Baking – Can multiple slabs of ribs be baked at once

Dark chocolate is actually more heat resistant than other kinds. Milk chocolate can scorch at 115° F / 46° C or higher; semi-sweet can have problems at 125° F / 52° C or so. It's mainly the dark chocolate that can withstand temperatures as high as 140° F / 60° C.

I think there are two misconceptions to clear up here, those being:

• Baking at 350° F does not mean you are raising the internal temperature to anywhere even close to 350° F. Even yeast breads are not baked to an internal temperature higher than around 200° F, and it's much lower for soft breads and especially cookies. It's hard to find much data on the recommended internal temperature for cookies, but I'd estimate it to be around 160° F simply for food safety reasons.

• Just because a food can burn above a certain temperature, does not mean that it will happen immediately. Just as heating oil slightly above its smoke point does not immediately result in flames and rancid taste, heating chocolate above the aforementioned temperatures will not immediately cause it to scorch. What it means is that chocolate can be sustained in a melted state indefinitely at lower temperatures, but raising the temperature further will cause it to eventually scorch. The higher the temperature, the less time it will take.

These "scorching" temperatures are mainly cautions against direct stovetop or microwave heating; with these methods it is easy to get the temperature very high, very fast. When you bake cookies, you are applying very slow, gradual heat; if the temperature of the chips even gets as high as 140° F, it won't stay that high for very long. It's not enough to burn, and that is why even milk chocolate or white chocolate chips tend to do fine in cookies.

So just bake them, and don't worry. The cookies themselves will probably scorch before the chocolate does.

P.S. As SAJ14SAJ writes in the comments, this assumes that you bake the cookies on some kind of insulating material like parchment or a baking mat. There is a risk of burning if you bake them directly on a metal tray and the chocolate comes into direct contact with it, as it will then heat up very quickly to approximately the same temperature as the tray. So don't do that - if you use a metal tray or cookie sheet, make sure there's something between that and your cookies. They bake from the ambient heat in the oven, and don't really need direct heat from the tray.

The goal with ribs is "low and slow" cooking to break down connective tissue. But a quick sear will help to lock in juices and provide a good smoky flavor. I find it's preferable to do this first so that the smokiness can work its way into the meat over the slow cook to come.

After seasoning, I would start with a sear on your grill over direct heat (8-10 minutes per side). Then, either move to a very low indirect heat on the grill and cover, which will provide a more smoky flavor, or transfer to your oven at a very low temperature (most home ovens go down to about 250F which is what I'd use). Baste both sides every half hour or so if you're using sauce. It should take about 2-3 hours at this low temperature to get good results, although you can let it go a lot longer if you want. I would have no problem at all cooking ribs for 6, 8, or 10 hours assuming you've got the time.

If you're cooking on the grill the whole time, the smoke will help create a delicious glaze. If in the oven and the glaze isn't as thick as you'd like by the time you're ready to serve, you can crank on the broiler and place the ribs underneath for just a couple minutes to dry out the glaze a bit.

You do not need to wrap them in foil during cooking if you have quality ribs and cook them slow. The only time I'd wrap them in foil would be at the very end once you have finished cooking, in order to keep them warm until you're ready to serve.