Faux BBQ Beef Ribs

There is another trick for expedient ribs. To get them "fall off the bone tender" in a hurry try boiling them for 1 to 1.5 hours in salted water. Then grill them until the outside looks right. Add some sauce, and grill a little longer to thicken the sauce.

This will produce tender ribs in less than 2 hours.

Problem with boiling them is they lose all flavor. For best results, you first have to remove the back membrane and have your ribs marinate for about 24 hours in your favorite bbq sauce. They place them, covered, in the oven for 3 hours at 200o. The ribs will really get the taste of the sauce.

Once they're out of the oven, wait about an hour before broiling them a little on the bbq, with diamond marking for best results, and add some more sauce to cover it all. Restaurant-style perfect bbq ribs. Takes a little longer to prepare, but results will impress you!! You can also try liquid smoke if you want to add a little smokey taste.

Two words: pressure cooker.

Beef ribs are tough, but the quickest and tastiest way outside of a long, slow grilling or smoking, is to use a pressure cooker, followed by a grill or broiler.

I've marinated, and cooked them in the marinade under high pressure, then grilled. Or used storebought sauce in the pressure cooker, then grilled, with some extra slathering on of the sauce at the end of the grilling, making them in under an hour this way on a whim. Storebought bbq sauce is mostly sugar, which burns on the grill, so it can't really be basted on. But it only takes a little while at the end to put some color on the ribs.

Takes about 25 minutes under high pressure, just be careful that the meat doesn't slide off the bones while taking them out!

Steaming is much gentler than boiling. The flavors of the marinade penetrate, and the connective tissue breaks down under the high pressure and heat.

Also the quickest pot roast this side of the Mississippi. Whip up a 3lb pot roast in 45 minutes. Or a beef stew in 25, that tastes straight out of a crock pot. The wonders of pressure and a higher boiling point.

I agree with anonymous who said to marrinate, cover, and bake for 3 hours. I use a higher 250 degree oven, but the results are the same. After baking let them cool off (so they don't fall apart when you put them on the grill) and grill and slather with more sauce.

Everytime I make these for guests they are blown away.

---john

My absolute favorite method of cooking ribs is this, which I've made many times over the last several years:
http://www.hub-uk.com/cooking/tipsBBQribs.htm

Although this is meant for *pork* back ribs, it should still work for beef ones, if you're willing to cook it a little longer.

I also use straight apple juice, as the oil doesn't seem to help.

And while the other ingredients of the spice rub are optional and some may not be a good idea depending on your chosen sauce, the brown sugar is essential. You can rub it in until it completely "melts" just before cooking, if you don't want to do it ahead of time.

You could even brine the ribs before adding the rub to make them even better.

As the recipe says, it's amazing how much fat comes out of them and they don't lose any taste like boiling them or over grilling them causes. They litterally fall off the bone. It's time consuming, but worth it.

re: pressure cooker

Your comments reminded me of the pressure cooker (still unused) that I was given last year as a gift after I had expressed interest in using one. I guess after reading some of the directiions and warnings that came with it I was a little intimidated and stowed it with the seldom used; I'd love to hear some practical advice from someone who uses a pressure cooker rather than the heebie-jeebie invoking technical directions that were provided. Thanks

To the person who expressed interest in pressure cooking. Here's how to "boil" it down. I've used a pressure cooker since I was a kid and it's really not hard. Plus, the cookers of today are 100% safe. The secret: go to Kuhn Rikon's website - they make the very best cookers in the world. They have a very nice site full of pressure cooker recipes. But the gist of doing a stew or a braised-kinda meat dish is to do everything you would normally do - sautee the onions/garlic, in your favorite oily substrate, add the meat and brown as usual - right there in the pressure cooker. Deglaze as usual with your favorite deglazing agent (I'm partial to wine). Add either your mirepoix (carrots,onions,celery) or whatever your vegetable mixture, your spices and just put the lid on. For meat, I usually cook at the 2nd red ring (15 lbs pressure) for a set period of time per pound. There are charts on Kuhn Rikon's site. I can do a chicken in 30 minutes start to finish. There is no rocket science here - so be brave and bold and pull out your pressure cooker and GO!!! Oh, and the ribs, both pork and beef are the very best after doing in a pressure cooker.

Beef ribs need more that 3 hours of cooking to become completely 'fall off the bone' tender. Many different components of the postings need to be brought together for great ribs that do take all the time of BBQ pit cooking (smoker) but little of the maintenance.

Ribs should have the silverskin removed from the back, rubbed with a sugar based dry rub (including some salt, paprika, celery salt and cumin), refrigerated overnight, then slow cooked in the oven at about 225F for 4 hours (lightly baste with BBQ sauce after about 3 hours), then wrapped in foil and cooked for an additional 2 hours.

Long process but the refrigerator, then the oven, quietly do most of the work and the ribs basically melt.

I had purchased some baby back pork ribs at the store just because they were on sale. Although I'll smoke a turkey on my Webber kettle, my effort at keeping a slow fire going for 6 hours for brisket failed miserably. So, although I suspected that there's no real substitute for slow smoked ribs (and I live in Kansas City - so I know smoked ribs) I decided to try your recipe anyway.

