I credit my first real barbecue success to my Father-in-Law Mike for technique, and Stubb’s for ingredients. I’ve been eating Mike’s pork spareribs at family gatherings for years – and he does them right. Amazing flavor and fall-off-the-bone tender. So, I simply copied his approach.
As an Austinite, I’m lucky enough to have access to Stubb’s fanstastic marinades, sauces and dry rubs. I’m sure they are widely distributed. But, if you are not familiar, you can order them at http://www.ilovestubbs.com. With products like this to work with, great ribs are easy to produce.
I usually use Spareribs – they are meatier and more flavorful than baby backs to me. But, either work fine. Here is the process I use …
1. Clean the ribs and marinate overnight in Stubb’s Pork Marinade.
2. The next day, before I put them on the barbecue, I usually wrap each rack in heavy-duty foil and cook in a 225-degree oven for about 2 hours. This may be cheating to some of you, but it starts the cooking process and creates great results.
3. I prepare my barbecue for indirect grilling, with a charcoal & lump coal fire on one side and a drip pan, filled with water, onions and garlic, under the grate on the other side.
4. When your barbecue temp is about 250-300 degrees, remove the racks from the foil and brown directly over the coals for about 15 minutes – turning to brown all sides.
5. Move the ribs to the opposite (indirect) side of the grill. If you have a rib rack, use it. It is a great tool to keep ribs upright during the cooking process and will allow more meat on the pit at one time.
6. I cook for another 2-3 hours, mopping with Stubb’s Moppin’ Sauce & beer mixture every 45 minutes or so. If your grill temp drops below 250-degrees, add small amount of charcoal or lump coal to fire.
7. When the meat is tender and pulling away from the bone, they are ready and perfect without any sauce at all. However, if you want sauce on the side for serving, I like to use Stubb’s Original Bar-B-Q Sauce.
As I said, this is an homage to Mike & Stubb’s. Easy & very tasty pork ribs!
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