bbq accessories ad
Amazing Ribs Logo

Meathead the Barbecue & Grilling Lover CartoonRead Smoke Signals, our free eletter. No spam. Guaranteed. Enter your email here:

bbq ad

If you like all this free info, please use our links when you shop. Amazon and others pay us a small referral fee when you click our links and purchase from them. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay.

http://tinyurl.com/amazingribs

Please save the link above and use it every time you go to Amazon.

Please use the search box above and use it when you search for things on eBay.

Meathead's Award Winning
Meat Temperature Magnet

bbq magnetClick for more info and how to order.

GrillGrates Take You To
The Infrared Zone

BBQ_grill_grates

Hot Stuff Barbecue & Grilling AwardGrillGrates amplify heat, eliminate hot spots, and block flareups. This is the concept behind the expensive new infrared grills. A must add-on for all gas grills. Click here for more about GrillGrates.

The Smokenator:
A Necessity For All Weber Kettles

smokenator

Hot Stuff Barbecue & Grilling AwardIf you have a Weber Kettle, you need the amazing Smokenator and Hovergrill. The Smokenator turns your grill into a first class smoker, and the Hovergrill can add capacity or be used to create steakhouse steaks. Click here to read more.

Digital Thermometer: Stop Guessing!

small thermapen for bbq

Hot Stuff Barbecue & Grilling AwardA good thermometer is why I never serve overcooked or undercooked food. This one has a very thin tip with a tiny thermocouple so it gives an accurate reading in just six seconds. I cannot recommend it more highly. It will improve your cooking overnight and pay for itself in a hurry. And it is inexpensive. Click for more about thermometers.

The Best Steakhouse Knives

knife set small

Hot Stuff Barbecue & Grilling AwardThe same knives used at Peter Luger, Smith & Wollensky, Morton's. Machine washable, high-carbon stainless, hardwood handle. And now they have the AmazingRibs.com imprimatur. Click for more info.

conversion calculator
BBQ Central Ad
BBQ Gift Shop
Big Poppa Smokers ad

Freezing And Reheating Leftovers

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." Calvin Trillin

I usually cook more food than needed so I won't be embarassed by running out, and my guests fight over the leftovers. For ribs, I plan on at least 1 to 1.5 pounds per person for a meal (remember, about half the weight of a slab is bone). For pulled pork and brisket, I also cook about a pound because there is shrinkage and waste before serving. Here's how to freeze and reheat leftover meats.

food saverFreezing. The best way to pack food for storage is with a vacuum sealer like the FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer at right. It sucks out oxygen and that prevents the off flavors created by oxidation. If you don't plan to eat your leftovers in three to four days, freeze them. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, use a zipper bag. Put the meat in the bag, add a little broth or stock, and then slowly lower the bag into a pot of water. The water will displace the air in the bag. You can then zip it. The idea is to get out as much air as possible to minimize freezer burn and oxidation. Make sure you mark the date on the bag.

Thawing. When you plan to eat your leftovers, thaw them in the refrigerator. This could take 6 to 8 hours for ribs, longer for thicker cuts. There are some more tips on thawing in my article Thawing Meat. When you are ready to cook, remove the plastic wrap.

Here's how to reheat:

Indoor oven. If you are going to use barbecue sauce, paint the meat all over. Wrap the meat in two layers of foil being careful not to puncture the foil. Before you seal it add about 1/4 cup of water. This will help keep it from drying out. If you are not using sauce, place a few ounces of broth or stock, water, apple juice, or white wine in the packet of foil. Place the foil wrapped fully thawed meat in a baking pan or cookie tray. Heat oven to about 225°F. The meat will shrink and get tough at higher heats. Bake in foil on a middle rack until the center is 155°F. Ribs may take up to an hour. Larger cuts may take longer. Unwrap ribs and put under the broiler on one side for 5 to 10 minutes with the door open and the light on until sauce begins to bubble. Leave the door open so the thermostat will not turn off the broiler. Do not walk away from the oven because sauce can go from bubbly to carbon black in minutes. Turn the ribs over and broil for a few more minutes until sauce is bubbly. For other meats you can firm up the surface under the broiler similarly. They will not be as good as when they were fresh off the grill, especially since many smoke flavors evaporate with time or they are oxidized, but they should still be mighty tasty.

Grill. If you don't have a good oven thermometer, get one. Paint the meat on both sides with sauce. Heat grill to about 225°F with the lid closed and use a 2-zone setup. On a gas grill this is probably about medium. Bake in the indirect zone in the foil until the center is 155°F. Unwrap and grill directly over the direct zone for 5 to 10 minutes on each side until the sauce is bubbly. Watch them so they don't burn.

Microwave. The advantage of the microwave is speed. Microwaves cook differently by getting the water in the meat all excited and essentially steam the meat from the inside, so if you go too long, it can make meat mushy. Meanwhile the fats and sauce can start popping making a mess in the oven. You can prevent this by keeping them in plastic wrap or a plastic container, but I don't like to use plastics in the microwave. I have not seen indisputable proof, so my behavior could just be superstition, but I have read enough that I am concerned that microwaves release compounds in some kinds of plastics that get into the food and could be harmful. Microwaves can also make the sauce runny while dry heat ovens and grills firm the sauce up and caramelize the sugars. It's hard to give you precise times for your microwave, start at about a minute and touch them to see if they're ready.

This page was revised 5/25/2012

Please please please read this before posting a comment or question:

1) Please use the table of contents or the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.
2) Please click the "Follow Conversation" button or the "Email" button below your comment so you will be alerted when we reply.
3) Please don't ask any questions that involve temperature unless you tell us that you are using a digital thermometer! Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F! If you are not using a good digital you have no idea what the temp really is so we can't help you. Please read this article about thermometers, then buy one of our recommendations, and then, if the problem persists (chances are it won't), hit us with your questions.
4) Please tell us everything we need to know to answer your question like the type of cooker you are using.

5) If you are shopping for a grill or smoker and need help, tell us your budget!

About this website

AmazingRibs.com is all about the science of barbecue, grilling, and outdoor cooking, with great BBQ recipes and tips on technique. Learn how to set up your grills and smokers properly, the thermodynamics of what happens when heat hits meat, as well as hundreds of excellent tested recipes including all the classics: Baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, burgers, chicken, smoked turkey, lamb, steaks, barbecue sauces, rubs, and side dishes, with the world's best buying guide to barbecue smokers, grills, and accessories, all edited by Meathead.

Advertising on this site

AmazingRibs.com is far the most popular barbecue website in the world and one of the 50 most popular food websites in the US according to comScore and Quantcast. Visitors and pageviews increase rapidly every year. Click here for analytics and advertising info.

LeaderDog.org Ad on BBQ site

© Copyright 2013 by AmazingRibs, Inc. AmazingRibs.com is published by AmazingRibs, Inc., a Florida Corporation. Unless otherwise noted, all text, recipes, photos, and code are owned by AmazingRibs, Inc. and fully protected by US copyright law. This means you need written permission to publish or distribute anything on this website. But we're easy. To get reprint rights, just click here. You do not need permission to link to this site. Note: Some photos of commercial products such as grills were provided by the manufacturers and are under their copyright.