Are you madly in love with Chili's baby back ribs?
You're not the only one!
We've got the details on what goes into making them!
Secret seasoning?
Secret sauce?
Hand-trimming?
Keep watching for the full story.
"I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back…"
"Chili's baby back ribs."
The very first step to unlocking the mystery behind what makes Chili's baby back ribs so
delicious is the secret seasoning that's dry rubbed onto the meat.
There are a lot of benefits to using a dry rub when cooking ribs.
Unlike a marinade, which saturates the meat and drowns everything in the various liquids
and oils being used, a rub of seasoning obviously keeps the meat nice and dry.
This is an especially important detail when you're looking to get some extra texture and
caramelization on the ribs, because moisture needs to be cooked off before a sear can happen
— so in this case, the less moisture, the better, according to Bon Appetit.
As for the secret seasoning itself, it seems that the best attempts to replicate it are
a mixture of salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, granulated white sugar, dried
minced onion, garlic powder, and olive oil, according to CopyKat Recipes.
As you can see, the good news is that all of these seasonings can be commonly found
in just about any grocery store.
The next reason that Chili's baby back ribs are so delicious has to do with one of the
oldest cooking methods in human history: smoking.
According to Chili's, their ribs are smoked in-house over pecan wood.
Using pecan wood has lots of advantages.
The flavor of pecan wood has a natural sweetness to it, and the wood actually imparts the taste
and aromatic essence of the pecans into the meat, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Beyond the complexity of flavor it adds, pecan wood also imbues a natural redness to the
meat, which can give the ribs a more attractive and appetizing appearance.
There's another edge to smoking: the amazing effect it has on the fat of the meat.
Meat is full of connective tissue called collagen that reacts differently depending on the cut
of meat and the cooking method, according to Napoleon.
If the meat is cooked quickly at higher temperatures, sometimes the connective tissue can get rubbery
and tougher to chew.
On the other hand, according to The Manual, when meat is smoked at a lower temperature
for a longer period of time, the collagen slowly renders down, creating a juicier and
more tender piece of meat that melts in your mouth.
Chili's has yet another trick up their sleeve when it comes to achieving that one-of-a-kind
taste in their baby back ribs we've all come to love: using a pressure cooker.
The pressure cooker allows Chili's to pre-cook the ribs while also creating a juicier atmosphere
from the pressurized steam that helps keep the ribs moist.
Unlike slow cookers, which are designed to operate at lower temperatures for longer periods
of time, pressure cookers operate at much higher temperatures.
Beyond this, pressure cookers allow for better browning of the meat and develop much richer
flavors.
Locked in a tightly sealed and pressurized cask of its own juices, the ribs are bathed
in continuous steam.
Because steam permeates meat more easily under pressure, the connective tissue in the ribs
can soften more effortlessly, according to The Exploratorium.
In other words, pressure cooking their ribs is a smart move by Chili's.
It minimizes the time it takes to cook them while also keeping the meat nice and tender.
"I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, I want my baby back, baby back, baby back.
Chili's, baby back ribs."
Everyone knows that adding barbecue sauce to grilled meat is a good way to bump up the
flavor factor big time.
But with so many different styles of sauce out there, how do we crack the code to figure
out what's in Chili's barbecue sauce for sure?
Maybe you could wing it through a taste test.
However, as luck would have it, cookbook author Todd Wilbur, who reverse engineers beloved
restaurant recipes for use at home by the masses, has published a simplified version
of the Chili's secret sauce.
The barbecue sauce is made with dark brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste,
yellow mustard, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and liquid smoke for a little extra
flavor.
Everything is mixed well until combined, brought to a boil, and then slowly simmered in a saucepan
for nearly an hour.
Remember, it's important to keep stirring to ensure smoothness.
When the barbecue sauce has cooked down and reached the desired consistency, remove from
the heat and allow to cool.
After getting steamed, the baby back ribs at Chili's end up on a sizzling hot grill
while being basted with their barbecue sauce, according to Eat This, Not That!.
At this point, it's less about actually cooking them and more about developing some char and
texture from the flames of the grill.
The ribs should already be mostly cooked through because they have been smoked and baked in
a pressure cooker at a high temperature.
Putting them on the grill is really about achieving the magic of caramelization.
One of the real keys here is that, according to copycat cook Todd Wilbur's recipe for the
baby back ribs BBQ sauce, Chili's likely makes sure to grill the ribs for a few minutes before
adding the barbecue sauce.
According to Serious Eats, this is because there is dark brown sugar in barbecue sauce,
and the sugar will quickly burn when it comes into contact with the flames of the grill.
Chili's perfectly chars their ribs by grilling them without any sauce at first so they don't
burn, then bastes them with barbecue and grills them again for a perfect finish
An often overlooked aspect of cooking ribs is making sure that they're properly trimmed.
Fortunately, Chili's understands the importance of this and according to them, they make sure
to hand-trim all of their baby back ribs.
But why does this need to be done, what does the process entail, and why is it so important?
On the backside of every rack of ribs is an inedible thin membrane also called "silverskin."
This thin membrane covers the rib bones, and if left unattended can cause some cooking
problems.
The membrane can act like a shield, preventing seasoning and smoke from penetrating the meat.
The silverskin also can't render down, instead withering when exposed to heat, leading it
to pull on the bones and contort and bend the shape of the rack.
The good news is that this is a problem that Chili's knows how to fix.
By gently sliding a butter knife between the membrane and the bone, then giving the knife
a lift and a wiggle, the tight membrane can be loosened up, according to Weber.
This process can be repeated for each bone on the entire rack.
Once the entire membrane has been loosened, you can grab one end of the skin and rip it
to the opposite end until it comes off in one large piece.
By smartly hand-trimming all of their ribs like this, Chili's ensures a flat rack of
succulent ribs that will be cooked evenly, just the way you like them.
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