Classic BBQ Ribs

Well, I finally did it…I smoked some ribs on my charcoal grill for the first time this season!!! They were absolutely delicious too! The only trick that I cannot stress enough about smoking is making sure the temperature doesn’t get too high in the grill and you don’t keep “peeking” at the food in the grill. If the temp is too high, then you won’t get the delicious result of the “low and slow” tactic that makes BBQ ribs so fantastic. If you keep peeking at the food you will create highs and lows in the temperature that also will disturb the smoking process.

Classic BBQ Ribs

• 1 slab of pork spareribs, trimmed*
• 2 TBS of Righteous Rib Rub (see my recipe)
• 1/4 cup Sweet and Tangy BBQ sauce (also my recipe in this blog)

For mop sauce:

• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1TBS Righteous Rib Rub

Season ribs, more liberally on meaty side. Let rub sit on ribs for a couple hours, but no more than overnight. The salt in the rub can actually start to dry out the meat if you let it sit too long. Prepare mop sauce by combining the mop sauce ingredients in a bowl, set aside. Prepare grill for smoking. Using a chimney starter, fill it up about 3/4 of the way full of charcoal. Light charcoal and spread out on one side of the grill in a single even layer. On the other side of the grill, place a drip pan (just a disposable aluminum pan works) that’s halfway full of warm water. Start smoking when charcoal is about “medium” warm, which means you can hold your hand a few inches above the grate for about 5 seconds without having to pull away. At this point, place ribs over drip pan (this is called indirect grilling because meat is not directly over the fire) and add wood chips if using. I used a handful of soaked hickory. TIP: always soak wood chips for at least an hour before using so they don’t burn up real quick, but rather smolder, hence creating the smoke flavoring. Keep temperature in grill between 250-350 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer for your grill, see if there is one available to buy for your grill. Temperature is VERY important, repeat, VERY IMPORTANT in smoking!!!! If the temp is too high, meat will be tough and dry. If temp is too low, meat doesn’t cook evenly and takes much longer. A rack of spareribs takes about 3 hours to smoke. Every hour or so, you must go back out and add 8-10 unlit charcoals to the fire to maintain temperature. Also, after the first hour, start basting ribs with mop sauce every half hour. AVOID PEEKING AT FOOD IN BETWEEN ADDING COALS AND BASTING!!!

Add BBQ sauce to ribs only during the last 10 minutes of smoking. The sauce has a lot of sugar and will burn quickly on the ribs. Make sure sauce has been at room temperature before putting it on the ribs!!!

*to trim spareribs, remove flap of meat from backside. Wedge a thermometer tip under tough membrane that covers the back of rib, get an end up, use a paper towel remove membrane in one big rip. Trim top of ribs of extra meat (use in another dish) so that ribs are more “rectangular” in shape and remove any excess fat and sinew on meat.

ETA: see this video for a demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_MGM_RRTUQ