The Best Ribs For Grilling Always Have This Tasty Feature

There are several different ways to cook ribs; you can simplify baked ribs like Ina Garten by popping them in the oven, you can warm yourself up with a pot of stewed beans and ribs, or you could even make tender, juicy ribs in your Instant Pot, should you want to eat in a hurry. Most people would probably agree, though, that the very best ribs are cooked on the grill. According to Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin' Fool, and owner of The Grillin' Fool barbecue blog, the tastiest ribs have the most bark — and that comes from juicy, marbled meat.

Bark, in barbecue terms, refers to the crunchy, caramelized layer on the outside of the meat. It isn't an inherent feature of the ribs, but rather a combination of the spices and sugar in the rub, along with the juices from the meat. Even so, Thomas notes, "Baby back ribs ... tend to have a better bark to meat ratio." He says this is true whether they're pork or beef, but his advice is to try beef baby backs if you can find them. Still, he cautions, "Buy the biggest slabs you can find. The small ones melt away to next to nothing."

Of course, you'll also want nicely marbled ribs, as well. "Marbling makes meat better. Period," declares Thomas. But you won't have to go out of your way to hunt down this feature. "That can be pork, beef, lamb, whatever. Almost all ribs are pretty marbled."

If you're cooking beef ribs (whether they're baby back or not), there's one extra step involved in the preparation — removing the membrane. As Scott Thomas explains, "For pork ribs, that membrane is extremely thin, and some skip pulling the membrane entirely. For beef ribs, it's very thick. It has to be pulled."

Beef ribs also benefit from low-and-slow cooking rather than a quick sear. Thomas advises, "Skip the clock as a determinant of how long to cook beef ribs. Never cook by time. Always cook to temp." He recommends grilling them at a heat of 275 to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and removing them from the grill once they reach an internal temperature of 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. As he notes, though, baby back ribs will take less time than the larger plate ribs.

After the ribs cook, they'll need to rest for ten minutes before you eat them. Taking the time to rest grilled meat not only keeps the juices from leaking out, but it also allows your ribs to cool down enough so you can handle them without burning yourself. This is especially crucial for ribs, where you won't be using a knife and fork to enjoy your barbecued masterpiece.