OT Southern BBQ Ribs

[Boxx]

You can find some good items at this small Texas BBQ joint...

http://www.saltlickbbq.com/

Edited April 6, 2014 by Boxx

[minermark]

Growing up in Little Rock I was exposed to some of the best Southern BBQ in the world yup thats right ain't no typo. I was trying to revisit some of the places that used to be estasblished institutions only to see most are gone and with them fine recipes and secrets. I have tried some of the newer bbq places and most of them just don't cut it for me something is always missing with few exceptions.

I grew up with dry ribs and they are my favorite but when I grill at home I usually do wet ribs soaked overnight bake for 1.5 hours under 200 degrees and then grill (coal) for 15-20 minutes liberally brushing sauce on the ribs until finished. I'm going to try my hand at dry ribs. If any of you guys have an old school rib recipe send it to me. Grill season is upon us and I plan on having a killer recipe by the end of the summer. I like country ribs and baby backs. BBQ is about taking cheap meat and making it good.

For all you rib experts what seperates the old school rib legends from the new ribs on the block? What did they know or do differently that is being missed?

Little Rock Rib Legends!

Sim's in business for over 50 years. Go to the location in the hood it is better.

Tom's Twelfth St BBQ is closed as Tom was 80 and his children wouldn't run it to his satisfaction so he closed shop. Just looking at the run down sorry excuse for a building made you salivate.

Lindsey's BBQ North Little Rock open since 1965.

The Shack on Catrell is closed soo sad.

If any Little Rock members can remember the BBQ place in a maroon house off of 65th street let me know the name. <edit> I was just told the name of this place is HB BBQ and is very close to how Tom cooked his ribs.

Damm I am hungry now.......

Great, now Im friggin hungry, im headin out, food is in order here......

[JL Sargent]

Ribs?

1) get fresh ones, freshly wrapped by a person at your local grocer or butcher and not vacuum sealed from a factory.

2) cook slowly until ribs reach an internal temp of 200 degrees F. If you only get ribs up to say 170, they will not be tender.

I like to cook mine at 225 for about 5 hours.

A little salt and pepper or some similar dry treatment is all I use. That's all there is to it.

[Tarheel]

How are you cooking those JL? Oven, smoker, grill?

[eth2]

Here is my recipe for pork Baby Back Ribs

Preparation

One of the key preparation steps is to peel the membrane off the back side of the ribs. You do not have to do this if you are using pork short ribs or country ribs. You can start peeling the membrane at one end or one corner and if you work slowly you might be able to get it off in one piece. You can leave it on if you want but it will be crispy and the meat will not take on as much flavor.

After removing the membrane rinse the ribs under cold water then salt and pepper both sides and coat with Worcestershire sauce and Louisiana hot sauce. Put them back in the refrigerator for an hour or two while the fire heats up. You can cut each rack of ribs into 2 or 3 pieces to make them easier to handle.

Start a fire using charcoal briquettes in the fire box of your smoker. If you do not have a smoker with a separate firebox you can use a Webber grill and build the fire on one side. It helps to use an old broiler pan or large aluminum pan under the meat to keep the coals isolated to one side. Do not smoke the ribs over direct heat. Do not use charcoal starter fluid. Use either an electric starter element or a chimney. Let the coals get white and stay white long enough to get the smoker up to 190 to 210 degrees. Put a small aluminum container full of water under the meat to keep the meat from drying out. You can add water to the pan if you are using a Webber grill.

Cooking

Put the meat on the smoker as far away from the fire as you can. The ribs should cook for 5 to 6 hours. Try to maintain the temperature as close to 200 degrees as you can. Turn and rotate the ribs every 30 minutes adding coals to the fire every time you rotate the meat. After an hour start adding hickory or mesquite to the fire for flavor. If you use chips be sure and soak them in water for an hour to keep them from burning up instead of smoking. It is better to use larger pieces of wood.

After 2 or 3 hours the surface of the ribs will start to dry out a little. Coat the ribs with Stubbs mopping sauce when you turn them. You should only have to do this once but twice is probably better. After the ribs have cooked for 5 to 6 hours take them off the fire and coat them with Stubbs BBQ sauce.

Put the ribs in an aluminum container (like the ones made for a turkey), cover the top tightly with foil and put them in a pre-heated 220 degree oven for another 3 hours. Ribs should be slow cooked for 8 or 9 hours depending on the size of the ribs and how many racks you are cooking. You can cook them for a lot longer if you want but you will have to maintain a lower heat to make sure they dont dry out. When the ribs are done they should be almost black on the outside and dark pink on the inside and they should fall off the bones. The best part is you can take the leftovers and put one or two pieces in the microwave for a minute of so and they will be just like they came out of the oven.

