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PSA #2

Smoking Ribs for Dummies

I’m a dummy and I can do this well (at least according to the people who hit our July 4th party), so thought I’d share. Some of the details are kinda "duh", but whatever bitches.

Smoker

Back in the day, I started with a "refrigerator smoker" where you set the temperature electronically and occasionally dumped wet wood chips onto essentially on hot electric plate on the bottom. Worked great, electronics went bad and a bitch to clean. Plus, you really don’t need to drink beer and watch the temp during the process. (This is x10 with those green egg things that you can basically walk away from). I decided that to prove to my wife that I was a professional and needed to be ever present during the smoke, with beer in hand, a "real" backyard smoker was a necessity. Get yourself a charcoal "barrel" grill with a stack and a firebox adder. One bonus with this set-up is you can cook all meat with charcoal using the main cabin in the future. I don’t remember what I spent, but the basic barrel with a firebox is cheaper than most options, even propane grills. No moving parts – I just replaced the grates in the main cooking chamber this year (9 years old).

Get you a charcoal starter chimney and pour a good pile of hot coals in the firebox and add a couple handfuls of soaked wood chips. Goal is to get the main cabin to 225-250 degrees. Add the ribs, meat side down, on the far side of the barrel, away from the firebox, and smoke for 3 hours. Keeping meat side down, feel free to rotate a bit if you have several racks – but keep her closed as much as possible. (SEE FINISHING THE COOK BELOW.) Add wood and renew charcoal as need to maintain temp and smoke. Use the stack and the air intake on the firebox to control temps also.

Note for fun – populate unused areas of the grill with chicken wings. Salt and pepper or rubbed or necked. Closer to the firebox the more charred they’ll get, but a solid treat for the hard work of standing around with a beer(s).

Wood

I’m partial to hickory. Mesquite was a bit bitter for me. Apple and cherry are solid options now that the cost is the same as pretty much across the board. Dump the bag in a bucket of water for at least 3-4 hours before the smoke effort begins.

Rib Selection

St Louis style is the way to go. Baby backs have less fat (flavor) but are worth experimenting with if you do this several times. Trim some of the worst fat, but please, for the love of the almighty, leave a decent portion – its healthy according to the internet. I believe it is a must to take the membrane off the bone side. If you get them from a butcher, ask and they’ll do it. Do it yourself by grabbing a sharp knife and paper towel. Get a corner of the membrane started and use the paper towel to grab the membrane and pull. Sometimes you get it all with one pull, sometimes it’s a bit frustrating but get most of it if you can. Some opine that this is unnecessary, I think it’s a good thing for taste and consistency.

Rub

I used to make my own rubs and did all sorts of combos. End of day, the spice rack upkeep got a bit pricey and I found a solid on the shelf option at Costco (that place rocks). I generally believe the rub is overrated from the flavor perspective unless you are going to hit them with heat or pepper or something else that will poke through the smoke flavor. Most recipes will include some paprika, which gives them a good color as much as anything else. Rub the ribs down the night prior to the cook and wrap in cellophane overnight.

Finishing the Cook

After smoking the ribs for three hours at 225-250, maybe one rotation but no unneeded peeking, pull each rack and wrap tightly in quality aluminum foil. They then need 2 hours back on the 225-250 heat. As they will get no more smoke, if you need to smoke more ribs (I do 12 racks for the 4th) or use the grill for other meat, this can be done in your kitchen oven or anywhere you can maintain 225.

After two hours, your ribs will be falling off the bone when unwrapped, but this is not good. We need to bite the ribs, not have them disintegrate. Here is the best news for tailgaters – put the wrapped rib racks on ice or in the fridge. If time allows and you can cool the ribs, the fat congeals back into the meat structure a bit, giving them a sturdier but tender as hell bite when reheated. There is nothing wrong with unwrapping the ribs, painting them with some sauce (or not) and doing a quick finish on the grill – they will be dam good.

To eat/serve the cool ribs (think next day at your tailgate) they should be cut into one bone or two bone pieces (they cut much cleaner cool also). One/two bone pieces make for much easier eating at a party/tailgate. It is your option to use sauce, but if you have a favorite, dip or paint the rib pieces and grill a couple minutes per side to put heat into them and caramelize the sauce and you will have some very delicious pig.

This PSA is funded by the Pig Farmers of America. My favorite group of people unless you live near a farm and the fine smelling pig poo sludge ponds that can overflow with heavy rains. Enjoy the waft and polluted rivers North Carolina - your collegiate basketball teams can collectively can go swim in those poo ponds. Take the teams from Virginia with you.