Rib sauce

All about rib sauces on the web!

Spend enough time talking barbeque with folks and sooner or later the subject of preparing ribs will come up. More often as not it’s in the form of a question along the lines of:

“How do I get my ribs to taste like (insert the name of a restaurant, bbq joint or neighbor/cousin/brother-in-law)?”

Based upon the number of folks involved in the conversation there will be, at the very least, an equal number of answers and methods proclaimed as the one-and-only-sure-fire-method.

The trouble with all of this is – everyone likes their ribs a bit differently. Oh – and there are different types of ribs – so that tends to, ahem, ‘flavor’ the advice as well.

Here’s a methodology that is practiced by many successful grill masters and I post it here only as a guideline for you, if you haven’t found the answer to your rib questions, and not as a proclamation as the only sure-fire way. It’s commonly referred to as the 3:2:1 method – which refers to the approximate hours for each of the distinct cooking processes that barbeque pit-masters use to prepare ribs.

After brining and/or marinating and/or seasoning with rub and/or par-boiling and/or prepping the ribs before cooking – first step is to place the ribs in the grill or smoker and cook:

3 hours (approximately) of slow cooking at or about 225F – 250F degrees using traditional indirect heat method with some wood smoke
The next step is to wrap the ribs in foil and cook:

2 hours (approximately) of slow cooking at or about 225F – 250F degrees using traditional indirect heat method wrapped in foil and some sauce or liquid added
And to finish … the ribs remain wrapped in the foil, maybe a bit more liquid is added and they get:

1 hour (approximately) of ‘hold time’ in an insulated cooler or closed oven – still wrapped in foil. If necessary and/or desired before serving use “some” exposure to direct grilling heat to finish up the glaze or to crisp the skin to the degree that you please yourself.
Will this get you the results you want? NOPE.

It’s just a guideline for you to use for developing your own technique and methodology that works for your taste and your cooker. It’s all up to you to interpret and personalize the process. Beginning with the type of meat you purchase and whether your desired method of preparation includes brining, boiling, and/or dry rub seasoning; your choice of the ingredients for the rub (or not) and how you decide to sauce or not sauce, when to sauce and such – will all come into play. Oh, and if you are preparing baby-back pork ribs they will require that you definitely tweak the times to suit your tastes as they most likely will cook faster than beef ribs, and those will cook differently than St. Louis style ribs which will cook a bit differently than Memphis style cuts and those will be a different cook from whatever your local meat market or regional favorite cut is.

Here are a few more proclamations that you may encounter in your personal quest to prepare the perfect ribs:

-par-boiling ribs is a sin against nature and barbeque
-par-boiling ribs in seasoned water is the best way to add extra flavor and moisture
-brining pork ribs is unnecessary
-brining pork ribs is necessary
-ribs should fall off the bone when they are done to perfection
-rib meat that falls off the bone is over cooked
-selecting the exact combination of spices for the rub is what it takes bring out the best flavors
-selecting the right wood smoke is what it takes to bring out the best flavors
-selecting the exact combination of sauce is what it takes bring out the best flavors
-using only good salt and pepper is what it takes to bring out the best flavors
-the best rib sauce is mustard-based
-the best rib sauce is vinegar-based
-the best rib sauce is tomato-based
-the best rib sauce is soy-based
-the best rib sauce is beer-based
-the best rib sauce is on-the side and used for the fried potato wedges
-yada yada yada

Are you beginning see something in all this? It’s personal choice. And it’s gonna take some experimentation on your part to get to the place where you are consistently delivering the product you want to enjoy and share (or not share!) with friends.

I encourage you to take a look at some of the rib recipes listed on our site and see if there are any that make sense to you and might be something you’d like to try out. After all you get to eat your mistakes.

Happy Grilling!

Ingredients:

-1 beef cube

-1 tbsp. soy sauce

-1/3 c. brown sugar

-Baby back ribs

-1 c. boiling water

-1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Melt cube in boiling water. Stir in other ingredients. Cut ribs into bite-size pieces. Put in sauce, cover and refrigerate overnight. Cook slowly, covered tightly until sauce is used up. Stir often and ribs will be coated when done.

Ingredients:

-1 bottle ketchup

-2 cans tomato sauce

-1 medium onion

-1 cup brown sugar

-4 tablespoons molasses

-5 cups water

-2 lb. pork ribs

Chop up onion and saute until tender. Add the other ingredients and stir in. Cook for 15 minutes. Pour over spare ribs put in oven on 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

How to prepare ribs:

Boil in water for 15 minutes then place in pan and put brown sugar on ribs (1 cup cook) until dry. Add sauce over ribs and bake for 45 minutes.