(epic music)
(bell dings)
- Hey, y'all, I'm Jeri.
It's grilling season, it's summer, and I love ribs.
So today I'm testing out three celebrity rib recipes
to find out which one's the best.
Our contestants are Snoop Dogg, Al Roker,
and Martha Stewart.
All right, y'all, let's get to it.
First up, we have Snoop Dogg's Baby Got Back ribs.
First he has you make an easy rub.
Brown sugar, paprika, cayenne pepper,
garlic powder, kosher salt, and black pepper.
Now I'm just gonna give this a little whisk.
So now I'm gonna apply the rub.
So lay it on thick.
This recipe calls for a good amount of rub,
so I'm gonna make sure I'm super generous with it.
Flip the ribs and just repeat that same process.
And I just want you to notice that I removed the membrane
from this side of the ribs and that just helps
with eliminating any toughness as you bite into the rib.
Now I'm gonna transfer these prepared ribs
onto my aluminum foil.
I wrap them up nice and tightly.
Our ribs are on a baking tray and we're gonna put these
in an oven at 300 degrees for one and a half to two hours
or until they're falling off the bone.
Let's go.
Okay, so while our ribs are cooking, we're gonna start
on this crazy simple barbecue sauce.
Ketchup, some apricot jam, and Worcestershire.
Or is it Worcestershire? Worcestershire sauce.
We'll just go with that.
And folks, that is it.
All I'm gonna do is give it a whisk.
Most barbecue sauces requires some cooking
over the stove top, but this is it.
I'm done. Here's your barbecue sauce.
You're welcome. Now I'm gonna catch up on my TikTok.
Our ribs are out of the oven, so I'm going to carefully
remove the foil then transfer the ribs to the baking sheet.
So Snoop says to just give it a nice thick slather
of barbecue sauce and only on the top.
Now we're gonna broil these guys for 10 minutes
until deeply brown.
Our ribs are out of the oven.
I've let them rest for 10 minutes.
Now I'm going to cut them in two rib portions.
(knife scrapes)
Ooh, you like that, huh?
And we're gonna serve this right on the cutting board.
Look at that. These are beautiful.
Snoop calls for a few things when you enjoy his ribs.
Lots of napkins, check.
Barbecue sauce for dipping, got it.
And white bread. This is how I enjoy my ribs.
Let's see what our taste testers think. Let's do it.
- First and foremost. (sniffs)
Can smell some amazing flavor.
- When I go to Texas, like that kind of barbecue
where they give you the white bread
and then just a whole slab of ribs.
- Looks like it's sauced just right.
Not too much, not too little.
- Definitely see the char. I hope I can taste the char.
Feel like I can smell the char.
- All right, so let's try these.
- Oh my gosh. Look at that.
Falls right off the bone!
Dip it in the sauce, do it how they do it in the south.
- This is certified. This is good.
I don't think I would improve anything.
This is pretty spot-on.
- It's sweeter than I was imagining it.
Is that brown sugar?
- Mm!
It's tender, it's juicy. it falls off the bone.
I just feel like, in terms of flavor,
this rib is just not super memorable.
- Mm!
- It's gonna be tough to bat after this.
This is a pretty good start.
- So we're gonna start with three racks
of baby back ribs in a roasting pan.
Then we're gonna reserve one cup of ginger ale.
So I've braised with soda before,
specifically with Sprite and 7Up.
And this helps with the caramelization of the meat
due to all the sugars in the soda.
So next, we're going to season it with kosher salt.
And we're going to add water
just until the ribs are covered.
I'm gonna put these in the oven
at 300 degrees for two to three hours
or until they're falling off the bone
and I'm gonna make sure to flip them halfway through.
Let's go.
Now we're gonna work on Al's barbecue sauce.
First thing we're gonna do is add brown sugar, ketchup,
soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and our reserved one cup
of ginger ale.
We're gonna mix this together and now we're gonna bring this
to a low boil and then cook it for about 10 to 15 minutes
or until it thickens.
Our sauce has been cooking for about 15 minutes.
It's reduced by about half. It's beautiful.
Look at that color.
We're gonna take this over to our preheated grill,
slather it with delicious barbecue sauce,
let that cook for a few minutes, flip it,
and then let it do its thing again.
These ribs smell amazing.
They are falling apart, falling off the bone.
Now we're gonna take these ribs off the grill.
Y'all, these ribs look so good.
Look at this.
They look and they smell amazing.
These are my kind of ribs.
Let's see if our taste testers agree
- Looking at the grill marks,
you can see the char on the ribs, which looks really nice.
I can see a little bit more sauce on these ones.
- I'm ready to go. I'm ready to dig in.
- Oh yeah, oh yeah!
That's what I want.
Oh my God, mhmm!
This is good, this is good. This is good.
- It's a little bit harder to get off of the bone.
- Gotta find the perfect bite.
- I like the sauce on this one a lot.
And the meat's just melting in your mouth.
So, it's a solid rib.
- It's like melt-y, actually melt in your mouth.
I'm not getting as much sweetness this time,
I'm getting a smokiness.
Whereas last time I think I needed the bread
to add that like extreme element, this is good as is.
- I think I like these ones.
(laughs) Whoops.
- This is exactly what I want in a barbecue rib.
