Letters to Dutch · A reader confesses · Write in and yours may be next →
Pork ribs are done between 198 and 203°F, measured between the bones — baby backs low in that range, spares at the top. Your hands confirm it.
Letters to Dutch · baby backs on a kettle at 275
What temp are ribs done?
Pork ribs are done between 198 and 203°F, measured between the bones. Baby backs land at the low end of that range and spare ribs at the top. Confirm it by hand: lift the rack a third of the way down with tongs, and if it droops toward breaking and the surface cracks, it is ready.
Dear Dutch,
I never thought I would be writing to you about this. I am forty-one, I drive a delivery route, and I have been cooking on the same kettle since my divorce.
It was a Sunday and the house was empty and I had two racks of baby backs I bought because they were on sale and because nobody was going to ask me about it. I did not have a plan. I put them on at three in the afternoon at 275 because everything online said 275 was the fast way, and I wanted them done by six.
At five I pulled one off and cut into it and it fought me. At six I did it again. Same thing. I could not keep my hands off that lid, which I know now was the whole problem, and every single time I lifted it the temperature fell and I had to work it back up again.
I am still embarrassed about how many times I opened that lid on them.
By eight I had given up on dinner and I finally kept my hands to myself, and that is when everything changed. The meat pulled back off the bone maybe a quarter inch. I picked up a rack in the middle with the tongs and it bent, slow, and the surface cracked open along the top, and I understood that it had been telling me what it wanted all afternoon and I had not been listening to one word of it.
They were done at 8:40. Five and a half hours for a cook I had budgeted three for.
— Ray, Tipton
Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and towns have been changed.
Ribs finish between 198 and 203 degrees, and baby backs usually land at the low end of that. The trouble is the bone gets in the way and the meat is thin, so the number alone will sweet-talk you into pulling out early. Slip the probe in between the bones, well clear of them, and then put your hands on it.
Lift the rack a third of the way down with tongs. If the surface cracks and it droops toward breaking, it is ready for you. If it holds stiff, it is not, and no amount of standing there staring at it will hurry it along.
And 275 is not the quickie you were promised. Every time you can’t help yourself and lift that lid, you give ten minutes back. Leave it shut for the first three hours and let it work on itself.
Dutch
What temp are ribs done?
Pork ribs are done between 198 and 203°F. Baby backs usually come in at the bottom of that range, spares and St. Louis cuts at the top, because they carry more fat and connective tissue to render.
Slide the probe in between the bones and stay clear of them — bone conducts heat faster than meat, so a probe touching one reads high and swears the rack is done when it is not.
The number gets you close. Two checks with your hands seal the deal. The bend test: lift the rack a third of the way down with tongs; a finished rack droops and the surface cracks across the top. The toothpick test: a probe slid between the bones goes in with no resistance, like warm butter.
Pull-off-the-bone means you went too far. Competition ribs are meant to take a clean bite mark and still hold themselves together on the plate.
| Cut | Done at |
|---|---|
| Baby back ribs | 198–202°F |
| St. Louis cut | 200–203°F |
| Spare ribs | 200–203°F |
| Beef plate ribs | 203–208°F |
The numbers above are the ones to use on your own pit, alone, after dark.
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