Brad Makes Campfire Ribs

Hey guys, today we're gonna be cooking

some St. Louis cut pork ribs.

I got 'em marinating in my little spice creation

and we're gonna throw 'em on the campfire here

and I'll show you a cool little takeaway

for using your empty cooler.

(upbeat music)

So yeah, I got myself set up

on a nice little three part fire here.

So we got our little fire in the back.

That's producing charcoal for us

to feed into these two chambers.

I got these grates about anywhere

from like 10 to 12 inches off the coal.

We just wanna gradually pick up some nice color,

start to cook these through a little bit,

and then I'm gonna make this little sauce

that we're gonna baste on and keep turning

and build like a nice shellac.

From there, wrap 'em in foil,

and then in the cooler they go.

We also got some corn on the cob

that we're gonna char up with the husks on.

See, what's great about a good cooler,

it's just an insulated box designed

to retain that cold temperature.

It works the same way where if you put hot things in there,

it's gonna keep it hot, the same way like a thermos

works for cerfee, for coffee.

'Cause my favorite way to cook ribs,

one of my favorite ways, is you grill 'em real nice

and then wrap 'em in foil and put 'em in the oven

for a couple hours and they come out perfect,

and so we're kind of gonna turn it

into like a low temp oven.

I'm gonna miss this little setup when we leave, Vinny.

Kind of a cool little kitchen, bud.

Hot, hot, hot, hoo, hoo.

Wear your gloves.

All right, we can get that cern,

we'll get that corn on the cob going.

I love cooking corn on the cob like this, you know.

I don't peel it, you know, or whatever you call that.

What do you call that?

Husking corn.

Corn huskers from Nebraska.

Keep 'em right in here and just put this

right over the cooking surface.

Now, if you're tight for space, sometimes I trim that off.

And then just keep turnin' em,

let 'em get all charred up on the outside.

The inside, when you're done, it comes out perfect,

nice and sweet, tender, kind of steams within the husks.

So when you're working on a system like this over coals,

you'll start to notice little patterns.

I mean you can adjust it by dragging coals to certain areas.

You find your hot spots.

You know, if I see this one's picking up a lot of color

and this one's not, you know, switch 'em in and out.

You just gotta keep an eye on it

and just kind of work the grill.

So now there's a little bit of that dry rub on it.

The next part we're gonna build the little sauce

that we're gonna brush on the ole ribs there.

Just whatever you're into, some kind of, just, Stubb's.

Appropriate.

Stubb's Legendary Barbecue Sauce.

And then I'll put a pinch of this stuff in.

This was our, the dry rub that we rubbed the ribs down with.

A lot, a healthy amount of that.

Olive oil, only the good stuff.

Good old-fashioned Budweiser.

Ugh.

You're gonna pour some of that right in there,

and save a little swig for yourself,

and we'll just mix that up.

You want it kind of loose,

but you also kind of want it a little thick, you know.

You don't want it to just run right off.

And that's it.

That's all mixed up, ready to go.

Oh yeah.

All right, let's go get a-bastin'.

We'll get that going and we'll just start moppin' it on.

You just wanna brush it on nice.

You don't wanna go crazy heavy

so it all drips into the fire.

I mean, some's gonna, but you just, you really,

we're gonna do this, like 15 times on each side,

so it's, you brush 'em on and then you flip

and let it kind of bake on.

Now, this part you really don't wanna walk away from

too much because the barbecue sauce will start

to burn a little bit if you just let it go.

As soon as I flip it, I start to apply the next batch.

The sauce is starting to just like bake on it

and become like its own little, you know,

it's crusted up, it's baking on.

I like the word shellac.

It just starts to build layers of caramelized basting sauce.

Meanwhile we're turning our corn every so.

We want it to get all charred up like that.

Don't worry about the husk.

The kernels are, they're not gonna have really any color

on them, they're just gonna be perfect.

All right.

This is how, this is how it comes together.

I ain't wearin', one of them stupid-lookin' winter hats.

Not your big puffy pom ball on top.

No, no, no.

We don't roll that way, right, Vinny?

Right, Brad.

♫ Oh, let me be your salty dog

Whoa, Brad can't say that.

All right, I reckon we're almost ready to get 'em in foil.

Oh, you didn't bring an industrial roll of tin foil?

You know, with campin', I think one of the best tools

you can bring, I don't know if it's a tool,

but yeah, sure, it's a tool, is tin foil.

You can make a lid, you can make whatever.

We're gonna use it to wrap up these ribs, lock in the heat,

lock in the moisture and let 'em steam in here.

Hold on.

Hello, what's up, Pat?

