Brisket, pork butt, ribs. These are the holy trinity of BBQ, and with good reason. These collagen-rich cuts thrive in the low, smoky heat of the BBQ cooker, slowly melting into gelatin-infused, bark-encrusted savory treats. And in no other BBQ cut do you get the bark-to-meat ratio that you do with ribs: slabs of ribs, dry rubbed and spicy; whole racks of ribs, glazed with tangy-sweet sauce; riblets for gnawing while you pick at the last of your coleslaw. They are wonderful.
While ribs are decidedly a part of the barbecue pantheon, there is a division to be made there. Spare ribs—anything but spares to those who know!—are the athletic, good-looking, more muscular big brother in the rib family. Yet, you shouldn’t overlook the tender, shorter, amiable little brother! Baby back ribs are often relegated to the realm of ‘pop’ food, thanks in large part to a certain jingle that I’m not going to mention. Since baby back ribs’ introduction into fast-casual dining in 1997, some BBQ meisters have turned their noses up at this cut of meat; but we’re here to tell you that there is still a place at the BBQ table for baby back ribs!
Most BBQ organizations encourage the use of spare ribs for competition, but baby back ribs are excellent for the home. In this article, we’ll look at the thermal experience of baby back ribs on their way to competition-style results. We’ll be using Smoking-Meat.com‘s guidelines for the meat and the multi-channel Signals BBQ Alarm Thermometer with W-Fi to track the temperature through the cook.
How do you know they’re ready? The best way is to use a BBQ Thermometer to ensure you reach the perfect internal temperature of between 195°F and 203°F.
Cooking baby back ribs
So what does their location on the hog mean for cooking baby backs? For one thing, they’re still ribs, and that means connective tissue. You can’t just slap these babies on the grill and cook them to a food-safe 145°F (63°C) or they’ll be tough as nails. Slow cooking will dissolve that collagen.
But what happens when you cook things past 155°F (68°C)? That’s right all the water in the muscle fibers is wrung out by the denaturing proteins. And when that newly-released water finds its way to the surface of the meat it starts to evaporate and you get the infamous stall.
To overcome the stall, take a page from brisket cookery and wrap the ribs, this time with aluminum foil. Every pitmaster has their own technique, but most follow something along the lines of what Steven Raichlen calls the 3-2-1 method. This guideline for reaching the proper temperature means cooking for about three hours without a wrap, then for two hours wrapped tightly in foil, then for another hour unwrapped again. But note that this time structure is only a guideline for achieving thermal processes. You need to get the ribs into a collagen-melting temperature zone—above 170°F (77°C)—and keep them there long enough to tenderize.
You could just cook the ribs bare until they reach a temperature that indicates enough collagen has broken down, but that takes a while. Wrapping them prevents evaporative cooling (the stall), allowing your ribs to get to temperatures where collagen melts even faster. By the time your ribs reach 200°F (93°C), they should be tender enough to eat. All the wrapping and unwrapping serves to achieve a proper bark and to speed the journey to the proper temperature.
For baby backs, Jeff Phillips of Smoking-Meat.com calls for a shorter 5-hour version of this method, but the concept is the same: cooking them wrapped the whole time would make the bark soggy and sad, but wrapping for only part of the cook yields tender, barky ribs that have spent enough time in the melting-temp zone.
So much for the rib meat: what about that thick layer of meat on top of the baby backs? That is loin meat. Loin meat is, in essence, a pork ribeye and is susceptible to drying out. It is low on collagen and also rather lean, so cooking it to any temperature above 150°F (66°C) will overdo it. This is where baby backs have a failing. It is tempting to get super-meaty baby back ribs with a thick layer of loin, but that meat is liable to overcook. Rather than looking for extra-meaty ribs, look for those that have a relatively thin layer of loin meat. The transition layer from rib to loin has the connective tissue needed to rehydrate the meat during a longer cook.
Baby back rib cooking temperature
How we get there, of course, is its own question. We want a temp that is relatively low. We want to keep the smoker at about 250°F (121°C) for the duration of the cook. To help keep that temp on target, you can use Billows BBQ Control Fan in conjunction with Signals. Signals reads the temperature and runs the fan to increase or limit the temperature. You don’t have to think about it anymore!
What Temperature Should I Cook My Ribs?
FAQ
Are ribs tender at 170?
Can you eat ribs at 165?
Are ribs good at 175?
How long does it take to cook ribs at 170 degrees?
When should ribs be cooked?
As Chris Lilly, a competitive barbecue pitmaster and author, advises, “The ribs are done when the probe slides in with just a little resistance.” BBQ expert Meathead Goldwyn recommends using a meat thermometer as well, noting that ribs are done when they reach an internal temperature of 190-205°F.
What temperature do ribs fall off the bone?
The ribs may not fall off the bone at this temperature, so keep that in mind. Your ideal temperature may be up above 200 degrees F to get them to completely fall off the bone, in which case you’ll want a bit of BBQ sauce to compensate for some of the moisture lost. 202-205 degrees F is the best internal temp for country-style ribs.
What temperature should ribs be cooked at?
Although ribs are considered safe to eat at 170°F, you’ll want to increase the temperature for more delicious results. We recommend cooking your ribs to an internal temperature somewhere between 195°F and 203°F. Why Should You Cook Your Ribs Past Done?
Are ribs ready to eat?
When we talk about ribs being “done”, we mean “ ready to eat ”. Ready to eat as in, tasty, tender, and succulent . However, for ribs in particular, if you go by the guidelines of when they are “done” as in safe to eat (around 145° internal temperature) – this will result in chewy, tough meat, bordering on inedible.