BBQ ribs cooking Question

I have never made BBQ ribs but thought I might try tomorrow. I guess one way is to boil them for hours but that does not appeal to me (too energy inefficient). I thought I would slow-cook them in an electric crock with a cup or so of sauce for 6-8 hours.on "high". What do you guys think? Grilling outside is not an option. Would my crock-pot idea work?

I have never made BBQ ribs but thought I might try tomorrow. I guess one way is to boil them for hours but that does not appeal to me (too energy inefficient). I thought I would slow-cook them in an electric crock with a cup or so of sauce for 6-8 hours.on "high". What do you guys think? Grilling outside is not an option. Would my crock-pot idea work?

Jim,

Even with my ceramic grill and the small amount of attention it needs, I still use a crock-pot in winter. So the answer to your question is yes it works. I wouldn't use spareribs, nor baby back ribs in the crock-pot though. If I am using a slow cooker I use some "Country style" ribs, which are really strips of meat and bone cut from the shoulder of the hog. If you already have the ribs purchased and they are either spares or baby-backs, I recommend doing them in the oven. I always use a rub which I put on the evening before and let that sit on the meat for at least 12 to 15 hours. I then set the oven to a low temp something like 250F and put the meat on a center rack. I let the meat cook for about 3 hours without any wet mop or liquid(y) sauce, just the rub. Then for the last hour I mop the sauce on about every 15 minutes. all this takes ab out 4 hours at 250 degrees. Once you put the sauce on, you want to watch them very carefully because the sugar in the sauce will burn if they are too close to the heating element. (the meat doesn't burn, just the sauce) Happy eating! I don't often grill in winter, but it "ain't" impossible, Mike H (WLDG'er) in Cincinnati does it almost weekly.

If you already have the ribs purchased and they are either spares or baby-backs, I recommend doing them in the oven. I always use a rub which I put on the evening before and let that sit on the meat for at least 12 to 15 hours. I then set the oven to a low temp something like 250F and put the meat on a center rack. I let the meat cook for about 3 hours without any wet mop or liquid(y) sauce, just the rub. Then for the last hour I mop the sauce on about every 15 minutes. all this takes ab out 4 hours at 250 degrees. Once you put the sauce on, you want to watch them very carefully because the sugar in the sauce will burn if they are too close to the heating element. (the meat doesn't burn, just the sauce) Happy eating! I don't often grill in winter, but it "ain't" impossible, Mike H (WLDG'er) in Cincinnati does it almost weekly.

Jim, I totally agree with Bob here. This is the recipe I always use (when Len doesn't want to light up the BGE) and it is fantastic!

Annabel's Baby Back Ribs PARADE | June 2002
Provide knives so your guests can slice the sections into individual ribs. Have lots of damp paper towels on hand.
Yield: Makes 8 servings

3 racks of baby back ribs, 2 to 2 1/2 pounds each
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 to 2 cups Party Barbecue Sauce (I used store bought...either Bullseye or Tony Roma's Carolina Honey)
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place ribs, meat-side up, on 2 baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 30 minutes.
2. Brush 1/4 cup barbecue sauce over each rack of ribs; bake for 20 minutes. Brush another 1/4 cup sauce evenly among all 3 racks; bake 20 minutes more. Repeat, using 1/4 cup sauce among all 3 racks; bake for 30 minutes.
3. To serve, cut each rack into thirds and arrange on a large decorative platter. Moisten with a little warm barbecue sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley to garnish.

Per serving: 690 calories, 14g carbohydrates, 47g protein, 49g fat, 195mg cholesterol.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... z0h29QHYhu

[Jenise]

I have never made BBQ ribs but thought I might try tomorrow. I guess one way is to boil them for hours but that does not appeal to me (too energy inefficient). I thought I would slow-cook them in an electric crock with a cup or so of sauce for 6-8 hours.on "high". What do you guys think? Grilling outside is not an option. Would my crock-pot idea work?

Jim, piling on with the others, no don't use your crock pot. Once the ribs get tender the bones would slip right out and you would not have ribs, just a potful of meat and connective tissue. Not pretty, and all that boney meat isn't going to fit well in a crock pot shape anyway. When I do ribs indoors my method is uncannily similar to Bob's method. Dry rubbed, and sometimes not even done the night before, and cooked "low and slow" for maximum tenderness. If time's an issue, no problem upping the temp to 300 F and lowering the cooking time to two hours. If I'm going to add sauce, after cooking I'll often remove the ribs, let them cool for clean slicing, and then cut them into two-rib sections. Those get dipped in sauce and put back under the broiler. But sometimes I just serve the sauce as a condiment to be drizzled over, or not, as one wishes. The ribs have plenty of flavor without. But Carrie's method will be the easiest of all and get you closest to what you were imagining with the crock pot method.

Thanks Bob and Carrie. I'll take your instructions under advisement.

I appreciate all the advice but I still went with the crock pot. I cut the slab (baby back prok ribs) into 4" widths and put them into the crock with a cup of BBQ sauce on low overnite. They were very tender by morning but not quite falling off the bone. I put the ribs into the fridge and put the sauce on the wood stove to reduce a bit. About 5:00 PM I put the ribs and sauce back onto the top of the wood stove on a grill pan to reheat. Served at 7:00 with a 2007 Owen Roe Sinister Hand Rhone blend. Ribs were excellent (not quite up to Damons quality) and the Owen Roe was good but I expected more. It was quite smooth with nice red fruit but little Rhone-like qualities.

[Jenise]

I appreciate all the advice but I still went with the crock pot. I cut the slab (baby back prok ribs) into 4" widths and put them into the crock with a cup of BBQ sauce on low overnite. They were very tender by morning but not quite falling off the bone. I put the ribs into the fridge and put the sauce on the wood stove to reduce a bit. About 5:00 PM I put the ribs and sauce back onto the top of the wood stove on a grill pan to reheat. Served at 7:00 with a 2007 Owen Roe Sinister Hand Rhone blend. Ribs were excellent (not quite up to Damons quality) and the Owen Roe was good but I expected more. It was quite smooth with nice red fruit but little Rhone-like qualities.

Kudos to you for ignoring us and getting great results with your own method (and I mean that). Re the Sinister Hand, this isn't a wine I understand. Bought one five or six years ago and liked it--inky black, dense--and then tried another of the next vintage which was light red and fruity. They bore not one iota of resemblance to each other. Leads me to believe he uses it as a means of using up leftovers vs. trying to build and maintain an identity.