We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur Clarke, home cook Daniel, and professional chef Brittney Williams - to make us their take on a southern classic–BBQ ribs. Once each level of chef had presented their creations, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way. Which rack of ribs will you be recreating at home?
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Clark, and I'm a level one chef.
00:06Hi, I'm Daniel, and I'm a level two chef.
00:08Hey, guys.
00:09Chef Brittany here.
00:10I've been a professional chef for about 10 years now.
00:15The best rib to me is really juicy, it's super tender, has a little bit of spice.
00:20You know, anyone can do hamburgers and cheeseburgers, but ribs, kind of sort of a flex.
00:25Can go on the grill, it can go in the oven, it can be smoked.
00:28It's just such a versatile and adaptable ingredient.
00:31So today, I'm making St. Louis-style ribs.
00:40I can't tell you much more about them, except when I was younger, this is what we would
00:43always use, and that's what I'm going to use today.
00:45Today, I'm working with baby back ribs.
00:48I like them a little more than spare ribs, because they're a little smaller.
00:51You know, they're cute.
00:52Here we have two slabs of Iberico pork ribs.
00:56Iberico ribs come from Spain.
00:58They feed their pigs acorns.
01:00So as you can see here, we do have a lot of fatty deposits from that acorn feed, so I'm
01:05going to go ahead and trim off just a little bit of them.
01:09So first things first is taking the membrane off of the back of the ribs.
01:12Apparently, it stops the ribs when you're cooking them from curling in, so it helps
01:16the whole thing bake evenly and makes them incredibly moist.
01:19It is done.
01:20First, I'm going to start with my rub.
01:23I'm adding store-bought dry rub together with chili powder.
01:26I like a bit of spice.
01:28So this is my homemade rub.
01:29I think there's like five or six different ingredients.
01:32I've got a little bit of black pepper, some garlic powder, light brown sugar.
01:36I am a Jamaican chef, and we jerk everything.
01:40So I'm going to be making my own jerk spice blend here.
01:43We have a little bit of parsley, some smoked paprika, and then my seasoned salt.
01:47It's basically salt with a ton of extra spices and herbs inside.
01:51So there's salt, sugar, paprika, celery seed, turmeric, onion, cornstarch, garlic, tri-calcium
01:55phosphate.
01:57A little bit of natural flavor.
01:59A touch of nutmeg, ginger powder, mustard powder, cinnamon, granulated garlic, onion,
02:07dried thyme, habanero powder.
02:11Some of your guests may not really quite like that heat, so just be a little careful.
02:16And of course, it would not be a jerk spice without pimento, also known as allspice.
02:23I'm just getting all these ingredients together.
02:24A little stir.
02:26And bam, dry rub is done.
02:29Now I'm going to actually prep the meat.
02:32So I'm adding some classic yellow mustard.
02:35I'm going to start with a little bit of vegetable oil so that the spice blend can really adhere
02:41to the pork.
02:42Got a little bit of vinegar in it too, which makes it nice and tangy.
02:46Liberally add some salt, draw out some of that moisture.
02:49Mustard looks good on this side, and now I'm going to go in with the rub.
02:53I like it Picasso.
02:54Liberally sprinkle and coat this entire rack of ribs.
02:58Get every crevice.
02:59On the front, back, sides, everything gets coated in the dry rub.
03:02Cute.
03:03My ribs are seasoned.
03:04I'm going to let these sit just so that they can marinate for a little bit.
03:08And it's time to go make my barbecue sauce.
03:11So my barbecue sauce is really simple, just two ingredients.
03:14I'm starting with the Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue.
03:17This is what I always used growing up.
03:19This is disgusting.
03:21Now I'm going to add the hot sauce.
03:23I think Texas Pete is the way to go.
03:25It's just eyeballing it.
03:27I don't even think you need to homemake barbecue sauce because this is delicious.
03:31If you want to buy barbecue sauce from the store, go ahead and do it.
03:34I think making your own is so cool.
03:36It's like it's got your love.
03:37Your love is in the barbecue sauce.
03:39So we're making a jerk rum barbecue sauce.
03:42It reinforces the flavors that's already rubbed on our ribs now.
03:47It just kind of like brings it to a new level.
03:50Where do you even begin to make barbecue sauce?
03:51Like what is the first step?
03:53Is it like a tomato base maybe?
03:55So I'm starting off with tomato puree.
03:56I'm going to start with our base, ketchup.
03:59Going to add some ketchup.
04:00Going to give that nice sweet tang.
04:03I've got some red wine vinegar.
04:05It's going to add a little acidity, a little punch.
04:07Followed by our molasses that will give a deep, rich sweetness.
04:12So along with the molasses, I'm going to add some light brown sugar.
04:15And if I'm adding sugar, I've got to add some salt as well.
04:18I've got some liquid smoke.
04:19This stuff is so dope.
