Southern Living Recipes

Time for another great Southern Living Recipe. This one is an all-time, backyard favorite for your grill. You’re gonna love these Baby Back Ribs. Everyone knows what ribs are right? It refers to the less meaty portion of the chops, usually cooked as a slab (not separated). For Americans, ribs tend to be barbecue pork ribs – slow roasted or barbecued for as long as 12 hours (ouch, marathon grilling eh?).

A bit of advice, look at step 2 of the recipe:

2. Rinse and pat ribs dry. If desired, remove thin membrane from back of ribs by slicing into it with a knife and then pulling it off. (This will make ribs more tender.)

If you’ve purchased a lower-quality meat (no shame, got to make ends meet ya know) I highly recommend you remove the membrane. Not only will this make the ribs more tender, but that membrane acts as a shield against seasoning. Lower quality meats require thorough seasoning to enhance the flavor, and by removing the membrane ribs will grill more evenly (but who has problems grilling ribs, really?).

Also, the recipe assumes you’re using a gas grill. If you are not, you need to be aware of direct/indirect grilling methods. Direct grilling simply means you’re cooking the meat right over the hot coals/open flame. Indirect means you’ve moved the meat away from the hot coals. In order to do this, you’ll need to setup your coals to one side of the grill (if you can). That way you have a place you can indirectly cook your ribs. At the step when the recipe asks you to turn down the heat (for gas grill), that’s when you’ll move the ribs to the not-so-hot side of your grill.

As always, enjoy!

Chad