- I mean, are you eating ribs
if you don't lick your fingers?
- I don't know how you choose between them,
but this is a solid rib right here.
- All right, y'all, we're on our last recipe
and it's Martha Stewart's oven roasted ribs.
Martha has you using a whole lot of ribs.
Her recipe calls for using baby back or St. Louis style.
So here we have four racks of St. Louis style ribs.
We're gonna start off by making a rub.
So we have some paprika, brown sugar, kosher salt,
cayenne pepper.
We have cocoa powder, which I've never tried in a rib before
but I feel like it'll add a little complexity to it,
and cumin.
Use a spoon, the back of the spoon,
and kind of just push it through.
I'm gonna give this a good whisk before we place this rub
onto our ribs.
So sprinkle this on top of all the ribs,
flip these bad boys over, and then repeat the same step.
Get that rub really into the meat.
So these ribs are ready to go.
I'm gonna cover them with plastic.
And Martha says to marinate them
for 20 minutes to two hours, but I want maximum flavor,
so I'm gonna put these in the fridge for two hours.
So now we're gonna work on the barbecue sauce,
which I think is a little extra.
We've got a lot of ingredients here.
So first we're gonna add a little bit
of oil to this pot, over medium-low heat.
Then we're gonna add our onions and garlic.
Gonna saute that just until the onions are translucent.
Add cumin, some cayenne.
Cook this for a minute just
to let these spices bloom for a bit.
Add some tomato paste.
Cook this up for a minute
and add the rest of the ingredients.
Kicking it off with a little black pepper,
some kosher salt, brown sugar, and some apple sauce.
Okay. Apple cider vinegar.
I don't know how I feel about that yet.
And apple juice.
And our last ingredient, crushed tomatoes.
(inaudible)
Give this a good stir.
I'm gonna bring it to a boil,
then drop it to a low simmer.
Then I'm gonna partially cover it
and simmer it for two hours.
(upbeat music)
So it's been two hours.
We're gonna check on our sauce now,
give it a good, okay, honestly,
that smells a little bit like marinara sauce.
Let this cool.
We're gonna transfer it to a blender,
get it nice and smooth,
and then we're gonna work on our ribs.
All right, y'all, these ribs have been marinating
for two hours and, as you can see, the color is deep,
it's rich.
So we're gonna put 'em in the oven at 350 degrees
for one and a half to two hours,
or until the ribs fall off the bone.
These bad boys are fresh out of the oven.
Slather both sides with barbecue sauce.
Pop them in the oven at 425 and broil 'em for 15 minutes.
Okay, Martha's ribs are done.
All we have to do is cut 'em up,
plate 'em, and eat.
So we've plated these ribs.
It smells a lot like pasta in here,
but let's see what our taste testers think.
- What is this? What am I looking at right now?
This is crazy.
- These ribs look different.
They are bigger.
These do not look like baby back,
baby back, baby back.
- This is different looking.
Oh, wow, yeah, okay. So St. Louis style.
All right.
- Let's dig in, shall we?
Ooh, thick, thick, heavy, heavy.
- I'm like really nervous for some reason right now.
- Oh, I'm not a fan.
I don't like the sauce. It tastes like tomato sauce.
The meat's too chewy.
I don't like it.
Yeah, I'm not, I'm not a fan.
- First thoughts. Great, impactful flavor.
Good punch there at the beginning.
But I wish that it was a little juicier,
a little tender, and I just, you know,
I'm all about the fall off the bone experience.
(laughs)
- Well, I'm, okay, so.
What is that? Is that like a curry ketchup?
What? That tastes strange?
- I think it's a pepper.
Is it a pepper? No?
I do like these.
I thought that I was gonna get a little spice
out of them and I didn't, but that's okay.
These have a more vegetal vibe. I don't know. (laughs)
- It taste like pasta sauce
and so we're dipping ribs in pasta sauce.
This is a Franken-food.
Of this one, and no offense to the creator of this,
I probably would not eat this one again
and that's really sad to say because you're supposed
to love all ribs equally.
(upbeat music continues)
So my favorite was the second one.
(bell dings) I think that one just,
for me, stood out the most.
Shut up, Al! Hey, good for you, buddy.
I didn't even know Al Roker had recipes.
Al killing it in the rib game. Who knew?
- My favorite ribs, if it wasn't obvious already,
is number two. (bell dings)
Al Roker! Big fan.
Al, nice job.
- So my favorite was definitely number two.
(bell dings) Number one was a close second.
It was just behind it, but I like the sauce better.
My man, Al Roker.
You got it right, brother, you got it right.
- My favorite ribs, hands down,
were right in the middle, number two.
(bell dings) It didn't need bread,
it didn't need extra sauce.
Everything was there and the flavor
worked together really well.
The texture was there, it was crunchy, it was awesome.
What? The weather person?
Sunny with a chance of pork chops.
- All right, y'all, it's unanimous.
Everyone said Al's Sticky Ginger Ale ribs are the best,
so you know I gotta try it.
Mhmm. Okay, these are amazing.
These are good and they would be great
to bring to a block party.
Speaking of Block Party, that's the name of the new movie
from Buzzfeed Studios, now streaming on BET+.
Check it out. See you next time.
Thank you for being here. Bye y'all!
(upbeat music continues)
- [Man] Oh, yes!