Pepper Bark – Baby Back Ribs

When you’ve trolled the internet enough for BBQ tips, hints and food porn in general, you will cross paths with the term ‘bark’. This doesn’t have anything to do with dogs (at least in this country), but you eventually will learn that it refers to a dark ‘crust’ that forms on slow cooked meats. It’s not burned, it’s just a flavor layer that develops when meat is prepared correctly, and then submerged right environment. Everyone has their own preferred style of BBQ, and I would say a majority of people from my neck of the woods prefer a ton of sauce on their BBQ, and themeat “falling off the bone” (if a bone is present). Research will tell you that if meat actually slips right off the bone it’s supposed to be on, competition judges will deduct. Specifically, in terms of ribs, the bone is your handle; if you pick a rib up and the meat slips right off onto the plate and you’ve got a bone dry bone in your hand, what’s the point?

Back to the point-

Bark is something pitmasters work hard to achieve, and slathering sauce all over it will soak into it and eliminate that texture. Like I said, some people love sloppy ribs, but some pit masters will not sauce their ribs and allow the end user to make the decision.  Then there are places like Kreuz Market in Lockhart TX that don’t offer sauce, because they believe the BBQ should stand up without it. My opinion? It absolutely does. And don’t worry, I’m not partial to any specific market in Lockhart… I try to hit all of them when I’m in town – It’s one of the only towns that you can literally do a BBQ crawl..  it’s amazing.  (Smittys, Black’s – you know I gots love you guys too)

So, I’ve been tinkering for the past few months, trying to perfect a dry rub that would generate a great bark. I shared a rub recipe recently that works great, but I’ve really been searching for a peppery bark that will take me back to the flavors of Central TX, but make it my own.

So here’s the Rub I put together for the ribs I cooked last night:

  • 28g kosher salt
  • 28g coarse pepper
  • 8g garlic powder
  • 6g hot paprika
  • 5g oregano (now a staple in all my rubs)
  • 5g chili powder
  • 5g seasoned salt

Not to toot my own horn, but this is a sugar-free rub – tell your mom!

And here it is on the ribs!

I didn’t brine these ribs. They came from BJS Wholesale – they’re right out of the bag, trimmed a little fat off.

I set up my large Weber Smokey Mountain with no water pan – just an aluminum tray to catch drippings on the bottom rack. Then I set up a ‘fuse’ style charcoal arrangement:

You can see it’s basically a horseshoe of charcoal. With the side vents all half-open and the top vent a little less than half open, I get a consistent 215-235 degrees, and can adjust the top vent depending on the ambient temp. That amount of coal will last 5-6 hours. Then, depending on the cook, I can toss handfuls in the side door, or just reset another horseshoe up if I’m going long (like brisket day)

You can see by the time the ribs hit the grill, the salt had soaked into the ribs and they were looking GOOOOD.

Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why no water pan!? doesn’t that help keep the meat juicy/moist and help prevent heavy fluctuations in your cooking temp’?  Well..  some of you are thinking that maybe..  Some of you are probably thinking ‘uhh ok”? and the rest are just flipping through this post looking at pictures, because who the hell reads, right?

Well, a waterpan in this particular smoker is good for keeping meat moist, but it will also keep the surface of your meat moist first. What does that mean? Less bark. We’re looking for bark here people. And the fluctuations of cooking temp? I hear there are bricks that you can get that you can use to do the same thing..  or fill the pan up with sand, right? (cover either with aluminum foil to keep the drippings off it though)

Ok enough science..  how did my cook go?  6.5 hours later:

That’s what you’re looking for-  Not burned, but dark. That’s flavor city right there.

You can tell by looking at my index finger in this shot, there was no shortage of moisture in these ribs. The bark was textural and the inside was all broken down and perfect – without sliding off the bone. Let’s see how it passes the bite test.

What’s the bite test? When you bite into ribs, the meat should easily pull away from the bone where you bite it, the rest of the meat should stay secure to the bone and not slide off, hitting you in the chin, making you feel like a dummy.

Before I show the bite test pic though, let’s look at that bark up close, and enhanced a little bit:

I think Duff at Charm City Cakes should use this images as a reference image if they ever get asked to make a ‘rib’ cake. Doesn’t that look awesome? Ok, the bite test:

Bone, and a mouth full of awesome pepper flavor, and varying textures. Amazing. And in the end, the bones look the same as their over-cooked cousins:

Today, (the next day) I did a test to see if the ribs would stand alone, or if they were enhanced with sauce:

But look at that bark!

The only thing the sauce was good for.. . was keeping the bones from sliding around my plate when I walked them over to the trash..  lol

GO BARK!

 

 

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