04:21Gives you that cooked over a fire feeling.
04:24Black pepper, chili powder, a little bit of cayenne
04:26to add a little bit of a heat.
04:28Some more smoked paprika, onion powder.
04:31And this is just for me.
04:32I add cinnamon to like everything.
04:34It's like my signature.
04:36Going to go ahead and add the dry jerk rub.
04:39And I have created my own wet jerk sauce.
04:43You can see the little speckles of the allspice, the scotch bonnet.
04:47I see some thyme in here.
04:49I love jerk sauce.
04:50Jerk anything like.
04:52Ooh, I don't know if I've ever had jerk barbecue sauce.
04:54And of course, rum.
04:58You have all these jerk spices.
05:00Dark spice rum really starts to fortify those flavors.
05:04We're going to want to bring this to a high temp
05:06to a point where you start to see little bubbles start to form.
05:10Cook off that excess alcohol from the rum.
05:13You don't want to get drunk off the barbecue sauce.
05:15Cook this down a bit.
05:16Let it reduce till it gets nice and thick.
05:19All right, it's been going for like 10, 15 minutes.
05:21This sauce is looking so good.
05:24Color has gotten a little darker.
05:26It's gotten a little thicker.
05:28It's sweet.
05:29It's spicy.
05:31Just adding a touch more salt. We want to balance these flavors.
05:34And that's it.
05:35That is homemade barbecue sauce.
05:37So time to cook the meat.
05:39And there's like a two-step cooking process here.
05:41I'm going to add some water in first.
05:44Supposed to keep it moist inside.
05:47My parents told me to do this, so I'm going to be real.
05:50That's why I'm doing it, but I think it works.
05:52Rum's looking great.
05:53Already started to soak up the flavor.
05:55Just going to wrap it in some tinfoil.
05:56And pack it nice and tight.
05:58I'm going to transfer them into our vacuum seal bags.
06:02Vacuum seal them.
06:03It really fortifies that flavor.
06:06This is a three-part cooking process.
06:09Start with the sous vide to like really tenderize the meat.
06:13Essentially, sous viding is giving
06:15whatever you have in vacuum seal bags a little jacuzzi
06:18to like cook things through,
06:20but not really get that Maillard reaction that you would
06:23if you're pan searing or grilling.
06:25Have my oven preheated to 350.
06:27I'm just going to throw this in there for about 90 minutes.
06:30300 degrees for like two to three hours
06:32until they're nice and tender.
06:33Let this go for 24 hours at 155 degrees Fahrenheit,
06:37also known as 68.3 degrees Celsius.
06:40All right.
06:41Okay, back from the oven.
06:43These smell delicious.
06:45I'm going to uncover these.
06:48Wow.
06:48I'm happy.
06:49That looks great.
06:50Bones are kind of peeking out a little bit.
06:52You see, already falling off the bone.
06:54Oh.
06:55So for the second part of our preparation
06:58of these Iberico ribs is smoking.
07:01Here, I have wrapped them in Saran wrap
07:03so that we can lock in the smoke.
07:05We have this beautiful smoke gun.
07:07Smoke gun?
07:08I don't know, what are you, Batman?
07:09It would not be considered jerk
07:12if it is not smoked over pimento wood.
07:15So here, I'm just going to add the wood chips
07:17to our smoke gun and light this flame.
07:21I mean, honestly, I would just stage my entire house
07:24with this.
07:25It smells so good.
07:26It's been about 20, 30 seconds.
07:29I just got a nice waft of the aroma of the pimento.
07:32So I know that these ribs definitely have that smokiness
07:35that we're looking for.
07:37So step two here is going to be the barbecue sauce.
07:39I'm going to pour this all over the ribs.
07:42Kind of slather it.
07:43Beautiful, glistening.
07:45Oh, I would eat this for breakfast.
07:48Now, I'm going to sprinkle a little bit
07:50of light brown sugar on the top of this as well.
07:52Having a little bit of that sweet crunch on the outside
07:54really sends it home with that phenomenal flavor.
07:57Now I'm taking this back to the oven,
07:59cooking it uncovered, 30 minutes, lower temperature.
08:03Throw these into the broiler at 375
08:05for like three, four minutes.
08:07Going to go ahead and pop them in a 450 degree oven
08:10until this glaze is beautifully caramelized.
08:13Ooh, these look banging.
08:17I think it looks exactly like the ribs from my childhood.
08:20I can't wait to cut into them, but not right now.
08:22I'm going to let them sit for like five, 10 minutes.
08:24If you cut into it immediately,
08:25it's like all the moisture just kind of leaves.
08:27You know, I feel like that's like a best rule
08:29of practice for meat.
08:31These already look amazing, but I'm not quite done yet.
08:34So these are some pistachios that I've gone ahead
08:37and roasted and spiced up with the dry jerk rub,
08:41bringing a little bit of nuttiness
08:42and a crunch factor to our ribs.