I decided to add a couple of teaspoons of mild chili powder and, in place of the celery salt I used celery seed and sea salt. So, my rub was just a little different than yours. I added the 1/4 inch of apple juice - but I supplemented with some liquid smoke in the juice. Then I cooked it covered, as you recommended, in the oven. After 2 hours, I moved them to the grill. I quickly charred a side then turned it over and added BBQ sauce (Gates...) to seal in the juices. Then I did the same to that side. Just a quick charring to finish it and 'glue' the sauce on.

What a surprise! It was great! Almost, but not quite, falling off the bone. Tender, juicy - mmmmmm.... The ribs still had plenty of pork flavor and the rub went really well with the Gates sauce. They were among the best ribs I've ever eaten! And so easy! Thank-you, thank-you! Highly recommended.

The method I use for quickly getting very tender beef ribs is to steam them. That way, they don't sit in water and have their flavors disolved out, and they are ready for grilling on the BBQ after about 1 hour. You can poke them with a fork to see when they are soft and then transfer to a grill.

I also use a P/C to cook ribs. Definitely the quickest way to do them. Not familiar with P/Cs? This page lists most [u:02bcaffa2f]pressure cooker cooking times[/u:02bcaffa2f] and there are many [u:02bcaffa2f]pressure cooker recipes[/u:02bcaffa2f].

Best resukts are the low & slow smoke & you can do it on a gas grill. First remove the membrane & use your favorite dry rub on the ribs (night before is best, but not jugular).

Make a "boat" out of aluminum foil about 6" long, add hickory chips, fold over & poke some holes in it with a fork. Place the foil puch with the chips over an active section of your grill. Turn on high until the chips catch & begin to smoke. Reduce heat until the grill temp is 225 F.

Place the rqack of ribs bone side down onto the inactive portion of the grill.

LEave ribs cooking for one hour. In the meantime, prepare a mop consisting of 2 c apple cider vinegar, 1 c water, 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon crushed red papper, and 3 tablespoons brown sugar.

After the first hour has elapsed, begin basting the ribs with the mop every hour for another 3 hours. After these 3 hours have elapsed, baste one more time with your favorite BBQ sauce and leave on for 30 minutes.

Remove & enjoy!

Sorry to be so late responding to January 29, 2006 post about being afraid of pressure cooking. This is the first time I've been on this web site. I bought a very large pressure cooker years ago in order to can vegetables from the garden. I was absolutely terrified of it, as I had also never used one. Also, this cooker is really large in terms of cooking regular foods, but I have found that it does just fine. This cooker has a petcock which rocks, etc. It isn't an electric one. I remember that I actually hid around the corner from the kitchen when it started going because I was so scared. Anyway, after a few times, I became an old pro. Don't worry about it. Just follow whatever instructions come with the cooker. I guarantee you, you will really love it. I love fixing meals after coming home from work that you wouldn't even consider because they take too long. You might end up spending an hour (only because I have a very large cooker which takes longer to heat up) for a meal that you normally would figure to be 3-4 hours or more.

The poster who stated that indirect heat on the gas grill or a banked charcoal grill to get great beef ribs is absolutely correct. That's barbecue, not grilling.

Tough meat, like beef ribs, need slow cooking to break down the tough tissue. Cooking with moist heat, as in the oven with fluid added, is a good way and there are many delicious short rib recipes that follow that line but if you want real barbecue you have to cook them on a grill with plenty of smoke.

This is an excellent recipe! I had one slab (9 bones) of very meaty ribs, and the cooking times as posted were perfect - so I'd guess the recipe is not sensitive to how much meat is on the bones, just sensitive to how long it takes to tenderize whatever meat's there.

Instead of apple juice, I used a generic cola, and after the two foil-wrapped hours, I basted the meat side of the dino bones with my favorite BBQ sauce, and let them bake uncovered an additional 30 minutes - and basted them again when I took them out. They were right at the point where, had I let them go much longer, they'd have wanted to shred under the knife.

Before cooking I treated them to a little (oh the horror!) liquid smoke before using the rub as described in the recipe. And the rub described in the recipe is a fine one, it gives the finished ribs the sense of "BBQ ribs" as opposed to "pot roast", which is important in this context.

Thanks for the recipe - it was pouring down rain outside, and this was just the thing.

i have boneless beef ribs and i am looking for the best way to cook them so that they are tender and of course taste great!

