Before brining I rinse the ribs thoroughly. I brine my ribs with 1 cup of kosher salt, 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 gallon of tap water for two hours. You can brine them for longer but the minimum time is 2 hours. As long as you use a 1 cup of salt to 1 cup of sugar in 1 gallon of water ratio you can’t over brine anything whether it be ribs, pork roasts or chicken. You can use a greater ratio of sugar but don’t use less than a 1 to 1 ratio of sugar to salt. 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of salt is fine in 1 gallon of water. You can use kosher salt or sea salt or Himalayan salt or table salt. You can use white sugar or brown sugar or raw sugar or any combination of the above.
I cut my rack in half so it fits nicely in my brining bucket and my rib rack. If doing more than 1 rack of ribs you can stack them but you will have to add another gallon of brine mixture to cover the ribs. I mix my brine in the bucket before putting the ribs in so it’s good to know how much brine to mix beforehand. The picture below is of one rack of ribs which were cut in half and brined in 1 gallon of my brine mixture.
After brining the ribs for 2 hours I rinsed the ribs thoroughly. If you don’t do this the ribs will be saltier. After rinsing thoroughly it is important to dry both side of the ribs with paper towels before seasoning. This is a learning from America’s Test Kitchen and is something that you should do for cooking all meats regardless of the cooking method as it promotes better browning.
If you decide not to brine you should allow the ribs to come to room temperature and rinse and dry the ribs before seasoning. This is also an America’s Test Kitchen learning and it applies to all meats regardless of the cooking method. Brining the ribs with tap water for 2 hours will bring the ribs to room temperature so you can go straight from the fridge to the brine.
After brining, rinsing and drying the ribs I season both sides. I season them right before they go in the pit. This too is a learning from America’s Test Kitchen. I used Butt Rub from Costco but I have also seasoned with coarse Kosher salt, black pepper and paprika and get excellent results. What you choose to season with and how liberally you season the ribs is personal preference. I tend to not over do it. You can see from the pictures below how much I seasoned the ribs. Just make sure to season both sides
I always use a rib rack because it promotes equal browning and eliminates the need to open the pit to flip the ribs and it serves as a de facto heat shield to force the heat to flow around the sides
I use oak whenever I can. I find that oak works really well with everything and is not overpowering. I will typically put the ribs in at 200F and slowly build the heat to 225F. If the heat gets away from me I close the firebox flue and wait for the temp to drop below 225F before cracking it back open
Ribs are the only meat I smoke based on time and pit temperature. Typically that is around 5 to 6 hours at 225F. If my temp is running hot or I have the bark I want I may take the off at 5 1/2 hours. If I am making extras, I may take the ones that I am saving for later off at 5 hours. More on that later.
The picture below was taken at 4 hours. As long as my temp was good I never open the pit until at least 4 hours for my first check
At 225F ribs are technically cooked after 3 hours but they wil be tough. It’s the extra 2 to 3 hours that the fats break down and the meat gets tender.
I took these ribs off after 5 1/2 hours because the meat had pulled away from the bone and I had the bark like I like it. At 4 1/2 hours I put corn into the pit and roasted it.
The picture below is the finished product and they were amazing.
Everything I mentioned above can be used whether you are smoking ribs on a pit or cooking them in an oven or an outside gas grill.
I have tried multiple methods; wrapping after 3 hours, basting, etc. and this is the method I believe produces the best results consistently. It doesn’t matter if you use baby back ribs, spare ribs or St Louis style spare ribs. This method works.
Lastly, sometimes I will purposely cook more than we are planning to eat for the express purpose of saving leftovers. When I do that I will take the ones I am planning to save our of the smoker 30 minutes early. I do this so that when they are reheated they are as moist as the ones we ate that day. I wrap them in Saran Wrap twice then vacuum seal them and store them in the fridge. They will keep this way safely for 30 days. Then when I reheat them I put the vacuum sealed bag in a hot water bath for 10 to 15 minutes, and they are just as good and juicy as the day I cooked them.
Enjoy.
I cut my rack in half so it fits nicely in my brining bucket and my rib rack. If doing more than 1 rack of ribs you can stack them but you will have to add another gallon of brine mixture to cover the ribs. I mix my brine in the bucket before putting the ribs in so it’s good to know how much brine to mix beforehand. The picture below is of one rack of ribs which were cut in half and brined in 1 gallon of my brine mixture.
After brining the ribs for 2 hours I rinsed the ribs thoroughly. If you don’t do this the ribs will be saltier. After rinsing thoroughly it is important to dry both side of the ribs with paper towels before seasoning. This is a learning from America’s Test Kitchen and is something that you should do for cooking all meats regardless of the cooking method as it promotes better browning.
If you decide not to brine you should allow the ribs to come to room temperature and rinse and dry the ribs before seasoning. This is also an America’s Test Kitchen learning and it applies to all meats regardless of the cooking method. Brining the ribs with tap water for 2 hours will bring the ribs to room temperature so you can go straight from the fridge to the brine.
After brining, rinsing and drying the ribs I season both sides. I season them right before they go in the pit. This too is a learning from America’s Test Kitchen. I used Butt Rub from Costco but I have also seasoned with coarse Kosher salt, black pepper and paprika and get excellent results. What you choose to season with and how liberally you season the ribs is personal preference. I tend to not over do it. You can see from the pictures below how much I seasoned the ribs. Just make sure to season both sides
I always use a rib rack because it promotes equal browning and eliminates the need to open the pit to flip the ribs and it serves as a de facto heat shield to force the heat to flow around the sides
I use oak whenever I can. I find that oak works really well with everything and is not overpowering. I will typically put the ribs in at 200F and slowly build the heat to 225F. If the heat gets away from me I close the firebox flue and wait for the temp to drop below 225F before cracking it back open
Ribs are the only meat I smoke based on time and pit temperature. Typically that is around 5 to 6 hours at 225F. If my temp is running hot or I have the bark I want I may take the off at 5 1/2 hours. If I am making extras, I may take the ones that I am saving for later off at 5 hours. More on that later.
The picture below was taken at 4 hours. As long as my temp was good I never open the pit until at least 4 hours for my first check
At 225F ribs are technically cooked after 3 hours but they wil be tough. It’s the extra 2 to 3 hours that the fats break down and the meat gets tender.
I took these ribs off after 5 1/2 hours because the meat had pulled away from the bone and I had the bark like I like it. At 4 1/2 hours I put corn into the pit and roasted it.
The picture below is the finished product and they were amazing.
Everything I mentioned above can be used whether you are smoking ribs on a pit or cooking them in an oven or an outside gas grill.
I have tried multiple methods; wrapping after 3 hours, basting, etc. and this is the method I believe produces the best results consistently. It doesn’t matter if you use baby back ribs, spare ribs or St Louis style spare ribs. This method works.
Lastly, sometimes I will purposely cook more than we are planning to eat for the express purpose of saving leftovers. When I do that I will take the ones I am planning to save our of the smoker 30 minutes early. I do this so that when they are reheated they are as moist as the ones we ate that day. I wrap them in Saran Wrap twice then vacuum seal them and store them in the fridge. They will keep this way safely for 30 days. Then when I reheat them I put the vacuum sealed bag in a hot water bath for 10 to 15 minutes, and they are just as good and juicy as the day I cooked them.
Enjoy.
