Good barbecued ribs aren`t easy, and great ones require a commitment akin to fanaticism, for few dishes take more time and vigilance. Let the cooking go too quickly and you`ll have a set of sticks strung together with rubber bands of cartilage and a web of charred meat. Allow the coals to flame uncontrolled and the rack`s glorious glazed surface will hide ribbons of raw flesh. Turn your back, or forget to baste, and your dinner will be so much jerky-on-the-bone.
Contrary to popular opinion, ribs cannot be grilled in the strict sense. Grilling is a quick, dry method of cooking that can create a crisped brown skin in a matter of minutes, but can do little to soften tough fibers or cook through anything thicker than a sheet of vellum without scorching the surface. Therefore, if we are going to subject a rack of ribs to the charcoal inferno we must either manipulate the meat or the cooking method to achieve that unique blend of charcoal flavor, color and texture that only grilling can provide.
The ribs themselves can be made more tender before grilling through marination, prebaking, microwaving or blanching. High-acid marinades help soften the texture of the ribs by breaking down the tough fibers in the meat. At the same time the acid of the marinade counteracts the fatty quality of ribs and can infuse the meat with the flavors and aromas of seasonings or condiments.
Another technique, which is particularly successful with pork ribs, is to prebake or simmer the ribs for a short time, to cook them through before grilling. Half an hour in a moderate oven or 15 to 20 minutes in simmering liquid will be sufficient to partly cook a rack of ribs. Then all that is needed is 10 to 15 minutes on the grill for finishing.
This technique is particularly useful if you are planning to glaze the ribs with a sweet barbecue sauce. Sugary sauces have a tendency to scorch during grilling, but because precooked ribs remain on the grill for such a short period, the threat of burning is greatly diminished.
Prebaking and blanching is fine if you don`t mind heating up the kitchen, but you can save yourself time and a modicum of sanity by precooking ribs in the microwave. After marinating a slab, place it along with its marinade in a microwave-safe baking dish. At full power, microwave a 3-pound rack of beef or pork ribs 8 to 10 minutes. Turn, baste with some of the marinade
and microwave at full power 8 more minutes. Veal and lamb ribs will take about 4 minutes per side. (For more unusual ribs you may need to order them in advance from your butcher.)
After microwaving, the ribs will be substantially more tender and almost cooked through. To finish, grill the rack for 10 to 15 minutes, basting, over moderate heat.
Although marination and precooking bypass most of the problems of grilling ribs, some cooks maintain that authentic barbecued ribs must be done start-to-finish over an open flame. This is fine, provided that you understand the difference between barbecuing and grilling, and modify your techniques accordingly.
Barbecuing is a method of braising tough meats over an open fire. In barbecue the fire must either be quite low or the food must be placed far away from the flame. While the food is cooking it is basted with sauce. In this way tough fibers are softened in simmering liquid as the meat is infused with the flavors of the sauce. The result is a pungent meat that falls from the bone. However, the technique takes time and cannot be rushed, otherwise the meat will come out charred.
In contrast, meats for grilling must be tender. They are placed 2 to 4 inches from a high fire and should cook to a desired doneness in the time it takes the surface of the meat to develop a richly browned crust.
Problems arise when people use the sauce and meat appropriate to a barbecue with a fire fit for grilling. The outcome is always the same-ribs, raw at the bone, blushing with the complexion of a charcoal briquette. You can kid yourself into believing that this is the way you like your ribs, but the development of carbon has never been a desirable outcome for any cooking technique. It is only years of abuse, which allows us to think scorching is acceptable.
If you want to grill ribs completely over an open fire, the heat must be lowered so that the ribs cook slowly and evenly. This can be done either by banking hot coals to one side of the cooking pit and placing the ribs over the other side, or by allowing the coals to burn low before starting grilling and then stoke them to maintain a constant low heat. If you have a gas barbecue you can keep the burner on low and intersperse periods of slow grilling with a phase or two on the warming rack to help lengthen the cooking time.
In any case the ribs must be basted constantly with sauce during cooking. Through basting you modify grilling from a dry to a wet cooking method. This is important, for it is only through moist heat that tenderizing can take place. And it must be done slowly. Ribs cooked completely on the grill will need at least an hour to become fully flavored and tender, but they will be even better if you can lower the heat enough so that cooking is drawn out even longer. An hour and half to two hours is not excessive.