Hi Jen,
We are having a "meet the in-laws" dinner this weekend and I am serving boneless beef ribs. I purchased 10 lbs. of ribs at Costco and each night this week I tried different ways to cook the ribs. So far, the best has been at 200 degrees for 3 hours in the oven. Its winter here so the BBQ is out.
I started with a rub of equal parts salt, pepper, paprika and sugar and added some cayanne to give it a little kick. The pepper is pretty strong and so is the paprika, so I will be scaling them back a bit.
After the rub is applied I wrapped the ribs in foil (3 or 4 per bundle) with 2 or 3 tablespoons of red wine and some garlic. I then placed them in a roaster pan. After 3 hours I removed the foil wrapped ribs and drained off the liquid into the roaster and set the ribs aside.
With the liquid in the roaster I added a bag of small pealed carrots, a couple bags of pearl onions and a couple cans of tiny canned potatoes. I added 1 can of broth, a little more wine , and more garlic then returned the roaster to the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
I removed the roaster full of veggies from the oven and poured in enough BBQ sauce to cover the ribs. I put the ribs in the roaster and spooned some sauce over the ribs. The temp was lowered to 350 and cooked for 30 more minutes. This seasons the ribs and also thickens the sauce to a nice rich covering. If you want a little more color turn the broiler on and carefully watch the browning process as the sugars turn. The ribs are tasty and tender, and the veggies are fantastic! Enjoy

beef back ribs are not like other beef ribs
they are the "prime ribs"
the meat on them is not tough , its prime rib
all these slow cook recipies will kill prime rib
these need to be cooked fast and hot and served rare
not the same as short ribs at all

I want to add one more thing to my previous comment. I fixed ribs using this basic technique again. And, by the way, I've been cooking baby back ribs here, not beef ribs. This time, though, I cooked 25 baby back slabs for a party. Instead of using a pan, I used double (loosely) wrapped, heavy-duty, alluminium foil. I used it to create sort of a mummy bag for each slab. Also, instead of using the original rub, I just bought some Gates rub and used that - and let it work overnight in the fridge. You can fit more in the oven at a time if you don't have to fit them into a pan. Two more cool things about the alluminium foil container: 1. you can arrange for a spout on the end to pour the apple juice into and then seal up tight - and when they're done, you can unfold the spout again to empty out the remaining apple juice; 2. the limited space within the ribs alluminium foil mummy bag allows all the surfaces of the meat to be in contact with the apple juice - this allows you to stretch the apple juice further (a consideration when you're cooking 25 slabs...). Once again, after cooking I seared the outsides on a charcoal grill and coated them with sauce.

They came out really great. Some of the people at the party (again... Kansas City area rib eaters) said that they were the best ribs they had ever eaten and asked me how I did it. It's not the same as smoked ribs - it's a little different, but it's very good and, I think, a totally workable alternative. In my opinion, finishing them over a very hot charcoal fire after first cooking them in the oven is crucial.

I just bought a Fagor pressure cooker pot a few days ago and made some "Faux BBQ" pork loin spare ribs in it.

It only took 15 minutes to cook them in the pot. Then for a faux bbq crispy crust, I brushed on barbecue sauce and put them in the oven on broil for 5 minutes on each side.

They were very tasty, especially considering it was my first time using a pressure cooker.
<a href="http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Pressure-Cooker-Pork-Ribs-Recipe/">
<img border="0" src="http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Pressure-Cooker-Pork-Ribs-Recipe/tn_Pressure-Cooker-Pork-Ribs-Recipe-018.jpg" width="166" height="128"></a>
I took some pictures of the process and put them on this page.<a href="http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Pressure-Cooker-Pork-Ribs-Recipe/">
Pressure Cooker Faux BBQ Pork Loin Spare Ribs Recipe</a>

The only reason I can see for glibly discounting braising as a legitimate way to do ribs is because a person hasn't done it, or hasn't done it right.

Boiling doesn't "boil away the flavor" unless you just plop your ribs in plain boiling water. Not the way to do it. You plop your ribs into a simmering, heavenly liquid which does 2 things: tenderizes and marinates at the same time. Eliminate the fridge!

Use beef and/or chicken stock, mire poix (celery, carrots, onions), herbs, spices and wine or your own concoction (I've used OJ, coffee and beer different times).

I've boiled pork ribs in a succulent and very spicy-hot liquid, then smoked/grilled them for another 1/2 hour, basting with sauce for phenomenal tasting ribs!

And I've braised (half-cover in water and turn once in a while, so the outside caramelizes) beef short ribs many times for 4 hours, in a beef-stock based liquid for a grown-man-crying good meal!

Don't dismiss braising/boiling.

I think these cats are deriding par boiling . not the same as braising

Here is how you do the pressure cooker with real smoke.

First, smoke the ribs in a smoker for an hour. Use wood chunks, not chips.

Next, remove the ribs and place in a pressure cooker. It is best to use a grate on the botton of the pressure cooker, to elevate the ribs from touching the water and/or getting charred to the bottom of the cooker. Cook for 30 minutes under pressure.

Turn off heat, allow the pressure cooker to release steam naturally. Allow ribs to relax inside there for some time, to reabsorb moisture and soften up. Perhaps 15 minutes.

Ready to eat.

I ended up altering the recipe slightly:
I only had 4 short beef ribs (about 6in long before cooking, but very meaty)

1 TB italian seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika powder (sweet)
1/2 teaspoon kashmiri chili powder
few good grinds of white pepper
1-2 teaspoons of Himalayan salt (the pink stuff)

Did as a dry rub.

The liquid I used was Canada dry gingerale.

Then because I wasn't sure what time I'd be home, I did a 280degree oven. Came home 4hrs later and the meat slid right off the bones and was delicious! With that long of a cook time, there was a lot of shrinkage.