You can use this same recipe for country ribs or even brisket but you need to cook the brisket for a couple of hours longer. This is a Texas recipe so it might be different than you are used to. Substituting a dry rub for the marinate, eliminating the mopping sauce and waiting until they are out of the over to add BBQ sauce is okay but everyone that has tried these loves them the way they are.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Ronny

Ronny

I am having difficulty following these directions. As the obvious expert, would it be asking too much for you to stop over this afternoon and demonstrate? Also, if you would not mind, please bring the ribs.

Thanks again!

[The Dude]

You can find some good items at this small Texas BBQ joint...

http://www.saltlickbbq.com/

Funny you should mention Salt lick, I just smoked some spare ribs, feather bones, and pork loin yesterday for my wife's birthday. I am eating some of the feather bones right. Man it is good.

[Mallette]

Is there any good BBQ in or around Hope?

Several good ones in Texarkana, one of the best being literally a little shack on 59 south just south past the I369 interchange on the right. Not even sure it has a name.

Bit better known and full service is Jake's. There's one on Arkansas Blvd just a bit off I-30...which is the road to Hope.

Interestingly, I just did pork spare ribs Saturday which the PAW pronounced "the best she'd ever eaten." As she's a lady of pretty good taste and had only had maybe a half a bottle of wine, I was quite pleased. I used a "hybrid" dry/wet/dry process I've experimented with.

Without details, it's basically 225 or so, 2 hours heavy Apple wood smoke with a dry rub, 2 hours wrapped in foil with a fourth or so can of beer in there (lose the can...), and then another 2 hours of smoke with me famous homemade BBQ sauce mopped on.

Not too dry, not too juicy...just right.

Dave

[Max2]

Im a big BBQ fan being an AR native and I have eaten at quite a few joints around here over 3 or so decades. Sims, although I have not been there in years was always really good. The stack of bread they give and their mustard style sauce I always enjoyed. Even the bullet holes in the front door were always a conversation with every trip. Say McIntosh had a sandwich shop, but maybe it was BBQ joint, cant remember. A shady character, but I got conned into going there one time and it was my last. There was one little place off of Levy and I cant remember the name for the life of me. I ate there a few times, but I cant say I was memorable...obviously. I have family in Memphis, so I have hit most of the usual suspects over there and always enjoy it. The problem with a lot of the chains and many outfits today, is that they buy pre smoked cuts from Sysco which is blasphemy in my eyes. I have even tasted a little liquid smoke at one place in the Conway area and my stomach does not lie as I can tolerate LS period! I guess all in all most of the outfits are pretty good, but fewer and fewer are actually keeping it old school with stick fired smokers. I must confess, my propane smoker is pretty close to my stick burner as well and MUCH more convenient !

These are just my opinions and remarks. Take them with a grain of salt.

I have a pretty simple 3-2-1 approach for ribs and some ideas taken from Pitt Masters. No fast power cooking for me even though many champs have great results.

I always use Hickory with Pork. No fruit or Nutt tree wood or I might as well put Ketchup on a damn Hotdog.

Propane smoker. It holds a solid temp and I use it unless I have over 50lbs of meat. Cast Iron Wood box for your smoke directly above fire. Always use real chunks of wood and never use chips or any flavored wood!. You need to make sure your wood never catches fire. Putting soaked chips or dry chips directly on coals should only be done if you have no smoke box. It will make your meat bitter IMO.

Baby backs are my favorite and of course peel the membrane. Using paper towels allow you to get grip on it and do this really easy. I always put the ribs in at room temp and dry them before they get the rub. I use whatever rub I have on hand as I have a few friends that always bringing by something new they have blended. I smoke the uncovered ribs, meat side up with the rub at around 225ish or close, wherever the box settles in at. I run two rounds of wood for smoke in the first 3 hours. The smoke box emits such a thin blue smoke, two rounds is all you need for a three quarter inch smoke ring on a large tenderloin. I like to still taste meat and not just smoke, some folks can and will over do it every time. Unlike a stick burner, you can over smoke with a large cast covered smoke box because there is no flame to burn a lot of it off. When the moisture is pulled from the smoking wood there is large pieces of very light black lump coal there, but never any ash from a flame. As soon as you remove the lid from the box, the wood catches fire so be prepared.

