Smoking Meat (15 page)

Smoked Pork Spare Ribs

Spare ribs come from the belly of the pig, and being fattier than the baby backs, they take longer to cook and require more patience to get them tender. But if you give them time and lots of tender loving care, you might just decide they are well worth it. The payback in flavor is amazing, and when smoked up right, these are fit for a king!

2 racks Pork spare ribs (about 4 lb or more per rack)

¼ cup yellow mustard

1/3 cup
Big Bald
BBQ
Rub

1 cup apple juice (or other fruit juice)

PREPARATION

Rinse the spare ribs with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place them on a cutting board bone side up, and remove the flap of meat running along the length of the ribs as well as the membrane (see previous page).

Once the ribs are trimmed, apply a light coating of the mustard on both sides, then sprinkle the rub on both sides. Leave the ribs on the counter for 20 to 30 minutes to come up to room temperature while you set up your smoker.

SMOKING

Prepare your smoker for cooking at 225°
F
to 240°
F
. If you are using a charcoal, a gas, or an electric smoker, make sure to have enough wood chips or chunks to produce about three to four hours of smoke.

Place the spare ribs flat on the grate, bone side down. After the ribs have been in the smoker for two hours, begin spritzing them with the apple juice once every hour. A plastic spray bottle works great for this purpose.

Spare ribs are done when they are tender (see
Smokeology chapter
), which should take around six hours. Transfer the cooked racks to a cutting board and slice into individual ribs. Serve immediately. These go really well with
Dutch’s Wicked Baked Beans
.

Smoked Baby Backs

While some might say that spare ribs are king, baby backs are really hard to beat when it comes to the meat:fat ratio. Baby backs are taken from the loin of the pig, where there is less fat and the meat is naturally more tender. This means that baby backs usually cook faster and become tender at a lower internal temperature.

2 racks baby back Pork ribs (about 2 lb per rack)

¼ cup yellow mustard

¼ cup
Big Bald
BBQ
Rub

1 cup apple juice (or other fruit juice)

PREPARATION

Rinse the ribs with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place them on a cutting board bone side up and remove the membrane (see the introduction to the
Pork
chapter).

Once the ribs are trimmed, apply a light coat of the yellow mustard to both sides, then sprinkle the rub on both sides, making sure to coat the edges as well. Leave the ribs on the counter for 20 to 30 minutes to come up to room temperature while you set up your smoker.

SMOKING

Prepare your smoker for cooking at 225°
F
to 240°
F
. If you are using a charcoal, a gas, or an electric smoker, make sure to have enough wood chips or chunks to produce three to four hours of smoke.

Lay the ribs flat on the grate for best results; the melted fat will pool on top of the ribs and keep them moist. If space is a problem, the ribs can also be cut in half, placed vertically on a rib rack, or rolled into a barrel and held together with a long skewer.

After the ribs have been in the smoker for two hours, begin spritzing them with the apple juice once every hour. A plastic spray bottle works great for this purpose.

The ribs are done when they are tender (see
Smokeology
chapter), which should require about five hours of smoking.

Once the ribs are removed from the smoker, allow them to rest for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. Ribs are easiest to slice when you place them bone side up on a cutting board so you can see the bones.

Smoked Pork Butt

Although Pork butt is one of the most time-consuming pieces of meat you will ever cook on the smoker, it is also one of the easiest and most forgiving. My favorite way to eat smoked Pork butt is to pull it and pile it high on a bun with lots of barbecue sauce and
coleslaw
. It is also delicious when used in tacos, in burritos, on a pizza, in shepherd’s pie, or atop a salad—the options are limited only by your imagination.

7 to 8 lb Pork butt

¼ cup yellow mustard

1 cup
Big Bald
BBQ
Rub

PREPARATION

Rinse the Pork butt under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Apply a light coat of the mustard to the entire exterior of the meat, making sure to get the mustard down into any folds and crevices.

Pour the rub onto the top of the Pork butt, and use your hands to massage it into the meat. As the rub mixes with the mustard it creates a great-tasting paste that will stay on the meat during the cooking process.

Leave the Pork butt on the counter for 30 to 45 minutes to come up to room temperature while you set up your smoker.

SMOKING

Prepare your smoker for cooking at 225°
F
to 240°
F
. If you are using a gas, an electric, or a charcoal smoker, be sure to have enough wood chips or chunks on hand to produce smoke for about five to six hours.

Once the smoker is ready, place the Pork butt directly on the grate. Place a pan under the grate to catch the drippings as the meat cooks. (You could also cook the Pork butt in a disposable aluminum pan.)

