Smoking Ribs

The other day, I was told that the Commissary on one of the local bases was having a case sale and that pork spare ribs were $.70 below the usual price per pound.  Needless to say, we went over there after I got home from work and got some.  It seemed appropriate to thaw one out and have it for supper Saturday night.  The only thing different with this one from my usual routine was I tested a Rib Rub I'm developing.

On to how Uncle T preps and smokes his ribs.  There is nothing secret and I'm sure you can find a few dozen videos on YouTube detailing this but it needs to be included.  About all I usually do is cut off the remaining bit of the diaphragm and remove the membrane from the back of the ribs.

With this one, I cut off the sternum and squared up the end converting the spare ribs into St Louis style ribs.  Not to worry, the parts that got trimmed off got cut up into bite size pieces, seasoned with Uncle T's pork and poultry rub, and pan fried and eaten as a snack Saturday afternoon.

Apply the rub and let it set for an hour.  This does a couple of things, it gets the ribs to close to room temperature and lets the rub get into the meat.

While the meat is resting, prep the smoker and get your coals started.  I use a chimney to start my coals.  The hot coals get dumped at the right side of the gap in the charcoal ring and a piece of apple wood gets put on the hot coals to start the smoke.

Once the smoker is going put the ribs in and shut the lid.  As you can see, I have two thermometer probes in the smoker, one for the smoker and one for the meat.  I use a Maverick ET-732.  It has the unit that the probes plug into and a receiver that I can take with me to keep track of the temps where ever I happen to be.  It has a range of 300 feet.  You can see the transmitter hanging from the smoker and that nice bit of apple wood smoke.

The ribs have reached 155 degrees.  They are cooked at this point but still have a ways to go to be tender.  At this point, they'd been in the smoker for 3.5 hours at an average temperature of 195 degrees.

To get them tender, you either need to get them to a higher temperature, similar to a beef brisket, via more time in the smoker or you can cheat.  I used what is called a Texas Cheat.  That is wrapping the ribs in aluminum foil and putting them back in the smoker to steam.  This gets the temperature up quicker than just being in the smoker.  For these ribs, I put about a 1/4 cup of whiskey in the foil with the ribs to add a bit extra flavor and give some more steam.  They stayed in the foil for 1.5 hours.  Some folks online say to take the ribs out of the foil and put them back in the smoker to put a crust on the ribs.  I've never understood the appeal of crusty meat.

After letting the meat rest for a bit it is time to cut them apart and dig in.  They have a nice smoke ring, they are juicy and tender, and they taste pretty good.

 

 I figured out a couple of tweaks to make to my rib rub before I start letting others test it.  The ribs were accompanied by home made waffle fries.  You can't beat smoked pork and fried potatoes on a Saturday night.

I know, nothing earth shaking in this post.  However, many folks seem to think that good ribs can't be done at home so if this helps demystify the process then I'll call it good.  The technique does not require a smoker.  If you have a grill, charcoal or gas, you can set it up for indirect heat add some wood to make smoke and get the same results.  So, put some meat in the smoke and enjoy.

Uncle T