The One Trick That Makes Ribs Fall Off the Bone

The first thing people want to cook when they start barbecuing is ribs. And they probably think they're going to need something like the 3-2-1 rib method and I strongly recommend against it. Don't get me wrong, I used to use that method too. But now I think that there is a better way. And since most people these days own a ceramic grill, I'm going to show you using the Monolith ceramic avant-garde grill. One of the best you can get in the world. But of course you can apply this to any type of grill that you're using. Doesn't matter if it's gas or any charcoal grill that you like. But I'm going to show you using a ceramic grill. Because specifically on a ceramic grill this works really well. Really, really well. First I'm going to remove everything that sits inside the grill. Fill the barbecue up about halfway with charcoal. And that's because you don't want to put in more fuel than you need. More fuel makes the barbecue harder to control. So about half is more than enough to keep a ceramic barbecue running for many, many hours. See, we are on the same terms here. We're agreeing. No more than we ever need, right? No more than half for your ribs. It's got to be agreeable. Then break open a fire starter. Light it up and put it in the center of the barbecue. Give it about 5 to 10 minutes to ignite the charcoal. And make sure that while this is happening you have the bottom vent open. Once the charcoal is lit you can add a chunk of smokewood. And this is oak barrel. Which is going to give me a heavy flavor profile. If you like a mild smoke flavor then go for applewood or beech. Time to dial in the temperatures on the monolith. First I'm going to close the lid. Then I'm going to set the bottom vent to about half a finger open. And the top is going to be about one quarter open. It's going to take about 30 minutes to get the barbecue up to smoking temperatures. And if I'm talking about smoking temperature I'm talking about 120 degrees celsius. Of course if I want to I could do it in 10 minutes. But then we get a lot of heat and we're out of control. We're trying to do things right here. And it also means we got plenty of time to prepare the ribs. And for the ribs I selected the absolute best ribs you can get. And especially when you're starting out you want to have baby back ribs. And the main reason is the fat artery that runs through these ribs. It makes them juicier and tender than any other style of ribs you ever had. And of course there's more meat on these ribs. Which is a big bonus but you can also buy more ribs. Before I'm going to season these I'm first going to take a look at the bottom of these ribs. Because that is where the membrane sits. Now the membrane is there to separate the organs from the meat. Which means it is very tough, very strong and impenetrable. Well technically it's penetrable but it takes a long time. You need the osmosis effect blah blah blah. We don't want that. Because what we want is flavor to penetrate inside the meat. This is where you have two options. Either you remove the membrane or you score it. When do you remove the membrane? Well if you do the classic version where you have the 3-2-1 method. Then you would remove the membrane. You make everything soft and mushy. But we're not doing that anymore. This is 2026 and we need to do better. So I'm going to take my knife out and start scoring the membrane. You have to understand that this is important. Because it's going to give us penetration of smoke flavor. Penetration of the flavor of the seasoning. And it's going to give us a crispy exterior on the bottom of the ribs. And like I said it's 2026 so that means no more mushy ribs. I'm going to sprinkle a coat of seasoning on. I'm using the Pitmaster X pork seasoning. But you can use any barbecue seasoning that you prefer. As you can see on my ribs there's a floppy bit. I'm trying to keep it on because if that cooks well it's going to be amazing. So if you see here we're missing out on the opportunity to add flavor. So let's put a little bit on. Do the same on the other side. Now you need to give the ribs the opportunity to soak up the flavor. And really connect with the seasoning. It's going to draw out some of that moisture. And make sure that it sticks real well without adding any sauce. And I specifically am choosing not to use a binder or a marinade. Because we recently did a ribs video. Where you can see the difference in smoke flavor penetration in the meat. The marinated ribs have less smoke flavor penetration. And less of a smoke ring. Whereas the dry ribs, well they were perfectly smoked. This is the inside of my grill. Well this is basically, you can lift this up. Put it in the barbecue and everything's there. But we don't need everything for this cook. