Live Fire Grilled Ribs Recipe

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I have shared plenty of grilled ribs recipes over the years on this blog. But they have always involved using my Traeger Pellet Grill set to low and slow. After speaking with a number of expert BBQ chefs and pitmasters, I realized the norm is to make ribs within 3-4 hours, a stark contrast to the 6+ hours I would spend on my pellet.

I was curious to see how I could make ribs faster and on a live fire grill. And now I have landed on this live fire grilled ribs recipe.

The cooking set up

Years ago I was gifted a Kudu Open Fire grill. The set up works like a Santa Maria grill where you light a fire and raise the grill grate vertically as needed. It’s not exactly ideal for a long cook, but I was looking to get this done in 3+ hours so I knew it would be possible.

But it would not have been possible without the right fuel. I was sent some B&B Charcoal logs that burn for an extended amount of time. They took an hour to light but once it gets going, you can cook for a few hours. I added some hickory chunks for flavor and added more coal as needed to maintain a heat range between 250-350 degrees.

The cut of ribs and seasoning

I picked up some St. Louis Spare ribs from Costco. As far as seasoning, I kept it simple the way classic Central Texas Barbecue likes it; Salt, Pepper and Smoke. Make sure you use a coarse Salt and ground pepper.

Cooking time

These took less than 3 hours. One regret I had was not flipping the ribs in the rib rack. Because I had to raise and lower the grate as the heat changed, one side of the ribs was exposed to fire, leading to extra char.

Another advantage to flipping is you can see how they are cooking by looking for a bend. The smaller racks were done far quicker than I imagined. I recommend flipping every 45 minutes, depending on the heat of your fire.

Not your typical BBQ sauce

A few weeks ago I visited a renowned pizza shop in Seattle and tried their famous Italian Hoagie. They had a sauce on the sandwich called Jazz sauce and I instantly became obsessed. It turns out the chef is an old high school buddy and he shared the recipe.

Jazz Sauce ingredients:

Calabrian chiles
pickled onion
Castelvetrano olives
Anchovies
honey to taste(I used agave)
roasted garlic(I forgot lol)

Steps:

In more or less equal parts, blend in food processor.

Why this works on a Grilled Ribs recipe

The flavor of the Jazz Sauce is akin to a spicy puttanesca minus the tomato. Lots of heat and umami and yeah, it is a God send on grilled or smoked meats. I ended up using this as a dipping sauce and it was met with wide eyed sighs of joy.

Final steps and notes on my live fire grilled ribs recipe

I pulled all the racks and wrapped them in peach paper(thinner ones sooner) and let them rest. I alternated sauces with the other racks, offering a traditional BBQ and a Thai sauce called Prik Nam. The latter will be featured in an upcoming post because it is equally as divine as the Jazz sauce.

In future cooks I will be mindful to flip the racks and aim for a cooler cooking temp, maxing at 300. I was astonished at how some of the racks were close to done within the two hour mark. Ideally you have the same size racks as well and, the meatier the better.

While my pellet grill delivers a more even cook, this live fire grilled recipe delivered the most smokiest, true bbq tasting ribs I have ever made. And try that jazz sauce on anything grilled meats, especially pork.