer section labelled 'Meaty Pork Ribs'. These indeed have alot of meat on them, sometimes belly meat, which for home use is fine but too much for competitions. These are whole ribs so would need trimming and the membrane removing. I usually still smoke the trimming, pull the meat and add to BBQ beans

BBQ Ribs Preparation – 3 Easy Steps

1. Remove the membrane – this is the tissue attached to the boney side of the rack as demonstrated in the picture. This will help you get that tender texture and also get more flavor into the meat. Use a cutlery knife to scrape the bone at one corner of the rack a pick the membrane away from the bone. Now dry your hands, (or use some kitchen towel to) get hold of the membrane and gently tear it away. If you're lucky it may come off in one pull but rarely am I that lucky. I've also found it easier to do tearing from the narrower end of the rack to the wider end
2. Apply your rub – this is the first layer of flavour, apply liberally to all sides of the ribs, work it into the meat and then put your ribs to one side for a number of hours (overnight is best) to allow the flavours to work together. Some will recommend coating your ribs with oil before applying the rub because this helps the rub stick to the meat and form the bark (crispy outside) and whilst it does help a little I’m not convinced that important. I just apply my rub directly to the meat.
3. Make your sauce – the third and final step can be done whilst the ribs are cooking. You can apply your sauce onto the ribs in the final 30 minutes of so or just keep your sauce warm and pour over when you serve…or both. I prefer to pour the sauce on after and this is purely from a practical point of view because most sauces contain an element of sugar and it makes an awful mess inside my smoker. If you do choose to mop it onto your ribs whilst cooking, don’t apply your sauce earlier than 30 minutes before the end otherwise it’ll burn.

Cooking BBQ Ribs

All the smoked BBQ ribs recipes below rely on indirect cooking, read my smoker instructions manual to guide you through the basics. You can still grill ribs, it’s not sacrilegious but if you’ve got the time then smoking is the way to go. Grilling ribs is a practical approach when constrained either by time or equipment so click here for grilled bbq ribs recipes.

My rule of thumb for bbq ribs recipes is 3-4 hours for baby backs and 5 hours for the St Louis or spare rib cut at 110°C or 225°F. This will differ depending on the number of rib racks you’re cooking, how much meat you have on the ribs and how you like them so this is where your own experience has to be added to the mix. I also like to use a water bath under the ribs.

Note: I cook on a Monolith kamado ceramic barbecue. For me ceramic barbecues give stability in temperature and juicy results without having to wrap the ribs.

Other than straight hot smoking, there's one other method worthy of mention.

3-2-1 Method

Put simply this is pretty much a fail-safe method where cooking is stripped back into 3 clear steps.

• 3 hours hot smoking at 110°C (225°F)
• 2 hours wrapped in foil with a little moisture such as apple juice in the packet (continue to cook)
• 1 hour unwrapped to finish off. Use this last hour to add your mop

In short, step 1 gets the flavour bedded in, step 2 tenderizes and step 3 to finish off.

It certainly works and it is consistent but I find that the 2 hours wrapped can overdo the tenderness. This of course is personal opinion.

Ribs don’t have to fall off the bone to be cooked (or indeed ideal), I prefer my ribs to be tender but still have a little bite and tear in them, after all, that’s why I have a full set of teeth!

To test that your ribs are cooked simply pick up a side and try to pull two ribs apart. If cooked they should separate relatively easily but if you want "fall off the bone" tenderness then give the 3-2-1 method a go.

If using a BBQ thermometer then check for an internal temperature in the thickest part of the meat of 160°F (71°C).

Classic BBQ Ribs Recipes

Out of all the BBQ ribs recipes this is the one we serve time and time again when out catering and it never ceases to deliver awesome feedback.