08:45All right, time to plate this up.
08:47What I like to do is try and find the bone on the underside
08:51so I know exactly where to cut.
08:53Oh, that might be a bone.
08:55Oh, nice, right on the bone, like a moron.
08:57Oof, I mean, guys, this is like the most perfect cut rib.
09:02Oh, there we go.
09:04Pile these guys on here.
09:06Now to add a touch more pistachio
09:08because we really want to impart that flavor
09:11and to add a touch of sea salt,
09:14balance out the sweetness of the barbecue sauce.
09:17And these are my spicy St. Louis style ribs.
09:21And these are my baby back ribs.
09:23Here is my jerk rum barbecue glazed Iberico ribs.
09:28I'm really excited to try these, they look really good.
09:31I'm a big sauce person and they're definitely saucy.
09:34The meat is tender, you get a nice layer of like thick sauce
09:37that's caramelized on there.
09:39I'm actually salivating right now.
09:40I don't know if like, I feel like I keep having to go like.
09:43I'm ready to taste these ribs
09:45that took over 24 hours to make.
09:48I'm excited to try these, they look really good.
09:51I'm a big sauce person and they're definitely saucy.
09:54The meat is tender, you get a nice layer of like thick sauce
09:58that's caramelized on there.
10:00I'm excited to try these, they look really good.
10:03I'm excited to try these, they look really good.
10:05Definitely messy, lots of sweet baby raisin.
10:08The meat is actually really nice and tender.
10:11This just feels like you're at a family cookout.
10:14Call me Yunk.
10:16It's like perfectly tender, slides right off the bone.
10:18There's nothing left on there, you see that?
10:19The sauce is like a perfect add on the top.
10:22These are killer.
10:23These are killer.
10:25Shout out to the sweet molasses glaze
10:27that we have going on here.
10:29Texture from the pistachios that bring a touch of heat.
10:33And you wanna talk about like the cook on these ribs?
10:35It melts in your mouth.
10:37And that's from the sous vide process.
10:40I'm done talking now.
10:43Barbecued ribs are a summer staple,
10:45but delicious any time of the year.
10:47Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.
10:51Clark made St. Louis-style pork ribs.
10:53These are rectangular sections of the ribs
10:55around the belly of hogs.
10:57They're flat because the sternum and cartilage are removed,
11:00and most of the meat is found on one side of the bone.
11:03This is perfect.
11:05Daniel used baby back ribs
11:06from along the backbone beneath the loin.
11:08Baby back, baby back, baby back.
11:10They're called baby because they're shorter
11:12than the other ribs and curved
11:13because of how they're connected to the backbone.
11:16Meat surrounds the bone,
11:17and they're naturally tender.
11:19This is because this cut of meat isn't used for locomotion
11:22or other high-activity movement.
11:23Brittany used Iberico pork ribs.
11:25This meat is from a special heritage black hog
11:28native to Spain and Portugal.
11:30The taste is slightly sweet and flavorful,
11:33and the color is somewhat redder
11:34than commercially-raised hog ribs
11:36because they are free to roam in open areas.
11:38Locomotion requires more oxygen to move muscle,
11:42and the oxygen is carried by myoglobin,
11:44a reddish-yellowish substance.
11:46Iberico hogs forage for acorns,
11:48which is what they eat and survive on most of the time.
11:50["Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun"]
11:54Clark roasted her ribs in an oven
11:56at medium temperature for 90 minutes
11:58after wrapping them in tinfoil with some water.
12:01The steam energy cooks the ribs conductively
12:03by imparting energy to the ribs
12:05as the steam contacts the surface of the meat.
12:08For his homemade barbecue sauce,
12:10Daniel included liquid smoke.
12:11This is made from destructive,
12:13Destructive distillation is another term for pyrolysis,
12:16or burning without oxygen.
12:18If oxygen is present, it's called combustion.
12:21It added a smoky quality without actually smoking the meat.
12:24Brittany used the sous vide method to cook her ribs.
12:27This required her to vacuum seal her seasoned ribs
12:30in a plastic bag and submerge it in a water bath
12:33at a constant temperature for many hours.
12:35With this method, the meat never exceeds
12:37the temperature of the water,
12:39so it's a safe way to cook the ribs.
12:41Collagen is a connective tissue that structurally
12:43is three proteins twisted together
12:46to give it tensile strength.
12:47At this temperature, the collagen slowly unravels
12:50and combines with water in the meat
12:52to form a soft, soluble gelatin,
12:54which makes the meat very tender.
12:57I don't need a moist towelette
12:59because this is lick your fingers good.
13:01Barbecue ribs are so versatile and always delicious.
13:05We hope you'll take some of these tips
13:06and make your own barbecue sauce.
13:08Always delicious.
13:09We hope you'll take some of these tips
13:11from our three amazing chefs.