Learning how to grill ribs takes a lot less time than it does to smoke them. Other than a grill and some preparation, no extra equipment is required. There are some different techniques required for grilling. It is not just something that you want to just get in there and go for it. Mistakes can be costly and time-consuming. There are some things that you will want to know prior to getting on the grill and cooking up some ribs. We’ve got all the details and advice right here!
There are few things better than sinking your teeth into meltingly delicate pig (or beef) ribs and knowing you cooked them yourself. Grilled ribs are simpler to make than you think, and no special equipment is required. However, you should know a few things before you begin grilling ribs.
Are Grilled Ribs the Same as Barbecue Ribs?
Grilling ribs and barbecue ribs are the same. Technically, they’re two different sorts of ribs prepared in quite different ways.
The Taino people, who were the original inhabitants of the Caribbean islands before Europeans arrived, invented the Spanish word barbacoa, from which the word barbecue derives. The Tainos would roast meat over smoldering embers for an extended period to imbue it with smoke flavor while keeping it soft. That approach evolved into our current American barbecue. Still, the fundamental technique has remained the same: you are essentially smoking the meat over a lengthy period. While you can accomplish this at home, it is a time-consuming, labor-intensive procedure that can take up to 24 hours and consume a lot of fuel. Cooking BBQ ribs also necessitates the use of specialized equipment.
Conversely, grilling refers to cooking food over open flames covered with a grate. Almost anything can be quickly grilled. The only issue is that extended, gentle cooking is required to tenderize the meat for more challenging kinds, such as ribs. Home cooks boil, braise, or bake the ribs until soft before grilling them to achieve a lovely smokey sear. Ribs can be examined if you have a barbecue and grill.
How to Select the Finest Ribs for Grilling
The best ribs for grilling are entirely dependent on your preferences and requirements. Pork ribs are famous in most parts of the United States and are the most prevalent variety of ribs. Beef ribs, which are larger and have a deeper flavor, are famous in places where BBQ beef reigns supreme, such as Kansas City and many portions of Texas. Both of these complement American-style barbecue sauces wonderfully. Lamb ribs are also a good option, but they’re less famous in North America than pig or beef ribs. Lamb has a more gamy flavor that necessitates different seasonings than pork or beef ribs. In Middle Eastern and East Asian cuisines, several mouthwateringly excellent lamb rib dishes include cumin, coriander, and a lot of garlic.
Various Common Variations of Pork Ribs to Choose From:
Spareribs are the ribs from the pig’s belly from which bacon is made. They have a lot of taste and fat, but the flesh is more complex and will require more low and slow cooking time to get soft. They are more gruesome than other pork ribs and contain some cartilage and connective tissues. Spareribs come to mind when you think of a cave dweller.
St. Louis-style ribs: These ribs look like spare ribs after an extensive makeover. The grisly pieces are removed, resulting in even-sized ribs that lay flat on the grill. They still have all of the fat and flavor of spareribs, but you and your dinner guests won’t have to struggle with your food as much.
Baby Back: These ribs are placed near the loin, one of the pig’s leanest regions. They are smaller and slimmer than other types of ribs, but much meatier. Baby backs are an excellent place to start if you make ribs for individuals who have never tried them. They also require less time to prepare. However, they are more likely to dry out because they are leaner.
Preparing Ribs for Grilling
Precooking grilled ribs yields the most tender and tasty results. The beautiful thing about this is that you have many more options for cooking and flavoring your ribs than you would if you smoked them. You can also cook your ribs days ahead of time and even freeze them so you have ribs ready to grill at a moment’s notice.
Ribs Cooking Instructions
One of the simplest methods of preparing ribs for grilling is to boil or stew them. You may cook your ribs in any liquid and add as many seasonings as you desire. If you want pure pork flavor, keep it simple with salt.
Place the ribs in a large stockpot and cover with cold water.
You can also apply any seasonings or aromatics to the water now. Numerous possibilities are available here; your only limitation is your culinary imagination. Consider it similar to creating a tasty soup. You can save the remaining liquid and use it to make other recipes later.
Bring the liquid in the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for two hours, adding extra water if necessary.
Check for soreness in the ribs. With a tiny knife or fork, you should be able to poke through the meat and reach the bone easily. If the beef isn’t soft enough, simmer it for another 30 minutes in 30-minute intervals until it is.
Using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot will expedite this process. To avoid shredding the meat, use the natural pressure release method.
Ribs Braise Technique
Braising ribs is similar to boiling ribs, except that a smaller amount of more delicious liquid is used. This is a recommended method for infusing flavor into your ribs because the juice in which they cook is usually much more concentrated than the liquid used to boil them. Again, the sky is the limit regarding flavoring your braise. However, many folks slow-cook their ribs in barbecue sauce.
On the burner, bring the barbecue sauce to a simmer over medium heat before adding the ribs, covering them, lowering the heat to low, and cooking for a few hours. Tenderness should be checked every hour or so. This is also an ideal time to use a slow cooker.
You may also braise them in the oven. The advantage of this is that the heat from the oven cooks the ribs from all sides, resulting in much more equal cooking. Furthermore, because there is more space in the range, you can cook more ribs than you can on the stovetop. You can also precook an entire slab of ribs rather than chopping the rack into smaller pieces, which is sometimes essential for stovetop cooking.
To cook enough ribs for a crowd, use a big roasting pan or even a disposable aluminum roasting pan. Here’s how it’s done:
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and center the rack.
Toss your ribs in a large roasting pan with seasonings and braising liquid or barbecue sauce.
Cover your pan with some aluminum foil and bake for about two hours, monitoring for tenderness and basting the meat after one hour.
Remove the pan from the oven when the ribs are cooked and set aside to cool before grilling or storing in the refrigerator.
Grilling Ribs on Indirect Heat
The third cooking option is simply tenderizing your ribs on the grill grates for several hours over indirect heat. This is how.
Prepare a grill for indirect cooking by preheating it to medium-high. Turn off one or two center burners on a gas grill and reduce the other burners to medium-low. To avoid flare-ups, bank the coals to the sides of a charcoal barbecue, leaving the center open; put up a drip pan.
Grease the Grill Grates
Place the ribs bone-side down on the colder section of the grill (indirect heat), cover, and cook for about 2 hours, or until the meat is soft and pulls away from the bones.
Ribs on the Grill
Finally, you’re ready to put those ribs on the grill. This, believe it or not, is the easiest part. Because your ribs are fully cooked, tender, and tasty, all you do is do a reverse sear to add color and roasty-toasty flavor. This is also when you apply a BBQ sauce to your ribs, which will caramelize and become sticky on the grill.
This can be done on a gas or charcoal grill.
Preheat the grill. Preheat the grill to medium if your ribs are covered in sweet barbecue sauce. Otherwise, you can grill them on a hotter grill, but you must keep a constant eye on them so they don’t burn.
Place your rack of ribs, individual ribs, or portions on a prepared grill over direct fire and brush on an even amount of BBQ sauce. Tossing individual ribs with barbecue sauce may be more accessible before placing them on the grill.
When they have a pleasing brown color with some dark patches and the barbecue sauce thickens and becomes sticky around the edges, they are done and can be removed from the grill. That’s all there is to it; now get out there and create some awesome-tasting ribs today!