Southen Cooking Tips To Help You Barbecue Pork Ribs Correctly

Southern Cooking Tricks

Southern cooking is famed for barbecue recipes. Southern cooks, therefore, face the problem of having to be able to cook their meat to perfection. Pork ribs are one of the toughest things to get right. They need to be tender and full of flavor, but this is easier said than done. You should follow this guide of great tips and tricks to help you barbecue pork correctly.

Preparing Your Pork Ribs:

Preparing your ribs before cooking is essential if you want to get the most out of them. Unless you are raising and eating your pigs, your butcher will be in charge here. They can offer a range of cuts to suit your need and prepare them well. Baby back ribs are the most popular because of the meat that it provides. This does mean that they are also the most expensive. Side ribs are the opposite. They are much cheaper but offer less meat. Whichever you choose, ask the butcher to remove the membrane on the inner side of the ribs. This layer comes off quickly, but it can be tough to find. If you leave it on it could make the ribs too tight.

Precooking Your Pork Ribs:

Different barbecue chefs will argue over whether or not you need to precook your ribs. This often depends on what type of ribs you are using. Side ribs are tougher than back ribs so precooking can help to tenderize them. Back ribs can become very tender and juicy with precooking, but it is not essential. Some Southern chefs like to use old-fashioned country-style ribs. These butterflied ribs provide a lot of tasty white meat and can dry out if precooked. It is best to slow cook these cuts or put them straight on the grill.

Add your dry rub, if you have one, to both sides of the ribs. Put your ribs in a shallow roasting pan, meat side up and add water a quarter of the way up the pan. Cover the pan with foil and keep in the oven to bake for between 70-90 at 325F to tenderize the meat. Once precooked, transfer them to the preheated grill and baste them with your prepared BBQ sauce. Continue basting and turning until the sauce has stuck to the meat and the ribs are perfectly cooked. This should only take around 10-15 minutes.

Cooking Your Pork Ribs Without Precooking:

Some ribs don’t need precooking, and some cooks just don’t have the patience for this type of southern cooking. If you want to grill without precooking, you need to keep it low and slow. The temperature can be as low as 250F if you are prepared to cook them slowly for up to 2 hours. You can flip them every 20 minutes and reapply your BBQ sauce base, but that is all the effort required. Only use a knife between the ribs to test if they are done. If it slides through with no resistance, then you have a great rack of ribs.

Take Your Time, Prepare The Meat And Enjoy The Rewards.

Southern cooking is as much about technique as it is flavor. You should learn these things to barbecue pork correctly. If you keep these tips and tricks in mind, it will become a lot easier to cook beautiful meat every time.