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you how to set it up for this cook. And it's very easy. All you have to do is remove these trays. The heat deflector. And just leave the grill grates to sit at the highest position. Basically it's Argentinian style of cooking ribs. But the difference is we're cooking it in a ceramic barbecue. Well this is ceramic. And what that means is that it becomes warm by having a fire inside of it. And it warms the total of the barbecue. So if you put something in. Not only are you getting heat from the bottom up. But you're also getting radiation heat from every corner of the barbecue. Bouncing back onto the meat. So if you want to cook ribs on this. And benefit the most of the flavor profile that this barbecue has to offer. Is removing the heat deflectors. That way we're going to get most of the radiation heat from the bottom. And that's why I scored the membrane. It's going to turn crispy and tasty. And it's going to help protect the meat from drying out still a little bit. And the membrane together with the bones. Are going to prevent the meat from drying out from the heat that comes from the bottom. And at the same time the heat bouncing back from the top. Is going to cook the top of the ribs. And that is the sweet spot. Oh yeah and if there's a little bit of fat that drizzles down into the charcoal. You're going to get the most insane flavor. I placed a chunk of smokewood over the coals that were lit. And I'm going to put the grill grates in. Put the ribs in. And as you can see we got plenty of smoke coming up. I'm going to close the lid. And just let the barbecue do its job. It's been one and a half hours and I need you to see these ribs. Look at the level of caramelization on these ribs. And if we take a look on the meat side. The things that you're looking for is the mahogany red color. Because that mahogany red color is what adds flavor to the ribs. And makes them so delicious. I need you to understand that these are telltale signs of good eating ribs. I'm not talking about competition barbecue where they just look good. And the first bite tastes good. No these are premium eating ribs. Some of the best you're ever going to have in your whole life. But of course there's one more step we need to take. Is it one? No it's probably more like two or three. But we're ready for the next step. So now that we got the color and we got the flavor. Just like we wanted. Now it's time to start working on getting these ribs done. A couple of slices of butter. A drizzle of maple syrup or honey. Ribs with the bone sides towards the butter. Fold it in and lock it in place. I'm going to let these ribs cook through. All the way to a quart temperature of 96 degrees celsius. We're going to take it nice and slow. So it's probably going to be about two hours. And this is where you see what the difference is. The first step was one and a half hours. The second step was probably two hours. But I'm not really checking the hours. I don't really care about the time. Because maybe your grill works a little different than mine. Maybe you're using a different charcoal. Maybe the outside temperature is different. The humidity is different. All of these factors matter. And the only thing that you should be looking at. Is the caramelization of your ribs at the bottom. And the mahogany red color shining through on the seasoning. The next step is just to cook it all the way until it's done. To the 96 degrees celsius. That is it. And there's no time in this thing. Not four one one. Not four two one. Two one four. Three two one. Or whatever. There is no method to the madness. There is just skills and good ribs. So you are going to throw away your book with the times. And just look at the temperature. And at the color. And then. Then. You're mastering ribs. It took a little over two and a half hours. But the ribs are finally at 96 degrees celsius. And the way to check it is by sticking a thermometer. There we go. 96 degrees celsius. So it's time to get them off the barbecue. Get them onto the board. Let's carefully open this up and take a look. I already checked for temperature. But you also need to check for tenderness. So you want to take your probe and stick it in. And see what the resistance feels like. And if it's got no resistance. Or it feels like soft creamy butter. Then you know that your ribs are completely done. And you even need to be careful that they're not falling apart. I'm going to put these ribs back on the barbecue for another 10 minutes. You can also use a barbecue sauce. Or you can just leave the ribs dry as they are. And if you don't like your ribs too sweet. I have this amazing barbecue sauce. Where I didn't use any sugar or any sugar alternative. So go check out that video and try that recipe. And that is how you make absolutely perfect ribs every single time. Look at these things. They're so juicy. They're so tender. They got a beautiful smoke ring. The crust is absolutely perfect. The bite is even perfect. Where you have a clear bone. But you still have a little bit of bite to it. So it's not just fall of the bone ribs. But very very close. To me this is the absolute perfect way to cook your ribs. So a quick recap. You need to smoke your ribs to color. Till they got that beautiful mahogany red. And you're going to do that at a temperature of around 120 degrees celsius. And the core temperature of the ribs is probably going to be somewhere around 70 degrees celsius. Then you're going to wrap your ribs up with a little bit of butter. And you can also add barbecue sauce. A little bit of maple syrup. Don't add too much. Because we don't want the ribs to boil. You can raise the temperature in the barbecue to about 140 degrees celsius. So they cook a little faster. Or you can keep them at the same temperature. Don't look at the time. Measure the temperature. It should be 96 degrees celsius core temperature. Then you're going to get them out of the aluminum foil. And put them back on the barbecue to firm up that crust. You need to be able to taste great pork. Have a little bit of smoke flavor to them. And they have to have the perfect cuisson. And that's it. It's not that hard. You don't need a trick. You don't need 3, 2, 1. 1, 2, 3. 4, 4, 2. See you guys in the next video. I'm guessing you get the point. Hope you enjoyed it. Until then. Eet smakelijk and keep on grilling.