Babybacks

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well I've seen lots of rib experts grill em for less than the 6 hours I go (3-2-1), but I've never tasted the results. I'm thinking they've never tasted our slow smoked ribs, and would probably fall over if they ever did.
 
Hey raine, i was on your site and was wondering what is the bbq slaw? Site made me real hungry! Nice work
 
Raine,

I've grilled Baby backs (direct method) over a mixture of lump charcoal and pecan logs. Total cooking time was approximately 1 hour (a little less, about 55 minutes).

I was experimenting around with cooking dry ribs (Memphis style - Rendezvous restaurant) and mopped with a viinegar mop and topped with a dry rub after grilling. The ribs were tender and had some pull to them but they were tender.

Attached are some pictures under the Snow BQ album. I took a poll amongst my guest and found out that they preferred wet ribs to dry so I sauced to racks but all racks were cooked for less than one hour over a hot fire. I used my adjustable meat rack to prevent the ribs from burning.
They had a crispy exterior and a moist interior. Very good but I actually preferred the ribs cooking the old fashioned low and slow method in my smoker but for some quick ribs on a snowy day you can't beat 1 hour ribs.
 
Sure. Ribs can be mighty tasty done direct in a hour or a little less. No goofing off and little time for consumption of mass quantities is the only draw back.
 
Pigs On The Wing BBQ said:
Sure. Ribs can be mighty tasty done direct in a hour or a little less. No goofing off and little time for consumption of mass quantities is the only draw back.

Pigs,

The latter two are on my top three list of things I enjoy about barbecue! :grin:
 
Raw -> Tender cooked BBs on the grill in 1 hr super tender?

In my experience .... a big maybe, but I'm doubtful.

Before my smoking days I used to boil BBs for 45 minutes +, then grill and glaze. I have to say even my spares done slow on WSM are better than that.
 
Who said anything about super tender? Super tender is what you get when you boil ribs and try to fool your customers into thinking its BBQ. This is what restaurants do. Cooking baby backs over direct heat can produce delectable ribs in one hour or less and that is a fact. I would never have thought it possible either. I was reading Raichlen's BBQ USA about a month ago when I saw the grilled ribs article and the cooking time stated approximately 1 hour. I was very skeptical but intrigued so I gave it a try. You have to constantly monitor the ribs the entire time. Start by cooking the ribs bone side down for 35 minutes and flip and cook meat side down for the final 25 minutes. Ribs will be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. They will have a pull to them (slightly more than smoked ribs) but will not be fall of the bone tender. Just make sure that you can adjust the height of your meat rack so that the meat doesn't burn or you will have burnt on the outside, raw on the inside ribs. This is probably not doable on a Weber Kettle unless you can prop up the grill height.

Charlie Vergo's Rendevous restaurant in Memphis cooks them this was and they serve up to 1000 customers at a time. Couldn't do it with low and slow BBQ.

I cooked them this way a couple of weeks ago to test out my new grill. The cook was in the snow in 30 degree outside temps over a direct fire of lump charcoal and pecan logs and the ribs were done in 55 minutes. I was a little skeptical at first that they were done so I carved off a couple of the end bones to sample and they were almost overdone. The rest of the ribs were perfectly cooked.

Now all that being said, I still preferred the low and slow product (but not by a large margin) but there were a few at my house that night that preferred the grilled method. The great thing that came out of this for me was that I learned that I can serve up some baby backs in an hour or less that were pretty darned good. And it was a lot of fun playing with the ribs over a direct fire, moving the ribs around watching and controlling the flames as the pork fat rendered out of the ribs onto the flames below.

Give it a try.
 
TL,

I'm a terrible judge of distances and I wouldn't want to mislead anyone. It was snowing as I was cooking that day so I would guess at somewhere
between 12-18" from the top log. I'm posting some pictures here. I think you'll notice that in different pictures the heights are different, so as the flames shot up and were touching the ribs, I raised the rack higher to prevent from burning. This was my first and only cook grilling ribs directly over a hot wood fire. I've got to say I enjoyed cooking the ribs probably more than eating them. Don't get me wrong, the ribs were great but for some reason, when I cook I lose my appetite but quickly recover it the next day for the leftovers. I've noticed the same thing at Christmas and Thanksgiving, almost no appetite after a long cook. I probably should cook big meals more often!

Here's the link, look under the Snow BQU album for the 55 minute ribs.

http://community.webshots.com/user/dpacker01
 
Old school cooking direct is 18 to 21", the thing that you will notice the most about this style is flavor. The fat vaporizes as it drips and leaves a distinct flavor.
Jim
 
Chris Finney said:
jminion said:
Old school cooking direct is 18 to 21", the thing that you will notice the most about this style is flavor. The fat vaporizes as it drips and leaves a distinct flavor.
Jim
That would be... okay, all together... TRADITIONAL BBQ. #-o 8-[ =D>

LOL
 
You'd probably have to be pretty careful with the heat and watch for flare ups to cook the ribs direct though ... it would be easy to char those BB's.
 
Shawn White said:
You'd probably have to be pretty careful with the heat and watch for flare ups to cook the ribs direct though ... it would be easy to char those BB's.

You're right Shawn. If you cook Ribs direct you need to stand by your grill the entire cooking time raising and lowering the meat rack, but the good news it's only an hour.

When I was in Mempis this weekend I ate at Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous.
I was amazed to find that the ribs I cooked last month from Raichlen's BBQ USA were almost undistinguishable from the Rendevouz (Raiclen's rub recipe was right on the money). I still like smoked ribs better but its nice to be able to know that you can cook baby backs in an hour if you are pressed for time or have company coming over on short notice during the week.
 
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