At about the four-hour mark, insert a digital probe meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat. Smoke cook until the thermometer reads 205°
F
(this should take about one and a half hours per pound). Remove the meat from the smoker and allow it to rest for 30 minutes before pulling it.

Transfer the drippings you have collected into a lidded container and place it in the refrigerator to cool.

PULLING

Remove the bone from the Pork butt by sliding it out (this should be very easy if the Pork is cooked to 205°
F
). Use two forks to pull the meat apart into small chunks.

Remove the cold Pork drippings from the refrigerator, and skim off and discard the fat that has solidified at the top. What remains is the tasty
jus
, which can be mixed in with the pulled Pork to add lots of flavor to the meat.

3-2-1 Ribs

At barbecue competitions, ribs are supposed to be just tender enough, not too tender. However, I often hear people speak longingly about the ribs they once ate that were so tender the meat just “fell right off the bone.” The method below is a very good way to achieve these folks’ rib nirvana.

2 racks Pork spare ribs (about 4 lb or more per rack)

¼ cup yellow mustard

1/3 cup
Big Bald
BBQ
Rub

½ cup apple juice

PREPARATION

Rinse the spare ribs with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place them on a cutting board bone side up, and remove the flap of meat running along the length of the ribs, as well as the membrane (see the introduction to the
Pork
chapter).

Once the ribs are trimmed, apply a thin coat of the mustard on both sides, then sprinkle the rub evenly on both sides of the meat. Let the ribs sit for 20 to 30 minutes to come up to room temperature while you set up your smoker.

SMOKING

Prepare your smoker for cooking at 225°
F
to 240°
F
. If you are using a gas, an electric, or a charcoal smoker, be sure to have enough wood chips or chunks to produce smoke for about three hours.

Place the ribs flat on the grate, bone side down. You can also use a holder or rack to hold multiple racks of ribs in a vertical position if your smoker is limited on space.

Allow the spare ribs to smoke cook for three hours at 225°
F
to 240°
F
, then remove them from the smoker grate and lay each on a piece of high-quality heavy-duty foil cut big enough to enclose each rack completely. Pour about ¼ cup of the apple juice onto each rack and quickly close the foil around the ribs. Place the foil-wrapped ribs back on the smoker grate and cook for two more hours.

Remove the ribs from the smoker grate, take them out of the foil, and place them back on the smoker grate for one more hour. This final hour firms up the ribs a bit and helps them regain some crispiness on the outside, while still leaving them very tender inside. Transfer the cooked racks to a cutting board and slice into individual ribs. Serve immediately.

Al’s 3-2-1 Asian Ribs

Al, known as FMCowboy at
www.smokingmeatforums.com
, sent me this recipe, and once I tried it I knew it had to be shared. The Asian accent in this recipe really comes out and takes the ribs to a brand new level. These ribs are smoked using the 3-2-1 method, for that super-tender effect that many people love.

2 racks Pork spare ribs (about 4 lb or more per rack)

3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup
Asian Rub

1 cup apple juice

1 cup
Asian Sauce

PREPARATION

Rinse the spare ribs with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place them on a cutting board bone side up, and remove the flap of meat running along the length of the ribs, as well as the membrane (see the introduction to the
Pork
chapter).

Once the ribs are trimmed, apply a light coating of the soy sauce to both sides, then sprinkle the Asian Rub evenly on both sides. Let the ribs sit on the counter while you set up your smoker.

SMOKING

Prepare your smoker for cooking at 225°
F
to 240°
F
. If you are using a gas, an electric, or a charcoal smoker, be sure to have enough wood chips or chunks on hand to produce smoke for at least three hours.

Place the ribs flat on the grate, bone side down. Smoke cook them for three hours, spritzing with the apple juice after the second hour. A plastic spray bottle works well for this purpose.

After three hours, remove the ribs quickly and place each rack on a piece of high-quality heavy-duty foil. Spritz the ribs with apple juice, wrap them completely in foil, and place them back on the grate for two hours.

Once two hours have elapsed, take the ribs off the smoker grate and remove the foil. Place the ribs back on the grate, bone side down, for an additional hour to firm them back up and finish cooking them. During this last hour of cooking, brush both sides of the ribs with the Asian Sauce every 30 minutes until they reach the tenderness that you desire.

When the ribs are done, remove them from the smoker grate and let them rest about 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Serve hot, over rice and chopped green onions, with warm Asian Sauce on the side.