The Saturday the hooded barbecue finally earns its keep

Fair warning: this is a project, and I won't pretend otherwise. Six hours of low, indirect heat, a rub you made yourself, and a rack of grass-fed ribs slowly turning mahogany under the hood. But here's the thing about proper low-and-slow — almost none of it is work. You set the barbecue to barely ticking over and it does the cooking; your job is a spritz every 45 minutes and the self-control not to lift the lid. What comes off — dark bark, smoke-sweet edges, meat that surrenders at a touch — converts whole households to ribs.

6 hrs 45 mins 4 servings Prep 45 minsCook 5 hrs 30 minsMain CourseAmerican

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg Your Farmer grass-fed beef ribs (one whole rack — don't cut it)
  • 1 tbsp sea salt flakes
  • 1 tbsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp mustard powder
  • 125ml (1/2 cup) apple cider vinegar, in a clean spray bottle
  • Barbecue sauce, to serve (optional)

Instructions

For the rub

Stir the salt, pepper, brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and mustard powder together in a bowl.

1 tbsp sea salt flakes1 tbsp cracked black pepper1 tbsp brown sugar2 tsp smoked paprika

Peel the papery membrane off the bone side of the rack — lift a corner with a butter knife and pull it away with paper towel. If it won't budge, score it in a crosshatch instead. Pat the rack dry and massage the rub over every surface.

1.2kg beef ribs

Leave the rubbed rack at room temperature for 30 minutes while the barbecue comes up to heat.

For the cook

Set a hooded barbecue up for indirect heat at 120 to 140C — burners lit on one side only, ribs destined for the other. A foil pouch of soaked smoking chips over the lit side is a bonus, not a requirement (optional).

Lay the rack bone-side down on the unlit side, close the hood, and leave it alone. Your job now is holding a steady 120 to 140C on the hood thermometer.

From the 2-hour mark, spritz the ribs with the vinegar every 45 minutes or so, working quickly so the heat stays in.

125ml apple cider vinegar

Cook for 5 to 6 hours in total, until the bark is deep mahogany, the meat has pulled a couple of centimetres back from the bone ends, and a skewer slides in with no resistance — around 92 to 95C on a meat probe if you have one.

Wrap the rack in foil or baking paper and rest it somewhere warm for 30 minutes. Not optional — this is where the ribs finish becoming themselves.

Slice between the bones and serve, with barbecue sauce on the table if you like — though taste the bark before you reach for it.

barbecue sauce

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Bark, Rendering and Why Ribs Are the Right First Project

Bark is what happens when a rub meets a slowly drying surface over hours of gentle heat — the sugars and spices set into a dark, savoury crust while the inside of the cut is quietly melting its connective tissue into gelatine. Beef ribs are the friendliest place to learn all this because their window of doneness is wide: an extra half hour rarely hurts a rib, where it would ruin a steak. Your Farmer® beef ribs come as a rack of about 1.2kg in Pack B and Pack D beef shares, and one honest note on grass-fed: it renders a little leaner than feedlot beef, so trust the probe and the pull-back at the bones, not the clock.

Swaps and Variations

For a Texas-lean version, drop everything from the rub except the salt and pepper — coarse, equal parts — and let the beef do the talking. On a kettle barbecue, bank the charcoal to one side (or run a snake) and manage the vents to hold the same 120 to 140C. No barbecue free? A 140C oven for 4 to 5 hours with the same rub gets you shockingly close — no smoke, still superb, much like our fall-off-the-bone oven ribs. And for the hot-and-fast end of the same barbecue, steak night done right is the companion piece. Keen to practise before the family judges? An extra rack makes a fine rehearsal.

Storage and Leftovers

Leftover ribs keep, wrapped, in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Reheat them re-wrapped in foil at 150C for about 20 minutes so the bark softens without the meat drying. They freeze for up to 3 months. The leftover move: chop the meat, bark and all, through a pot of baked beans — smoky beans that make Sunday breakfast worth setting an alarm for.

One rack arrives with every Pack B and Pack D delivery — reserve a grass-fed beef share and give the hood a standing Saturday appointment.

Frequently asked questions

Gas or charcoal?

Both work. The recipe only asks for a steady 120 to 140C of indirect heat — charcoal brings more smoke character, gas is easier to hold steady. Use whichever you own.

My temperature keeps creeping up — what do I do?

Fewer burners or less charcoal, and use the vents. Ribs forgive a wobble, but a sustained 180C turns low-and-slow into a roast. Keep the hood down; every peek costs you heat and time.

What's the stall everyone talks about?

Mid-cook, the surface moisture evaporates fast enough to hold the internal temperature flat for an hour or so. It's normal. Wait it out, or wrap the rack in foil to push through faster at the cost of a softer bark.

Do I need a meat probe?

No — the honest signals are a skewer sliding in like it's butter and the meat pulled well back from the bone ends. A probe just removes the doubt; around 92 to 95C is where beef ribs turn tender.

Can I cook two racks at once?

Yes — side by side on the unlit side, same time, swapping their positions once at the halfway mark.

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