Cooking Pork Ribs on a Gas Grill
Although a lot of people may prefer cooking pork ribs on charcoal, novices will be better off when slow cooking pork ribs on gas grill. More skills will be required to maintain the relatively low temperature needed to cook pork ribs on charcoal grill or a smoker and grill combo.
But this is not a problem with gas grill. Obviously, a novice or an inexperienced griller will find it easier to use gas grill. With a gas grill, you just need to turn the burner lower or higher to maintain the right temperature. Here, you can concentrate less on the grill and have more time to prepare the best ribs possible. However, you still need to do the right things to make sure everything goes well.
Pork ribs need proper seasoning with slow cooking over indirect heat. Below is an example of how to slow cook pork ribs using the gas grill.
Step 1
Take out the strong membrane from the back of the ribs. You can pull it out from the bones using a dull knife. The ribs usually come off at once. But if it doesn’t happen, pry up any tough section and pull it out using a knife.
Step 2
Season the pork ribs with dry rub spice paste before covering and refrigerating overnight. Place some hardwood chips at the middle of the aluminum foil. Make sure the foil is properly folded in a double layer.
Step 4
Light the gas burner and heat the grill to 2250 F in preparation of the cooking task. Light only one burner if your gas grill comes with more than one.
Step 5
Once you’re set to grill the ribs, season properly and cook indirectly until fully done. However, some people prefer slow cooking pork ribs on gas grill directly without precooking. There is greater possibility that the ribs will not be able to properly absorb the smoke flavor when you precook before using the grill. Also, precooking may boil out some of the ribs flavor, which does not give you the best meat flavor when done.
Step 5
Raise the grate of the grill and keep the foil packet close to the frame. Close the grill’s lids and allow it to cook slow and gently through the heat coming from the burner.
Step 6
Cook the pork ribs for about 4 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the ribs. Bigger size ribs will require more hours than smaller size ribs. So, the actual cooking time will depend on the rib size. But 4 to 6 hours should be enough for the cooking process.
You are slow cooking the ribs, so you need to cook the ribs just as its name implies. Set the grill on low temperature, and then allow the ribs to cook for several hours. Try to maintain a temperature of 2250 F for the grill throughout the cooking process.
This means that you should be constantly checking on the grill to make sure of that. As you are checking the temperature, also check the ribs to make sure the surface doesn’t start burning. If you allow the ribs surface to start burning, you won’t be able to correct that.
Step 7
Once you’ve noticed the pork rib is almost done, sprinkle more BBQ sauce on the ribs and raise the heat levels to about 4500F. Keep this level for about 10 minutes to ensure that the sauce is caramelized and stuck on the ribs. Not everyone include this step, but you should if you want to add more flavor.
Step 8
Serve the pork ribs as individual ribs, half racks, or whole racks, depending on what’s best for that particular occasion. But hard wood should be used sparingly, as too much may completely change the natural taste of the pork ribs when it’s fully done.
Tips for better result
If you want to coat the pork ribs with more flavors, make sure the additional flavor is in line with the previously added flavor.
In order to increase the softness of the ribs or speed up the cooking process, you may need to preheat the grill’s rack. Remember that your ribs will be softer when they are cooked in a BBQ smoker, unlike in a gas grill. Even when cooked several ours, the result will not be as tender as when you cook in a smoker. So, you need precook a little to get the required level of softness you want.
To precook the pork ribs, place in a slow cooker or boil for about 20 minutes before cooking with the grill. This will make the ribs softer
If you are cooking lots of ribs, you can separate each rib with racks and cook at the same time. It may increase the cooking time, but increase the amount of ribs you can cook at a time.
How do you know when the rib is done?
This should not be a problem for an experienced griller. For a novice, one of the most effective way of checking the doneness of the rib is by checking how tender the rib has become. You may verify poking a spoon on the pork rib. If it does not resist and allows the spoon to press down, it shows the rib is tender enough. Also, the rib should be able to peel off easily from the rib bone when you try to wriggle the rib from its bone.
Do not add too much seasoning
It’s important to remain conservative when slow cooking pork ribs on gas grill. Traditionally, pork ribs have a lot of flavor on its own. You don’t need to add too much seasoning. Also, it’s not necessary to add BBQ sauce when preparing the ribs in the initial process. Your pork ribs are more likely to burn before it gets done because of the sugar content of most BBQ sauces. Instead, sprinkle a light BBQ sauce on the ribs during the grilling process. You can mix the sauce with water, paprika, and some other seasonings. The occasional sprinkling of thin BBQ sauce will help to add a considerable amount of flavor and reduce burning.
