Tag: ribs

By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Smoked Goodness 2 Comments

Wow, its been that long since my last post?!  I have been sorely neglecting my poor blog and almost as much my taste for food!  Well alot has happened since September, for one, last December we packed up all of our stuff and put it in a storage unit (or three) and that includes my beloved smokers – so I have been without my arsenal for nearly 7 full months now and it has been difficult.  We find ourselves living with my in-laws while we are in limbo between our condo and our future home (which we are still looking for) and our stuff is far away.  But, lucky for me my father in law has a nice gas smoker, unlucky for me today’s weather calls for severe storms and strong winds all day.

But let me back up, what in the world do I even need a smoker for today?  Well as it turns out my brother is getting married next weekend (congratulations Dan) and I being ever so thoughtful forgot he may need a stag party before he enters into wedlock and so we find ourselves in need of some grub.  So I find myself up against the wall we are out with friends tonight and then tomorrow its stag party time.  Dan is pretty simple in his tastes but ribs are one thing he likes and one thing I like to make.  So ribs it is, nothing special, usual rub and smoked using the 2-2-1 method (they are baby backs, for regular ribs the 3-2-1 method) but with the stinking gale happening outside my window using the gasser was out of the question, I would spend more time relighting the burner than actually cooking.  So that left me with the charcoal, which would take more care than I could give it today or the gas grill…winner winner chicken pork dinner.

Now I have heard that some of you (you know who you are) will take a rack of ribs and put it into a crock pot and turn it into gray mush and then top with some sauce, the words I have are not kind.  Well no more!  There are no longer excuses, today we will learn how to make ribs on the grill that are just a fuzz less awesome than those off a smoker, after all the one on the smoker get cool points.

Before we can figure out how to cook them on a grill we need to know what makes ribs so special in a smoker, there are a couple of things they are low heat for a long period of time, moisture from the water pan (personal opinion here) and smoke – after all it is a smoker.  These are the things we will need to replicate in the grill.

Ribs on a gas grill, smoked

The first and arguably the most important, or at least a close second piece of the equation to replicate is the low heat for long periods of time – I can hear you now, “…in a crockpot…” Gross!  Anyways so to do that we will only be using one burner (your grill may be different), you will notice in the picture above that the two burners closest to the camera are turned off and just the one is on.  Doing this I am able to maintain a nice 225-250°F cooking temperature (stinking wind, it would be easier without the gales) without much effort.  So that was easy figure out where the grill can happily hold our temperature and leave it there, or at least until you are positive you need to adjust and KEEP THE LID CLOSED!

Grill smoked ribs, water pan and chips

Next there is the smoke and well the water, they are pretty similar so I will cover them together.  The first thing you will need are a couple of foil pans that will fit in your grill, unless you want use your good pans then by all means cast iron would be better.  Take the grate out of your grill if it has the little under grate, sometimes called flavor bars, and set the foil pans directly over the burner you will be cooking with – fill one with water and line the bottom of the other with wood chips soaked in water.

Finally add ribs and cook as if it were on a smoker.  Just like a smoker you will have to refill the water and the smoker chips as needed.  Cook and enjoy, use your crockpot for soup and taking things to potlucks, where with any luck someone will steal it.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes, Smoked Goodness No Comments

Well they are finally gone, and sadly so, the last rack of ribs we had in the freezer was dinner tonight.  But not without some trying something new first.  In the past I have been a fan of jerk chicken, and have made some completely from scratch…more about that later.  I have also used some store bought ‘jerk’ rubs in the past and they are alright but wanted to go out and try something new.  So that is what I did, I found a jerk rub and complimenting glaze I liked and tweaked it a little and it was a bit spicy, so if you are not necessarily for spice, you might want to back it off on the pepper a little.

Jerked Pork Ribs

The little strange yellow color in the picture is the pineapple glaze that didn’t get absorbed, its tasty even if it does look a little strange.  Using the recipe for the rub below, I rubbed the ribs and sealed them in plastic wrap in the fridge over night.  This morning I took them out and let them set out for about an hour before I fired up the smoker.  I then smoked the ribs using the 3-2-1 method using pecan wood.  During the final hour I began brushing the glaze onto the ribs and did so three times, it could have really used one or two glazings.

When it was all said and done I let them rest covered with foil and a towel for about a half hour then it was eating time.  They were sweet and spicy and had a nice jerk flavor, not quite authentic but still very good.  We will be making these again.

Jerk Rib Rub
Ingredients
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cayenne pepper (remember it was spicy)

Instructions
Combine all until mixed uniformly.  Rub into meat.

Pineapple Glaze
Ingredients
2 c pineapple juice
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Heat to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is reduced to about half.

Like I said they were tasty, I am glad I have leftovers for tomorrow.  They should make a fine lunch.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes, Smoked Goodness No Comments

Ribs, Again!  This time with more style.  Last time I used two rubs out of a bottle and had good ribs come up but the rubs was not complimentary.  The ribs were good but they were not as good as they should have been.  This time, I managed a little more success.

Ribs with Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Last night I whipped up perhaps my favorite pulled pork rub, a brown sugar and rosemary rub, using some fresh rosemary, from the plant to the rub, it doesn’t get much fresher than that.  From there I lightly rubbed the ribs with Dijon mustard and then the rub and then it was into the fridge to rest overnight in bask in that magnificent rub.

