Cherry smoke. 4 hours at 225, then wrapped in paper and back on for another hour at 275. I moved to Seattle a couple years ago and have been doing tons of briskets and boudin for the Seattle people that don’t know great bbq, but I was missing a nice rib. Cut em up and served em but kept the chonky ends for myself. Left the silverskin on and it came off crackly and delicious.
Damn ribs are good.
They look gorgeous! I’ve recently seen a trend toward not removing the silverskin and was wondering if it’s just to help with rib meat retention on the bone or otherwise. Any insight you could provide would be most welcome.
So it’s probably been a decade since I did back ribs. I’ve just always done spare ribs, but I saw a nice sale on back ribs and figured sure what the hell.
I’ve always taken the silverskin off. Once I didn’t and I remember getting comments about it, like the mouth feel was a little tough there. This time I went to grab it to yank it off and it was super thin and barely there, so I just said screw it and left it on.
For whatever reason, it was great. Just a crackly little bite on the back side of the rib that came off cleanly. I think the thinness of the skin certainly helped it and if I saw it that thin again, I’d leave it on again.
Fair enough and thanks for answering. For baby backs, I’ll usually leave it on as it’s typically thin as you saw. I occasionally make a marinade style spare rib recipe where I cut them individually without removing the silverskin and quick grill. When smoking, I’ve taken to removing it, but recently saw a video on some top tier Texas BBQ place that doesn’t bother. Thought maybe there’s something to it.
So you cut em, marinade em, and then grill em? That sounds pretty cool. I’d imagine you get a much different flavor that way.
Absolutely. Old recipe from my grandfather:
- about 1 cup each equal parts white vinegar and soy sauce (I tend toward 3:2 for the tanginess)
- 1 bottle or can of beer (he used Bud, but I prefer a hazy)
- 1 rough chopped sweet onion
- 1 whole head smashed garlic cloves
- red chili flakes to your liking
- 1 tablespoon or so whole black peppercorns or ground or both
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Stir and taste prior to adding ribs.
Trim and cut ribs (2 racks), marinate minimum 12 hours (I’ve pushed to 72 for heavier flavor), grill med-high heat. Turns out fantastic every time. edit: spare ribs specifically, as baby backs have more fat and are more tender to start
Thanks for posting that. Imma do that. Nothing special on the temps? Hot enough to cook but low enough to not burn the sugar?
Some char is all well and good. Rotate them as you go. I shoot for anywhere between medium (usually lands there on the larger ribs) and well done. Hope you enjoy!
