Ribs
Submitted by che1
Beef ribs soaked in cider vinegar, dusted with garlic salt and black pepper, then grilled over hickory chips for a smoky crust. No-fuss backyard technique with a molasses-boosted barbecue sauce.
YIELD
10 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
45 minREADY
1 hrsForget the foil, the mop, the three-hour smoker ritual. These beef ribs cook over a direct fire fed with hickory chips, and the whole method hinges on two things: even thickness and a close eye. Cider vinegar soaks the meat first, sweetening and tenderizing without softening the surface too much to take a crust.
Garlic salt and black pepper are the only seasonings you need before the meat hits the grate. The flavor comes from the hickory smoke kissing the ribs as they cook, not from a heavy rub that would just burn off.
Turn often, don’t baste, and trust your eyes. The instant that surface browns past raw, they’re ready. Serve with a bottled barbecue sauce boosted with molasses for that sticky-sweet finish.
Kitchen Tips
- Trim and score the ribs to even thickness. Thin spots char before the thick parts cook through.
- Keep hickory chips going in small handfuls. Dumping them all at once produces flare-ups and bitter smoke.
- Resist the urge to cover the grill or walk away. This is hands-on cooking, and a two-minute break will cost you dinner.
- Stir the molasses into the barbecue sauce while warming it. Cold molasses seizes into a sticky clump.
Variations
- Swap the cider vinegar for apple juice if you want the sweetness without the acidic bite.
- Try pecan or apple wood chips in place of hickory for a milder, fruitier smoke profile.
- Stir a spoonful of Dijon mustard into the sauce for a tangy kick that plays well with beef.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off any gross excess, and cut them to EVEN thickness.
You’ll ruin everything if you cook the meat unevenly.
You may compensate by scoring the meat. In a large baking pan, soak the ribs with cider vinegar, after which sprinkle them with garlic salt and finely ground black pepper.
It doesn’t seem to matter how long the ribs soak, or how much vinegar is on them.
Just make sure it hits all sides, you don’t have to puncture them.
This sweetens the meat. The key to the fire is the hickory chips.
Keep feeding these amazing little fellows to the charcoal.
The flavor comes out of these chips and you cannot do without Make sure the fat and chips don’t light up your whole dinner and ruin it. A moderate hot fire a couple of inches or more from the meat, and a grill of reasonable cleanness. As the meat cooks turn it often, do not let it burn, do not baste it with anything. Don’t cover the grill and don’t stray too far -- fire is always hiding in the wings. Here is the catch -- the trick -- the hard part, is the timing. You may ruin some meals before you hit it, but the time to take them off the grill is one minute after trichina danger is past. As soon as the meat turns brown it’s time to eat. You can use the small strips you cut off to judge just when things are perfect.
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