Thrice Smoked, Twice Basted Ribs

This year for the Fourth of July, I was assigned the task of smoking some ribs.  A couple of weeks ago I made one slight change to my otherwise normal procedure, and I produced one of the best batches of ribs I have ever made.  My second attempt using my newly found method was a success.  I will now share my secret.  I don't remember where I heard this first little trick, but I do it so it is part of the instructions.  On the back of the ribs there is a membrane that needs to be peeled off.  It helps the ribs to cook better, and it makes it so you don't have to tear through that membrane as you eat which in my opinion makes for a more enjoyable eating experience.

The next step is the seasoning.  I like to make my ribs spicy, but not everyone does spicy so on the left I have a rack of ribs split in half without crushed red pepper, and on the right I have a rack with.  Apart from that, both racks have a generous coat of kosher salt, black pepper, granulated garlic, Montreal steak seasoning, and the mesquite grilling stuff pictured.  I found that at Target.  It is the first of three smoke infusions the ribs will receive.  Last of all, and not pictured is the step where I rub brown sugar all over both sides of the ribs.  What can I say, pork tastes great when it's sweet.

This picture is actually right after I put them on my smoker.  Before that they were on my gas grill which I had in 'smoker mode'.  My smoker is electric, and I don't know what it is, but I like what the gas flame does to the meat.  This is the step that I added to my procedure.  When I first started making ribs I didn't have a smoker so I made tin foil pouches of wood chips and put them on my grill.  On one side of my grill the burner was on low, with the pouch of wood chips just above, and I would put my ribs on the other side.  The guy on BBQ University calls this indirect grilling.  This way the fat doesn't cause flare ups, and it allows you to slow cook the ribs. Now that I have a smoker, I used to cook them from start to finish there, but now I have adjusted my methods so that the first hour of cooking is on my grill.  I flipped and rearranged them so they would cook more evenly after about a half hour, but I otherwise didn't tend them much.  My supply of wood chips was running out so I used the rest of what I had for this batch which was a mix of hickory, black walnut, and apple.  I have heard pear and mesquite are the best combination, but I have not been able to find pear chips at any of the grill stores.  I typically use mesquite and apple though, and I like that combination.

This is after about four hours on my smoker with the thermostat set to medium.  Once I moved them to the smoker I just let them smoke and forgot about them.  The trick to know if the ribs are done is that the meat should plump up and pull itself off of the bone as is evident in that batch on the right.  That's when the ribs are nice and tender so that you can pull the ribs apart without a knife.  I have found that if the ends are almost a little bit overcooked and jerky-like the rest of the meat should be a celebration of goodness in your mouth.

This last picture is just another view, but these ribs are done.  If you like a dry rib then eat, but my preference is a wet rib so I like to add a little sauce.  For this last step I either take them back to my grill, or I put them in the oven under the broiler.  For sauce I like Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy.  It has a little bit of zip, but it is a pretty straight up BBQ sauce.  For a while, Target had a Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy Chipotle BBQ sauce so it was basically just spicier than the standard stuff, and I loved it.  Use what you like, but if you normally just buy the cheap bottle of Hunt's, spend fifty cents extra for some Famous Dave's or Sweet Baby Ray's sauce because a good BBQ sauce can really elevate a good batch of ribs.  Be adventurous and try a few different sauces to find one that speaks to you.  I really need to start making my own, but that will be another day and another post.  This last step doesn't take very long.  I basically brush the sauce on and put the sauced side down towards the flames for a minute to let it caramelize.  I flip and repeat that on the other side.  I repeat this one more time for each side, and then I take them off of the grill.  Now they are triple smoked and twice basted.  Mmmm!  This last step is important when cooking any meat.  Once I take the ribs away from the heat source I let them rest for about 5-10 minutes before serving.  This actually brings the temperature of the meat up a few degrees, finishes cooking it, and makes it juicy.  After that, comes the best part, eat.  You'll know they're some of the best ribs you've eaten when you have BBQ sauce from ear to ear.