The smell of meat on the barbecue is synonymous with summer. And while steaks and burgers are delicious grilled, there’s just something special about ribs in the heat of summertime. And while visiting your local Ribfest or sliding into the booth of your favourite restaurant is always an option, you can easily create finger-licking good ribs right in your own backyard.

The best way to start is with a quality product. Purchase fresh, not frozen, meat if possible, as it has the best flavour and most moisture. You want a rack of ribs with a square shape and even thickness for the best cooking.

Make friends with your butcher or meat department manager. When you find someone you can trust, they’ll steer you in the right direction for selecting the best rack and can remove the membrane and trim some fat off for you too.

Someone else you can trust is Food Network Canada chef and barbecue king Rob Rainford.

“I love everything about ribs,” says Rainford. “But what fascinates me the most is how they go from a tough cut to something so tender. All it takes is patience and time.”

Rainford subscribes to Mae West’s theory that, “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”

“Ribs take between three to five hours,” he says.

A lot of people think that boiling their ribs before grilling them is the way to get fall-off-the-bone ribs. However, water is a solvent. If you boil your ribs, you’ll only draw out the flavour from the meat and make it mushy. Rainford prefers to cook his ribs over indirect heat.

“My No. 1 piece of advice is to establish what flavour profile you desire,” he says. “Next marinate or dry rub and then cook on indirect heat. For extra flavor, add some wood chips. Then do what we all must do when cooking ribs — give it time.”

Stick with a cooking temperature around 220°F or 110°C. This is easily done when relying on a digital oven thermometer. Don’t trust the ones included on barbecues, they’re often highly undependable.

“I really enjoy adding a light smoke flavour, which requires adding wood chips to the fire,” he says. But nothing will ruin your ribs more than over-smoking. Just like perfume or cologne, you can always add more, but it is much more difficult to take it away.

The result of using wood chips to smoke your meat is a thin pink layer beneath the surface. This smoke ring signifies a job well done, not undercooked ribs.

In Born to Grill, Rainford’s new cookbook, he says he uses a combination of wet (soaked) and dry wood chips because an entire package of wet chips would burn too slowly, while the dry chips would flame too fast. He says to, “Lay the packet on the hot side of the grill. Wait until you see smoke enveloping the cabin. When you’re ready to barbecue, be prepared to work quickly. You don’t want the lid off the barbecue for too long.”

In terms of what type of chips to use, he recommends auditioning different flavours, such as elder, pear, maple, mesquite and hickory.

For service, Rainford loves to serve his ribs with grilled potatoes and a simple, but easy slaw, like the Savoy Cabbage Slaw from his new cookbook. And to drink? For him, there’s nothing better than beer. “Because a frosty one on a hot day is the only thing that works for me.”

Try the following recipes for mouthwatering ribs:

Slow Smoked Beef Ribs

Asian Flavoured Baby Back Ribs

Barbecued Beef Ribs with Molasses Bourbon Sauce

Kansas City Style Pork Ribs

Southern Style Dry Rub Pork Ribs