Camp Rib Chunks in Jelly BBQ
Venison ribs cooked at home, sauced with grape jelly and barbecue sauce, then reheated in foil at camp.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 10 oz
- cal / oz
- 52
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Venison ribs | 3 lb | trimmed hard of every scrap of fat |
|---|---|---|
| Barbecue sauce | 1 cup | |
| Grape jelly | 1/2 cup | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Heavy-duty foil | 4 large sheets |
Method
- At home: trim all fat off the ribs, cover them with water in a pot, and simmer 45 minutes until the meat pulls back from the bone. Skim what rises and pour off the liquid.
- Stir the barbecue sauce, jelly, and salt together. Toss the boiled ribs in it while they are still warm.
- Cut the rack into two-bone sections, seal them into foil packets in single layers, and chill. They ride in the cooler.
- At camp: set the packets on a grill grate over settled coals, or bury them in a dutch oven with a few coals on the lid. Fifteen minutes.
- Open one packet, fold the foil back, and give the ribs five more minutes over direct heat so the sauce tightens. Watch them; jelly burns fast.
Venison ribs have almost no intramuscular fat, and what fat is there tastes like tallow gone wrong. That is why people grill them once and give up. The boil is not optional: it renders out the last of the fat and breaks down connective tissue that dry heat would only tighten. Do that step at home, where you have a big pot and a drain.
Grape jelly is doing two things. It gives the sauce enough sugar to glaze a lean meat that would otherwise stay dull, and pectin thickens it so it clings instead of running off into the fire. The foil packet replaces the slow cooker — the meat is already cooked, so camp is just reheating and setting the glaze.
Packing
Packets stack flat in the cooler and travel as their own cookware. Bring one spare sheet of foil in case a seam splits.
Variations
- Swap the grape jelly for apple jelly or orange marmalade. Any sweet jelly does the same job.
- No cooler on the trip: shred the boiled meat, dehydrate it, and carry the sauce as a jelly-and-sauce packet to rehydrate in a pot.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/venison-ribs-recipe-wanted.4094