After 3 hours I wrap the ribs in foil with honey, brown sugar and little Apple juice, you can get creative with this though. Make sure the meat side sits on top of the goodies you put on your foil before you wrap them. Some of the Champion BBQ'rs add squeeze parkay because it doesn't burn like butter. I add neither because I think it makes the ribs greasy when your reheat them for leftovers. With the ribs wrapped, I put them meat side down for two hours. After that, I unwrap them and place them back on the grill meat side up this time and add a little more goodies if they need it. Depending on how much they have shrunk determines when I pull them, but I like to get a good hard, candy, glaze on them with the rub and goodies as I never use any dipping sauce doing them this way. I don't cook them too long where the racks are breaking in half when you pick them off the grill with tongs, I just want the ends of those bones exposed a little or where you can see they have shrunk some.

This will be a sweet and tangy rib depending on your rub that some wont like, but they are my favorite when it comes to baby backs.

If I do spare ribs, I like doing them semi dry with just sweetened vinegar and dry rub mixed and constantly mop them. This isn't a traditional dry rib but the vinegar doesn't stay long in the heat which gives them a firm bite and good flavor. A lot of dry ribs I have had you just get the rub taste and no meat flavor. The sweetened vinegar will help with this.

Beef Brisket is much easier IMO, but a few of my friends cook it better than I do. I have copied their routine. Take your brisket and trim it well carving most of the fat off. Coat it well with yellow mustard, (you'll never taste it when its done). Season with what you like. I like Rendezvous rub and a tad bit of Montreal steak seasoning blended and coat the entire piece of meat. I cook with a higher temp with the brisket just for time sake. I go 275deg. smoking uncovered constantly with wood for 4hours. I then wrap it up in foil and let it go for another 4 hours give or take depending on how big of a cut it is or when it reaches 200 degrees internally. Really good Beef Brisket is hard to beat in my book, but Im still a Pork guy.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Max2

[Mallette]

"fruitwood=ketchup"???

Bit hyperbolic, IMHO.

I was raised with hickory and dearly love it. Spent time in Jamaica and learned the uniqueness of pimento wood (pimentowood.com, if you are interested), Moved to far west Texas and discovered the wonders of Mesquite, lived a few years in Singapore and a whole different world of charcoals and smoking woods, then moved to the DFW area and had a yard full of post oak. Finally, peach, apple, pear and other fruitwoods.

Like wine, there is one for every mood. Personally, don't really care for cedar but there is a world of fine hardwoods to choose from.

Open mind and enjoy them all!

Dave

[Daddy Dee]

Duder, could you say more about how you cook the pork loin? I've tried it from time to time, but have always let it overcook, i suppose. It ought not to be dry, but that is how it turns out with me.

Max2, thanks for your take on brisket. Never have been happy with what i've turned out there. What you describe sounds doable.

[Mallette]

Dee, the 2/2/2 method I mentioned in post 427 above worked very nicely. Not too moist, not too dry. Some say 3/2/1 or similar. Point is dry smoke/sealed and moistened/dry smoke (BBQ optional to your desires) along with low temp. I stick around 225 for all steps.

Dave

[Max2]

"fruitwood=ketchup"???

Bit hyperbolic, IMHO.

I was raised with hickory and dearly love it. Spent time in Jamaica and learned the uniqueness of pimento wood (pimentowood.com, if you are interested), Moved to far west Texas and discovered the wonders of Mesquite, lived a few years in Singapore and a whole different world of charcoals and smoking woods, then moved to the DFW area and had a yard full of post oak. Finally, peach, apple, pear and other fruitwoods.

Like wine, there is one for every mood. Personally, don't really care for cedar but there is a world of fine hardwoods to choose from.

Open mind and enjoy them all!

Dave

The ketchup remark was somewhat a joke, guess I should have included a smiley face there. ......

Although, I do feel like ketchup on a dog is UN AMERICAN !

Mesquite has a unique taste and its ok if its not too dry, but get it too green and it always seems a little bitter to me. Its bad to hang around in my box and taint the next smoke. My cousins love Mesquite and its where I almost can't eat their stuff on the holidays. Maybe it just stays in my pores too long . Im not against other woods, but not when it comes to pork. True Pork Q needs sweet Hickory, but again, just my opinion.

Duder, could you say more about how you cook the pork loin? I've tried it from time to time, but have always let it overcook, i suppose. It ought not to be dry, but that is how it turns out with me.

Max2, thanks for your take on brisket. Never have been happy with what i've turned out there. What you describe sounds doable.

