Smoked Ribs

Yum

​I prefer spare ribs and the best way is cooking them St Louis cut-style. It highlights the prime part of the rib bone and it has more taste. Start with large, meaty ribs. Make sure that the ribs have no shiners (ribs where the butcher has cut away too much meat so that the bones shines through).

​To trim ribs St Louis style, cut the rib between the rib bones and where the sternum and cartilage portion begins. Cut along the ribs, you are looking for a uniform, square slab of ribs. Remove the flap of meat on the back of the ribs. With a paper towel, peel the membrane off of the ribs. One of the most common mistakes people still do is leave the membrane on, which makes the rib tough.

​The next step is to rub the ribs. I prefer using three rubs. The first rub  will work as a good foundational rub and give great flavor. In this example I use Swimming in Smoke Booty Shake Hot - it gives the rub a great bite after the cook. The second rub I choose for coloring the rib. In this case I used Victory Lane Cherry Bomb BBQ rub. Cherry gives ribs and chicken a wonderful color. And don't worry, the ribs wont taste of cherry, most of the flavor disappears during the cook. The third rub is optimal - I like to use a finishing rub at the end of the cook. In this example, I used Victory Lane Gold Dust - very high sugar content - so it adds a great sweet flavor at the end. The third rub is optimal, we will produce enough sweetness in the end by using a glaze. 

After the rub is applied, lightly press the spices into the meat. Let the rub sit on the rub for 30-40 minutes, not longer. It will allow the salt to penetrate the meat and pull some of the water out (the rib will be seating). But don't let it sit too long.

​While the ribs are resting, prepare the smoker. I like to cook the ribs at 235 degrees F. I also recommend fruit chunks like apple and cherry. It will give the ribs a light smoke flavor. Let the dirty smoke burn out and when you have a clear blue, very thin smoke coming out of the smoker, you are ready to start cooking.
I smoke the ribs for about 2 hours without opening the lid. After two hours I look at them, What I am looking for is color - I want them to have a nice red/orange color.  Don't add more wood chunks - after about two hours the ribs will not take on more smoke flavor, so adding wood chunks is not beneficial at that stage.

​When the ribs have a nice color, it is time to wrap the ribs. It is important to conduct this step pretty fast so the ribs don't lose too much temperature.
Remove the ribs from the smoker. Use two large heavy-duty pieces of aluminium foil for each rib. Across the length of the foil, sprinkle brown sugar (about 1/2 cup) and agave nectar (you can use honey of you like that better). Place ribs meat down and then sprinkle brown sugar and agave nectar on the back of the ribs. Wrap the ribs very tightly with the foil, you want to make sure that there are no air pockets. These will cause the ribs to steam and not cook.
Return the ribs to the smoker for another 1 1/2 hours or so.

​Remove the ribs and check for doneness. The bones should be breaking through the meat on the backside and the ribs should have a significant bend but should not break when you lift them up. When they are done - baste them.
I like a mix of BBQ sauce, agave nectar and some apple juice. I mix 50/50 of sauce and nectar and then add some apple juice to thin out the glaze. I baste both sides and optionally this is where I add the finishing rub. You could either rewrap the ribs and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or put them back on the smoker. In this case they were slightly underdone so I put them back on the smoker to give them some more cooking time.

​When done, place the meat on a clean cutting board. Carefully slice evenly between each rib bone. What I am looking for in my ribs a light and not overpowering smoke flavor, meat that is tender but not falling off the bone (common mistake, fall of the bones are often way overcooked and less flavorful), and very sweet but balanced by the savory flavors of the rub.