Then in the morning it was onto the smoker with some apple wood and some hickory at 225°F for 3 hours, I did spritz the ribs a couple of times as the skin dried out with apple juice during this time.  Then it was into a double layer of foil for 2 hours, then back onto the grate in the smoke with no foil until they reached 172°F in the thickest part of the rib.  I brushed them lightly with BBQ sauce during this time as well.  Then it was off the smoker and back into some foil, a wrapped in a couple towels and then into a cooler for about 30 minutes of rest to allow the juices to redistribute and the flavor to mature.

Then it was time to eat them.  They were better than the last rack of ribs I smoked, either half of them.  They were sweet and had a nice bark on them were fall off the bone tender.  The rosemary complimented the sweet and the delicate flavor of the pork ribs, they were perhaps the best ribs I have ever had.

With one exception it looks like I have found my rib recipe for at least the immediate future.  My wife smelled the cumin in the rub when I was making it and she was able to taste a hint of it in the finished product, she wanted less cumin next time.  I thought all was well the way it was.

Either way they were great, an appropriate use of such a fine piece of meat and they went well with some garlic and rosemary mashed red skin potatoes.

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By Posted on Posted in Misc Food, Recipes, Smoked Goodness No Comments

Ribs, everybody wants to make some and a lot of people are not sure how.  Well like most meat low and slow will give you a juicy and fall off the bone tender result.  But with ribs there is something special that needs to happen.  I like typically like to stick with larger cuts of meat but no man could claim to be even a novice of the BBQ without having ribs tucked away firmly in his belt.

Rack of ribs

Like most chunks of meat I smoke the ribs started out the night before with a trimming, which I historically do a less than professional job at.  From there I wash the ribs and pat them dry with paper towels and then rub them.  Typically rubbing is a two part process.  The first is to coat them in mustard or some other liquid to help the rub stick and the second is the rub them with your rub.  How much is up to you, ribs have a delicacy to them that is easily over powered with too much rub.  Once this is all done is into the fridge in a sealed container to think about what they have done.

Freshly rubbed spare ribs

The meat (ribs) in the picture above were rubbed with two different rubs.  After a nights worth of sitting in the rub or a couple hours if that is all that is available I get the smoker ready.  I boil some water in my kettle for my water pan to speed up the preheating process and get my wood for the day ready.  Once the smoker has reached that magical temperature of 225°F it is ready for some meat.  So I lube my grate with some oil, its a habit and then throw the meat on and let the smoke start rolling.

Ribs just on the smoker

When smoking ribs I use the 3-2-1 Rib method, which is not my invention but seems to work quite well and is easy to remember.  The first stage is to smoke the ribs for about 3 hours.  The time is not nearly as important as is the appearance at this point.  Once the meat begins to pull away from the bone and has pulled back about a 1/4 inch it is time to move onto step two.

Ribs at the end of stage 3

Once your ribs are looking like these it is time to move on to step two.  Stage two is kinda hard to swallow at first, I mean I just wanna continue to flood my ribs with smokey flavor but its time to pull back for a few.  In stage two its all about time, take the ribs off the smoker and wrap them in foil with a little apple juice.  I am not sure how much apple juice I use it depends on the meat and what looks good.  You could certainly substitute some other liquid here the goal is just to provide the ribs with some moisture while they are in the foil.  Throw the ribs wrapped in foil back on the smoker for two hours and let the magic happen.  During this time the ribs are soaking up the juice and getting their fall of the bone tender status.  There is no need to supply smoke during this period.

Ribs after stage 2

After two house in stage two remove the ribs from the foil and place them back on the smoker grate and get the smoke rolling again.  It might be time to check that water pan too.  The ribs should look like those above at this point, shrinkage has occurred and they looking kinda mushy.  That is where the final stage of the 3-2-1 method comes in smoke them until they reach 172°F in the thickest part of the meat.  This should take an 45 minutes to an hour.  If you would like to add BBQ sauce during the last 15 minutes on the smoker is the time to do this.

Ribs cooked to perfection

Once the ribs are done pull them off the smoker and let them rest for 15 minutes on the counter.  During this time the juices will redistribute and you will be glad you waited.  Serve and enjoy.

The 3-2-1 method assumes you are dealing with spare ribs.  If you find yourself with baby back ribs you will be looking at something more like the 2-2-1 method, just be sure to be more attentive to the meat an hour earlier with baby backs.

As with most other pork I prefer to mix apple and hickory for my ribs, gives them an excellent flavor.

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By Posted on Posted in Reviews, Smoked Goodness No Comments

Well the day finally came, the ribs were rubbed last night and it was cooking time today.   Because I am either proud or crazy or both, I opted not to borrow either of the smokers available to me and smoked (cooked) these ribs on my Weber Charcoal grill.  This was quite a task.  It was rather windy here and I had no idea holding a temperature at 230°F would be such a chore, but hey they are cooked and they were tasty.  But the real question which of the two rubs won? And why is there a piece of chicken in the picture?

Some delicious ribs all cooked up and ready to devour
Some delicious ribs all cooked up and ready to devour

Well let me answer the chicken question first.  I wanted to see how a BBQ rub stacked up on chicken and I must say quite well it was delicious and like the ribs surprisingly juicy after such a long cooking time.  So which rub won?  Well I will be using them both again but for different reasons.  The Butt Rub was in my opinion the best tasting rub, it was spicy and seemed to absorb the smoke ALOT better than the BBQ 3000, it also colored nicely.  The BBQ 3000 on the other hand was delicious, it also colored nicely, however it did not seem to absorb the smoke nearly as well.  It did however has an incredible sweet taste that almost made up for the lack of spice.

Like I said I will keep both of these rubs in my cupboard and use them both in the future, however, I will be looking forward to using the Butt Rub a wee bit more than the BBQ 3000.

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