You're welcome. One thing I have found is that a lot of times people don't cook Beef Brisket long enough and its not done or they over cook it and its very dry. Always wrap it midway and test it with a thermometer and its always decent. Im sure there are some better in-depth Beef brisket ideas from folks here. The mustard works and I think there is a little more to it than just using it to get the rub to stick.

One thing to add. My wife bought me an Igrill monitor. It graphs your temps and shows you how much heat you lose when changing wood or opening the door. You can set heat parameters and basically taylor fit it to keep you informed on your Iphone. Swimming and drinking makes me forgetful, but this thing has blutooth that actually has good range and keeps me from screwing up. All in all, a basic meat thermometer is a must have for Tenderloins, Shoulders, Briskets, etc. even for the pro's.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Max2

[JL Sargent]

How are you cooking those JL? Oven, smoker, grill?

I have purchased a "pellet smoker" which is the best thing since sliced bread. Absolutely love it!!. I use 100% Hickory pellets with it. The thing has a digital controller which I can set to desired temp and the smoker will keep it there feeding the firepot pellets as needed via auger. It's amazing how good the thing works too.

[Mallette]

I like mesquite brisket, but I personally only ever used it as coals for grilling steaks...so no "hang around" problem!

You're right...it's persistent.

Dave

[Max2]

I like mesquite brisket, but I personally only ever used it as coals for grilling steaks...so no "hang around" problem!

You're right...it's persistent.

Dave

Thanks for the Pimento link. I am a Jerk freak! Jerk Fish, Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, you name it. Speaking of. One of my favorite and easy things to do is a Jerk Pork tenderloin in a slow cooker. A little Caribbean rice on the side and Mango Salsa to go on top. Man, Im getting hungry! I tell you, I almost enjoy Crock pot cooking as much as do smoking and I definitely do when its winter. You just cant beat the smell of your house in the morning after having the slow cooker doing its thing all night. Although there is something about sitting around the smoker and having some beverages in the summer.

[Max2]

How are you cooking those JL? Oven, smoker, grill?

I have purchased a "pellet smoker" which is the best thing since sliced bread. Absolutely love it!!. I use 100% Hickory pellets with it. The thing has a digital controller which I can set to desired temp and the smoker will keep it there feeding the firepot pellets as needed via auger. It's amazing how good the thing works too.

That seems to be the new trend. Its not just a fad either, lots of people bringing home trophies using them too. I think there have been a few folks on Pit Master using them.

[Mallette]

Max, pimento wood is awesome. I remember going through some rough parts (combat rough!) parts of Kingston with my brother, plant engineer at an Alcoa plant there, to get jerk. Small shotgun building (in more ways than one!) with a firepit outside about 20X50 feet with a grate over the entire thing. Wall to wall with meat! What a smell and delight to the eyes. Wish I had a picture, but carrying a camera there would have been, well, not the best idea. We got our loot...pork and chicken...and made it back up the mountain nicely. YUM!

Had it other, less risky places, there, but that was the most adventurous and the best.

Dave

[JL Sargent]

A few years back I cooked a whole hog on a concrete bock pit that I fashioned. We cooked the hog overnight over hickory coals from a side fire of green hickory wood. That was the best BBQ I have ever had to this day. The reason it was so good was because of three reasons I believe. 1) fresh meat, 2) cooked it with wood. 3) We pulled the whole hog together. Think about that. Butts, bacon, ribs, hams, tenderloins, all of it together.

The pellet smoker is cooking with wood. That is the best way to cook IMHO. Had been cooking with charcoal mostly on Butts and Ribs last 30 years.

[JL Sargent]

We turned it once an hour and we kept it covered with a large piece of cardboard. Sprinkled hot coals at the edges of the pit only. Doesn't take many either. Fun project.

[Max2]

Max, pimento wood is awesome. I remember going through some rough parts (combat rough!) parts of Kingston with my brother, plant engineer at an Alcoa plant there, to get jerk. Small shotgun building (in more ways than one!) with a firepit outside about 20X50 feet with a grate over the entire thing. Wall to wall with meat! What a smell and delight to the eyes. Wish I had a picture, but carrying a camera there would have been, well, not the best idea. We got our loot...pork and chicken...and made it back up the mountain nicely. YUM!

Had it other, less risky places, there, but that was the most adventurous and the best.

Dave

Wow. That sounds like an awesome experience. I am very intrigued by the Pimento wood and can only imagine the smell on that pit. I have been around the Caribbean a little bit and a few open pits, but nothing as authentic as you just described. It seems that most of the shops you hit down there are really upscale or you get some lazy grillers that just barely satisfy the less fortunate locals.