DIY: Fall off the bone BBQ Ribs in 2 hours

My grandpa made ribs this way and as a kid I would watch and even help.  My mom continued on the tradition and now this is one of my favorite meals to serve for friends and family.  I mentioned at lunch today at a great BBQ place that I don't order ribs because I always wish I was eating my own!

Here's what you need:

• Heavy duty aluminum foil.  As good and strong as you can find.  I buy mine at costco.


• Soy Sauce


• Liquid Smoke ( Your favorite flavor)


• St. Louis Style Pork Spare Ribs - This cut of ribs is just the right thickness to get meaty, delicious, fall-off-the-bone ribs in 2 hours


• A large tray for carrying the ribs around and working on them during cooking.


• BBQ sauce -  Know your audience.  More on this later.


• Spices ( Optional if you buy pre-rubbed ribs ).

Here's what you do:

• Open up the ribs, apply your rub and stick the ribs in the fridge for a couple hours.  Sometimes I buy a couple slabs that have already been rubbed and skip this step.


• Take everything down by your grill and fire the grill up hot enough to sear.  I usually go to 500 degrees.


• Sear each side of the slab 6-8 minutes with a quarter turn halfway through so you get real good grill marks and seal the juices in.


• After searing, quickly place the ribs into the heavy duty aluminum foil.  Put a light line of liquid smoke down the ribs.  Similarly sprinkle the ribs with Soy sauce.  Put on your bbq sauce.  A couple of notes about this step.  The soy sauce seems to soften up the meat a little bit more than normal.  For the BBQ sauce, if everyone likes the same kind of sauce, put a bunch of that on.  If your group all likes different, some sweet, some hot, etc...  then just put a little bit of a traditional sauce and they can pick their own sauce later.


• Foil them up real good.  With the heavy duty foil and some good tongs, you shouldn't puncture the foil.  If you're worried that you might, go ahead and wrap in foil a second time.  We want to keep those juices in there.


• Place the foiled ribs back on the grill on indirect heat at about 300 degrees for 90-120 minutes depending on the thickness of the ribs.  If your grill isn't big enough to get truly indirect heat, do the best you can and rotate the ribs every 15 or 20 minutes turning a burner or two back on to get the grill back up to temperature.


• Final step, cut them with kitchen scissors!  Using a knife can pull the meat off the bone.

Now I know a lot of BBQ smoker experts don't like their ribs this way, but nearly everyone else I've ever met thinks these are the most delicious ribs they've ever tasted.

If I've forwarded this recipe and you've got questions, let me know.

Happy grilling!

-Keith