By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Tasters Jennifer Henson and Michael Faulkiner rank ribs. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

Memorial Day weekend is ripe for eating ribs.

The catch: Grilling ribs is work. Depending on the temperature outside, it can be a long, hot, messy chore.

And even though barbecuing ribs isn't rocket science, it can be tricky. Throw a slab of pork on a too-hot fire, and you'll have charred but rare ribs. Put them on a low fire too late, and they may not be ready to eat until midnight.

Of course, American ingenuity has taken the guessing and the work out of barbecuing ribs. We have a selection of precooked and presauced ribs, refrigerated and frozen, at the grocery. Slide them into the oven, and you'll have a lip-smackin' meal in minutes.

No smoke, no sweating. Easy ribs.

To find out which precooked ribs are best, we asked the Taste Team to don plastic bibs and pack towelettes. The team gnawed and nibbled six brands of precooked ribs - three refrigerated and three frozen.

THE RATINGS

The Taste Team ranked these ribs on a 100-point scale, judging them on appearance, texture, flavor and "overall rib experience." 1. "Easy Oven-Baked" Ribs (cooked from scratch) Average score: 88.3 Cost per ounce: 31 cents (does not include cost of brine, rub and sauce ingredients) Comments: Very tender. Subtle, but packs a punch. Not too greasy. 2. Montgomery Inn (frozen) Average score: 88.1 Cost per ounce: 87 cents Comments: Sauce stays put. Meat falls off bone. Excellent peppery flavor. 3. Lloyd's Barbecue (refrigerated) Average score: 79 Cost per ounce: 34 cents Comments: Lots of sauce. Excellent flavor but a little fatty. A little tough. 4. Zoll Smokehouse (refrigerated) Average score: 77 Cost per ounce: 33 cents Comments: Sweet. A little bland. Meat falls off the bone. 5. KC Masterpiece (refrigerated) Average score: 73 Cost per ounce: 33 cents Comments: Too fatty. Sauce doesn't stick. Sauce overpowers meat flavor. 6. Kroger Private Selection (frozen) Average score: 44 Cost per ounce: 33 cents Comments: Chewy. Meat has little flavor. Very sweet sauce. 7. JTM Boneless Pork "Grillin' Ribs" (frozen) Average score: 38 Cost per ounce: 16 cents Comments: Very salty. Tastes processed. Weird aftertaste. The Taste Team also sampled 10 bottled barbecue sauces from the supermarket. The team's top three, in order of preference: 1. Meijer Blazin' BBQ "Traditional" 2. KC Masterpiece "Original" 3. Bull's Eye "Original"

RIB BOOKS

• Steaks, Ribs, Chops: And All the Fixin's That Make 'Em Great, Better Homes and Gardens (Meredith; $19.95) • Ribs: A Connoisseur's Guide to Barbecuing and Grilling, Christopher B. O'Hara (Lyons; $18.95) • Barbecued Ribs, Smoked Butts and Other Great Feeds, Jeanne Voltz (out-of-print)

WHERE TO BUY RIBS

(Some brands are available at multiple locations.) • JTM Grillers: Bigg's. • KC Masterpiece: Bigg's. • Kroger Private Selection: Kroger. • Lloyd's Barbecue: Sam's Club. • Montgomery Inn: Kroger. • Zoll Smokehouse: Kroger. These restaurants ship cooked and ready-to-eat barbecued ribs overnight. But be prepared to pay $20 to $40 per slab. • Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue (Kansas City). • Montgomery Inn (Cincinnati). • Charlie Vergos Rendezvous (Memphis).

WHERE TO EAT RIBS

• BBQ Revue, 4725 Madison Road, Madisonville; 871-3500. • Beaugard's Southern Bar "B" Q, Wilmington; (937) 655-8100. • Crooked Nail Pub, 9303 Cincinnati-Columbus Road, West Chester Township; 755-7800. • Montgomery Inn, 9440 Montgomery Road, Montgomery, 791-3482; 400 Buttermilk Pike, Fort Mitchell, (859) 344-5333; and 925 Eastern Ave., East End, 721-7427. • Pit to Plate BBQ, 1527 Compton Road, Mount Healthy; 931-9100.

For added intrigue, we cooked a batch of ribs at home for the blind test. Our home-cooked ribs cost less ($4.99 per pound) than all but one precooked brand, and they still were easy to make.

They required a short brining, a long, slow cook in the oven, a brush of bottled sauce and a quick finishing turn on the grill.

To Cincinnati loyalists, at least, the results of our taste test should be as satisfying as devouring a full rib rack.

Our home oven-baked ribs won the taste test, but only by two-tenths of a point over hometown favorite, the precooked frozen grocery version of Montgomery Inn ribs.

The Taste Team loved the "fall-off-the-bone" texture and the "packs-a-punch" flavor of the oven-baked ribs.

But the panel of eight tasters thought the Montgomery Inn ribs were equally tender, and they adored the famous red sauce.

The refrigerated precooked ribs finished fairly close behind Montgomery Inn. The two other frozen barbecued rib brands - Kroger Private Selection Baby Back Pork Ribs and JTM Boneless Pork Grillin' Ribs - landed at the bottom of the heap.

Perhaps there are two lessons to be learned from our "easy rib" tasting:

• If you want the best precooked ribs, buy Montgomery Inn.

• If you want to spend less but work a little more, make our easy oven-baked ribs.

It's your holiday. Your choice.

'Easy Ribs' Recipe

We adapted this recipe from Here in America's Test Kitchen (Boston Common; $29.95) by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. The final step of cooking the ribs over a grill will add a hint of smokiness to the pork but is optional. If you don't have the time or will to grill, brush on the sauce and broil the ribs for a few minutes under an oven broiler.

Easy Oven-Baked Ribs

BRINE

1 cup kosher salt or 1/2 cup table salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 racks (about 2 pounds each) baby back or loin back ribs

SPICE RUB

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1 3/4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon table salt

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

To brine ribs, dissolve salt and sugar in 4 quarts cold water in stock pot or large plastic container. Submerge ribs in brine solution and refrigerate 1 to 4 hours. Remove ribs from brine and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

Make spice rub by combining spices, sugar and salt. Sprinkle each side of rib racks with about 1 tablespoon of rub mixture. Press rub into meat. (Optional: Cover ribs tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight for better flavor.) Place ribs on rack in large pan or oven-proof casserole. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake in 325-degree oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until desired tenderness.

Remove ribs from oven and brush with favorite barbecue sauce. (For our taste test, we used Bull's Eye.) Cook ribs over medium-heat charcoal or gas grill about 5 minutes per side. (Or, after saucing ribs, cook under oven-broiler about 5 minutes per side.) Makes 4 servings.