I knew it, I knew it.

So yeah, I like to do a nice little double wrap

'cause you really wanna make sure all the heat

and the moisture gets locked in there.

You know, it might seem like overkill,

but trust me, it's not.

So we're gonna take those and throw 'em right back on there

and just let 'em get nice and hot inside the foil.

We cooked 'em.

I mean, technically you could eat these ribs right now.

You know, you would just be chewin' em off the bone

like a dog, but now what we're trying to achieve

is connective tissue and some of the tougher,

you know, fibers start to break down,

and I think that happens in most meats

around 165, 160, something like that.

160, something like that. I like that.

So by wrappin' 'em in the foil, gettin' 'em hot in here,

throwin' 'em in the cooler, they carry over their heat

and they actually continue to cook

as if this were acting kind of like an oven.

That color on the corn, that's what you're looking for.

I mean, you can even go harder.

I think it can really take a hammering.

You wanna do a good 10 minutes like this.

So, crucial.

Don't just wrap 'em and put 'em in there.

It'll be a better product when you're done

if you let 'em spend a little bit of time

on the fire in the foil.

All right, I'm gonna go ahead and throw the corn

right in the cooler, and then real quick

we're gonna just stack the ribs right on top,

and again, the more things you add here,

the more heat to trap, the better the oven.

Close that baby immediately.

Do a little latcho on there.

All right, there's our little campfire oven.

All right, if you wanted to,

you could throw little locks on here.

Boom, no one's gettin' in.

Not Vinny, not Smokey the Bear, nobody.

So we'll go ahead and put that right over here.

We're gonna go take a little walk,

come back in say, two hours.

All right, let me get my (bleep) spirit

back in this here, huh?

It's been a day.

Get in here, Vinny.

Look at that, steamin' baby.

Oh yeah, oh they're rippin' hot.

Grab one of them there ears of corn,

close the door to the oven.

All right, let's open this, peel this baby up.

Mind the finger, the old glove here, you know.

You distracted me.

I'm cutting up potatoes at the Mandolin.

Vinny starts talking about freakin' bow hunting

and I go, Oh, I can shoot a bow.

I can also cut my finger off.

Thanks, Vin.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, rippin' hot.

Ooh, it's hot, hot to touch.

Oh yeah.

Look at that, the meat is kind of coming.

It's right there, man, it's perfect.

Well-seasoned all the way through.

That dry rub really penetrates it.

The meat's tender as can be.

I don't need 'em to be pullin' the bone out

because then you're just eating like this, it's delicious.

I mean, I'm not complaining.

I like eating it off the bone, you know.

That's part of like, the rib, the rib thing.

Let's see what the corn looks like.

Oh yeah, it's still hot, man.

You can't beat that.

Oh yeah.

Sweet, not mushy.

What I like about cookin' corn in the husk,

it just gets nice and crisp and poppy,

but cooked all the way through, super sweet.

Super sweet, bon appetit.

I don't know what to say, Vinny.

You know, when you're at party, right, you're at dinner

and no one's talking, what does that mean?

The food's really good, right?

Corn on the cob, frickin' ribs.

You might as well be sittin' in some barbecue joint.

Oh no no no, we're in the woods, Vinny.

There you go, man.

Push yourself, get out there in the woods,

and cook some different foods,

and hopefully you can try this technique.

Let us know how it goes and yeah, get in the woods.

Enjoy it, cook.

That's really good, man.

I feel like a bird of paradise.

You know, they do that nutty (bleep).

They're goin' around, they like,

(bleep) throw rocks in the air, build like little,

weird little structures to like, woo a female.

Vinny, I'm just, look, I built, I built this, Vinny.

Are you impressed?

You wanna mate for life, Vinny?

I got these new glasses over at Rite Aid.

You know, 20 bucks man, I got ripped off.

But they made me sign up for, you know,

you gotta become a member and then you can

buy one, get one free, but only if you give me

your phone number and you know, date of birth,

and the birth certificate of your first frickin' child.

Then you can get in the Rite Aid club,

so I gave 'em a bunch of false information.

And I got the glasses for free.

Suckers.

How do I feel about Subaru?

Stop the car real quick.

Yeah, I love Subaru, man.

You know, all wheel drive, reliable.

Hey, I'm Brad Leone.

I don't always drive, but when I do, I trust Subaru.

Subaru, get out there, enjoy the wilderness.

No, but really, give me a car.

Do I have to do the tent?

Nowadays these things are pretty straightforward.

It's usually just a couple--

Oh, Jesus.

Vinny.

I mean, come on, bud.

What the hell is this?

This ain't funny, bud.