SMOKIN!: Slow Smoked Baby Back Ribs

Smoked Baby Back Pork Ribs

I am crazy about BBQ. Crazy.  A couple of years ago, I got all worked up over smoked foods and it has become a hobby.  

Yesterday I was at Sprouts Market and they had some beautiful baby back ribs on sale - minimally processed - no additives - no hormones.  Naked pork.  I got 4, count em, 4 slabs.  They are great to smoke and freeze in individual freezer bags for a quick meal later on. Check this out - rub recipe after the jump too!

Holiday Food: Applewood Smoked Ribs

Smoking ribs and corn on Labor Day 2012

It's becoming a tradition for me to cook something special on the holidays:  New Year's is always a standing rib roast.  Christmas is a turkey... you know. The usual.  Warm weather holidays have increasingly found me smoking ribs, or brisket. today no exception.  RIBS.

Perfect.  Smoke ring, tender, delicious without a sauce.

I started with St. Louis style pork ribs.  I use a simple rub and smoke for 5-6 hours.  Recipe below!

Standing at attention: two racks, split and smoked upright.

APPLEWOOD SMOKED PORK RIBS

2 racks St. Louis style pork ribs split in half

RUB:

3 TBS  each: garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, ground cumin, paprika (I use Hot Hungarian smoked paprika), black pepper and sea salt. 
2 TSP ground chipotle pepper (watch this:  smoky and delicious but too much just over whelms the palate)

PROCESS:

Split the racks in half.  Pat dry and rub all over with the rub.  I like to let them rest a while (an hour or so is fine) at room temperature.  I use an upright rib rack placed mid-way up in the smoker.  Fire up the smoker - mine is a propane based upright smoker. I use plain water in the water pan, but beer is good too.  I use applewood chips and keep the temp down to no more than 225 degrees.  These ribs went for 5 hours today while I finished the trim in my powder room and did a fwe other chores.  Open only the bottom to replenish the chips in the first two hours.  Over smoking makes a bitter taste. Likewise if you make the chips burn you get a sooty, burned, acrid flavor. Not nice.

These are by no means strict rules.  I just wing it as much as anyone else does and these came our great.  They are going to be paired with some smoked corn on the cob and a sourcream-dill potato salad.  Yep. Not for the faint of heart, but delicious once in awhile.  Enjoy!

Smokin!: Ribs For The 4th of July

When I moved to Texas, I bought a smoker. I believe it was part of the ritual.  For a year, it sat there, staring at me when I went in the backyard.  So last season I tried a few times. Good results, but not spectacular.  Until today.  I dialed it in.  I smoked some St. Louis style ribs and they were the best thing I've ever done in that smoker!

I started with two slabs of St. Louis style ribs, seasoned only with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

I seasoned them and slipped them into a vertical rib rack.  Holds 5 half slabs.  You have to have one of these bad boys.

The ribs went on the bottom rack (I also smoked a brisket on the upper rack, but that's a totally different story).  The water pan was filled with Budweiser Platinum Light beer.  I know. I know. But it was. As it evaporated it was replaced by water.  About once an hour as needed.

The smoking pellets I used were made from Jack Daniels barrels.  I also added some, but not a lot, of well soaked Mesquite chips.  Mesquite is better used in grilling I  think.  It has a very strong flavor and if you aren't careful, it can be overpowering.  I like applewood and cherry. Light woods. Light flavors.  You have to really be careful that the chips do not actually burn.  It can make the food taste like it was in a fire and not "smoked".

After 5 1/2 hours at 225 degrees, I removed them from the rack, brushed them with a vinegar and water based sauce we get from a tiny place called "The Pig" in Jacksonville, Florida.  I let them go another 45 minutes and then removed them to rest before I was overcome and had to attack them.

These ribs have that beautiful pink smoke ring about 1/8" deep.  They have a nice "bark" on the outside and when you twist the bone, they give it up and let go.  Delicious.