BBQ Spareribs & Pulled Pork | The Rub Kitchen
Chicken is quick, but pork is where low & slow BBQ truly begins. Spareribs and pulled pork require time, patience, and the right rub — rewarding you with fall-off-the-bone meat and a bark you can’t buy anywhere. On this page, both classics: Memphis-style spareribs and pulled pork in two styles, with the Memphis BBQ or Carolina Gold rub.
New to low & slow? First, read the basics below to understand why the times are so long — and why that actually makes it easier.
First: why so long and so low?
Pork for ribs and pulled pork is full of connective tissue and collagen. At chicken-cooking temperatures, it turns tough; only after hours of cooking at 120 to 150°C does the collagen melt into gelatin — and that’s the juicy, fall-apart texture it’s all about. You pull chicken off at 74°C internal, pulled pork only at 90°C or higher. The good news: low & slow is forgiving. Half an hour longer won’t ruin anything, and the BBQ does most of the work while you do nothing.
With pulled pork, the internal temperature hovers around 65-70°C for hours. This is called the stall: moisture evaporates from the surface, cooling the meat just as much as the BBQ heats it. It’s normal, it’s part of the process, and you solve it by wrapping the meat (step 4 of the pulled pork recipe). Don't raise the temperature.
Recipe 1 · Memphis-style spareribs
The classic rib from Tennessee: sweet-smoky, deep red glossy bark, meat that comes off the bone with a gentle tug. The Memphis BBQ rub with 18% brown sugar and double paprika is literally made for this.
Ingredients
- ✓ 2 racks of spareribs (approx. 1 kg each)
- ✓ 65g Memphis BBQ rub per kg
- ✓ 2 tbsp neutral oil or olive oil
- ✓ 4 tbsp BBQ sauce
- ✓ 1 tbsp honey
- ✓ Splash of apple cider vinegar
- ✓ Coleslaw
- ✓ Cornbread
- ✓ Baked beans
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Preparation
Remove membrane
Turn the ribs over and pull off the silvery membrane on the bone side: lift a corner with a blunt knife, grip with a paper towel and pull in one smooth motion. This membrane becomes tough and blocks smoke and rub — the most skipped step with the biggest effect.
Apply rub
Pat the ribs dry, rub with a thin layer of oil, and spread 65g Memphis BBQ rub per kg over both sides. Press, do not rub. Refrigerate for at least 4 to 8 hours — the brown sugar slowly dissolves into the meat.
Prepare BBQ
Heat the BBQ to 150°C with an indirect zone. Optionally add a few chunks of smoking wood (apple or cherry pairs well with the sweet Memphis profile). Take ribs out of the fridge 30 minutes before grilling.
Low & slow cooking
Place the ribs bone-side down over indirect heat, lid closed. Cook for 3 to 4 hours at 150°C. Open the lid as little as possible — every peek costs you time and temperature.
The bend test
Don't probe ribs for internal temperature (meat too thin, too much bone) — use the bend test: pick up the rack in the middle with tongs. If it bends considerably and the bark lightly cracks on the surface, it's done. If you want to glaze: baste during the last 20-30 minutes with the BBQ sauce and honey mixture.
Rest and serve
Rest for 10 minutes under loose foil. Slice between the bones and serve with coleslaw, cornbread, and baked beans.
True Memphis ribs have a slight bite: the meat comes clean off the bone when you bite, but doesn't fall off. Still want fall-off-the-bone? Wrap the ribs in foil with a splash of apple juice after 2.5 hours and cook for another 1 hour. Less bark, more tender — a matter of taste.
Recipe 2 · Pulled pork in two styles
The ultimate patience project of BBQ — and perhaps the easiest way to blow ten people away. Choose your style: Memphis BBQ for the classic sweet-smoky Tennessee version, or Carolina Gold with a mustard binder for authentic South Carolina pulled pork as it has been made there for generations.
Ingredients
- ✓ 2 to 2.5 kg pork butt (pork shoulder)
- ✓ 65g rub per kg: Memphis BBQ OR Carolina Gold
- ✓ Binder: 2 tbsp oil (Memphis) or 2 tbsp yellow mustard (Carolina)
- ✓ Splash of apple cider vinegar
- ✓ 1 tsp extra rub
- ✓ Soft buns (brioche)
- ✓ Coleslaw
- ✓ Pickles
Choose your style: Memphis BBQ → or Carolina Gold →
Preparation
Prepare meat
Pat the pork butt dry. Choose your binder: thin layer of oil for Memphis, or a thin layer of yellow mustard for Carolina Gold — the classic South Carolina technique that enhances the mustard powder in the rub (and no, you won't taste a mustard jar later, only depth).
Apply rub
Spread 65g rub per kg over all sides and press firmly. Cover and let rest overnight in the refrigerator. For this size of meat, the long resting time is not a luxury but a necessity.
Low & slow at 120°C
Heat the BBQ to 120°C indirect, add smoking wood, and place the meat on with the lid closed. Expect 8 to 12 hours total — so start early, or work with an overnight session. First hours: do nothing, let the smoke do its work.
Wrap during the stall
Around 68-70°C internal, the temperature stalls (the stall, see above). Then tightly wrap the meat in double butcher paper or foil and put it back. The bark will have already set; wrapping pushes you through the stall without drying out.
Continue cooking to 90-93°C
Continue cooking wrapped until an internal temperature of 90 to 93°C. Double-check with your thermometer: the probe should slide in without resistance, like soft butter. Resistance? Another half hour.
Rest, pull, serve
Let the meat rest wrapped for at least 1 hour in a cooler with towels — this is the difference between good and great. Pull the meat with two forks, mix in a splash of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of fresh rub, and serve on soft buns with coleslaw and pickles.
Memphis gives the sweet-smoky pulled pork everyone knows from food trucks. Carolina Gold provides a tangier, mustardy profile with an apple cider vinegar tang that cuts through the fatty meat surprisingly fresh — the connoisseur's choice. Undecided? Make one pork butt and divide the rub: half Memphis, half Carolina. One session, two worlds.
Serving
Pulled pork sandwich
Brioche, pulled pork, coleslaw on top (not next to it) and pickles. The classic.
Coleslaw
With apple cider vinegar dressing: the fresh acidity cuts through the rich pork.
Cornbread
Sweet and airy alongside the ribs. Typical Tennessee.
Baked beans
With bacon and brown sugar — place them under the meat on the BBQ for the last few hours and catch the drippings.
Variations
In the oven
No BBQ or bad weather? Same temperatures and times in the oven (convection). You miss the smoke, but the smoked paprika in both rubs makes up for a lot.
Carolina Gold ribs
Ribs can also go the mustard route: same method as recipe 1, but note — Carolina Gold caramelizes early, stay at 150°C and do not glaze extra.
Pulled chicken
All the pull, none of the time: chicken thighs 2 hours at 150°C with Memphis rub and pull apart. See also our Tex-Mex recipe for the Mexican variant.
About the rubs
Memphis BBQ is double paprika-dominant with 18% brown sugar — built for the long cooking times of ribs and pulled pork, where the sugar slowly caramelizes into a glossy bark. Carolina Gold is mustard-dominant (37%) in the South Carolina tradition, where pulled pork with mustard and apple cider vinegar is the regional religion. Both are freshly mixed, without fillers and without E-numbers.
Ready for the long session?
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