Be a BBQ Hero - slow cooking, smoking, heat shields and sauce bars

This is kind of a few instructables in one. How to slow cook and smoke ribs, how to build a heat shield / smoke box, and how to do a sauce bar.

This idea all started from cooking food for our extended family. Mom in Law can't have anything spicier than a tomato, Wife likes it hot enough that most people can't stand within 3 ft of her without breaking into a sweat. Everyone else is somewhere in between.

The solution to keep everyone happy when cooking wings or ribs is to cook them naked (sans sauce) and set up a sauce bar.

Check out my other hero instructables:

Be A Breakfast Hero

Be A Lunch Hero

Please check out my other instructables and I also have a diy podcast called mechanicalmashup.tv

Step 1 Setting up the BBQ

For ribs you should only slow cook them. Plan ahead and don't rush it. Those people who say to microwave or boil the ribs first to make them more tender just have never had the patience to slow cook them. Done properly, the meat is tender and delicious.

The trick to slow cooking is to use indirect heat- IE: the food is never over a flame. You use the BBQ like an oven. If you have a BBQ with multiple burners, put one burner on and put the food on the other side. The difference between a BBQ oven and an electric oven is that electric heat dries food out. Food cooked with propane, natural gas or charcoal will not dry out; It stays super juicy.

I have made a heat shield/ wood chip box. This gives me more area on the grill to use with the indirect heat you need with slow cooking. With this I have fit in huge prime ribs and even christmas turkeys. The flames from the one burner that is turned on are directed up through the heat shield, through the smoker box and up one side of the BBQ. There is no point in including any blueprints or templates as each BBQ will be a slightly different shape. I made my shield with stainless steel and it can be done with nothing more than a drill and an angle grinder with a cut off disk. Just be sure to cover the burner and follow the profile of the BBQ to direct as much of the hot air as possible to the side of the BBQ. Holes and slots are drilled and cut to help direct the flow through the wood chips.

The chips I use I get from a local tree company, I get a few yards of maple wood chips and spread them around our garden. The night before I cook I grab a few handfuls of the wood chips, wash them and soak them overnight. I find the maple smoke gives ribs an awesome but subtle flavor.

Comments

[Skipper333333]

FYI: If you have a welding supply nearby you can buy Stainless Steel filler rod for tig welding that would work nicely for your rack. Just make sure it's pure stainless and tell them what you need it for. Great instructible!

[juanangel]

Use SS or iron. Do not use cheap SS look alike. They may have chrome and chrome is poisonous to humans. I would sear the meal then move it to the rack using indirect fire, lifting it with a brick or metal pan to take full advantage of the smoke and heat.

[jimmytvf]

aluminum is the only metal that doesn't poison, but is hard to work with it

[Yerboogieman]

what kind of metal is that rack you made, made out of?

[Cyrus]

I believe he said it was stainless steel in the instructable.

[dave spencer]

yeah, it is stainless. I would be wary of bending a coathanger (or using any other metals, coated or not) into a rack. You don't know what will leach into the meat under heat.

[Yerboogieman]

yeah, i hate weird stuff in my food.

[ddw_az]

On the inside of the ribs there is a "paper like" membrane that needs to be removed. Once this membrane is removed the ribs will cook more evenly and will also eliminate the "fatty build up". I use a paper towel to aide in grabbing the membrane

[atomic22]

How long are you cooking for? I don't believe it says in the instructable. Very nice wood burner.

[dave spencer]

you know half the time I don't keep track of how long it takes. About 4 hours depending on the heat used and the meat.

[hitokiri_808]

Looks great. I was always apposed to boiling ribs myself. Glad to see someone take the effort and do it right on the grill. I do my ribs similar on the grill. I start my ribs off in a foil bag with a bit of Guinness poured in. After an hour or so, I take them out so they don't steam in the bags. Then I put the wood chips on the side with the hot burner. I'm a mesquite fan myself.

[Rishnai]

Glad to see someone else who smokes with maple. It's really a great barbeque wood. I've never been able to use maple as fast as it comes off of all our trees, even for that one year I decided to cook only on the grill.