This is what they do in Memphis, Tennessee, and it’s why Memphis-style ribs are some of the best in the world.
Ingredients in Memphis Rib Rub
What goes into a Memphis rib rub is up to you, but most recipes rely on paprika, brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne, garlic and onion powder. All sorts of other ingredients find their way into everyone’s “secret recipe,” but the most common are cumin, dry mustard, celery salt or celery seed, dried oregano or rosemary, chili powder, ginger, allspice or even white pepper. Serious pit masters spend years perfecting the exact ratio of spices for their own personal styles. Cooking these ribs is simple: Rub the spice mix all over the ribs and cook them slowly over low heat until they’re done. Sounds easy, right? It is, sorta. We prefer to let the spice mix sit on the ribs overnight before we cook them, but you don’t have to. We also prefer to cook our ribs over a hardwood fire, but you can use charcoal or even a gas grill if you need to. Just don’t use an oven.
Indirect Heat Is Key to Memphis Ribs
In all cases, cook the ribs away from the heat source. If you use a grill, have the fire going slowly on one side of the grill and cook the ribs on the other side. Again, slow is good. I’ve cooked ribs for 12 hours before, and I’ve never had good ribs cooked less than 3 hours. Use our rib rub as a guide, and play with it to your own taste. What are your favorite ingredients in your barbecue rubs? Updated from the recipe archive, first published 2011 A thin layer of plain yellow mustard, “the cheaper the better” as one of our readers put, creates a glue that helps the spices adhere but leaves behind very little mustard flavor. Some rib aficionados would never use mustard, but use salt to draw out moisture and make the ribs wet. The dry rub ingredients include salt. Adding the rub 12 hours before hand, covering, and refrigerating will draw moisture out and the rub will adhere better to the ribs when they go on the heat. Or, salt the ribs 12 hours ahead of time, cover, and refrigerate. Then add the rub to the ribs right before cooking.
More Recipes for Great Ribs!
Slow Cooker Bourbon Short Ribs with Cheesy Grits Slow and Low Country Ribs Braised Beef Short Ribs Kalbi Jjim (Korean Braised Short Ribs) Grilled Korean BBQ Pork Ribs (Dwaeji Galbi)
The 5 hour cooking time is minimum on these ribs. They may take longer depending on the size of your ribs. Repeat with the other rack of ribs. When you rotate the ribs, keep monitoring the grill temperature so it’s in that 200 to 220°F. How do you know when the ribs are done? When you lift a rack from the grill with tongs, and give the tongs a jostle, you should see a crack form in the slightly charred crust, exposing the rosy pink meat underneath. Did you love this recipe? Give us some stars below!
