Lots of varied advice above....
If you don't have a smoker, then cooking in the oven and finishing on the grill is perfectly acceptable. One thing is not acceptable, and that is parboiling, which simply boils the favor out of the meat.
Low and slow is the way to go.
Here is a link to
BDL's excellent rib guide.
Here is
Alton Green's oven ribs
So rather than write another guide I will address, what I think are variations that may be helpful clarifications.
Temp, can you cook higher than 220-250º? Sure you can, but will it be enough time to break down the connective tissues, or do you end up with a chewy piece of meat? On the reality series BBQ Pitmasters, Myron Mixon -- Jack's Old South likes to cook at 300º, Myron is one of the biggest all time money winners on the BBQ Comp circuit. However Johnny Trigg -- Smokin' Triggers BBQ, who has won more money for Ribs disagrees and like 225º. My recommendation is if your not a pro, then stick with the tried and true, low and slo 225-250º, after you gain experience then try something else.
Foil or Not to Foil, this is a frequent discussion topic on many BBQ or Smoking meat forums. The fact is most BBQ competition cooks use foil, there are many reasons, but the biggest is it WORKS! The bigger question in my opinion is
When to Foil? 321, 221, 1111111, ten four hut, hut. Yest 321 for spares, and 221 for BBack ribs are great rules of thumb, unfortunately we are all using different cookers, cooking at different outdoor ambients (if cooking outside), etc. What I look for is
Pullback, how far has the meat pulled back from the rib tip? I'm looking for about 1/4" "pullback" on a majority of the ribs, any more and when you finish the foil stage, the meat will be falling off the bone before you get to the saucing stage (not a good thing), any less or no pullback, and the foiling stage may not produce the desired tenderness and instead still be a bit chewy or even tough. If you are a NO foil cooker, then you have to tend ribs more and spritzing would be in order. Again if your not a pro on inexperienced then foiling is one method that will not only help you achieve the desired result, but will also allow you to be consistent always serving tender delicious ribs. (BTW, don't waste that juice in the foil packets, I use it in my BBQ sauce, or as a baste on dry ribs (no sauce).)
Rub the night before or NOT? Again a preference thing, I have done both, there is a difference. I prefer the night before. Also flavor flavor flavor, every opportunity to add flavor is a good thing, so I prefer a light coating of a strong mustard like "jack daniels", or poupon's mustard, or I take regular yellow mustard and kick it up with hot sauce or something else. I then apply a health coat of rub both sides and on the tips & ends. The next day when I get ready to cook, I take the ribs out and allow to come to room temp, but as soon as I do, I hit them with another coating of rub, but this one is slightly lighter.
Ribs selection, Johnny Trigg in one of the episodes shared many of his winning secrets, he always picks ribs with lots of marbling fat. That fat is a self baster and will add a ton of flavor. As a result low n slow is critical to have enough time to cook out that fat.
Remove the membrane, absolutely!
When are they done? A common phrase is "fall of the bone tender", however according to the experts, "fall off the bone" is NOT a correctly cooked rib. The meat should reguire a tug and then tear clean from from the bone. If you pick up the rack and the ribs are falling apart, you overcooked them ribs, if the meat isn't tearing clean away from the bone after that tug then they are under cooked. I like to do the U test with tongs, pick up a rack of ribs while holding the rack lengthwise tongs tips about mid way. The rack should almost
∩ without falling apart (do this over a tray in case the rack starts to come apart).
Ribs are really fairly easy to cook because they are very forgiving, unlike a
steak or hamburger where the time window is a minute. I like to cook ribs and then hold them for a couple of hours. In the final stage of cooking depending on how tender the ribs are after the foiling stage, I will put a light coat of sauce, and seal tightly two racks per foil packet, wrap in plastic wrap, then in paper town (insulation barrier), then in in plastic wrap again, then put in a preheat ice chest wrapped in warm towel. About 30 minutes prior to serving I will heat them on the grill and add more sauce for the racks getting sauce, for about 30 minutes. That extra wrapped time really allows the ribs to achieve a very tender doneness without the higher cooking heat,
Hope this helps
