Smoked Ribs

[Lan]

Thank you TS for allowing me to make a thread. I will have to try your recipe, Team Sergeant's Baby Back ribs (http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11297&highlight=ribs). The technique my buddy taught me is slightly different. There are some great posts about BBQ courtesy of Don and mark46th here (http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33126&page=36). I posted this to get critiqued so I can make improvements, and also to share the info to others who might want to try it.

This is how I do it. I numbered them to make the process easier to read.

1) Preparation: The membrane should be removed.

Removing membrane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d_fqJcc4n_I)

2) Rub: This is the Chris Lilly's Six Time World Championship Pork Rub my buddy uses:

1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine and mix ingredients thoroughly. I use a rub I bought at Costco, some people like Mansmiths, Stubbs etc. The important thing is, find a rub you like! Massage rub into every square inch of the ribs. Front, back, and sides.

3) BBQ prep: Prepping the BBQ or smoker is pretty easy. There are only a few basics to remember. Never use fuel to light the charcoal. Use only natural coal like Royal Oak.

Use a chimney to start the coal, or a big ass propane torch. The chimney works well with some newspaper or paper towels stuffed on the bottom along with a little vegetable oil for extra fuel.

A shoebox sized base of coals gives me the right temperature for the size of my BBQ (I don't have a smoker, yet). The coals need to be as far away from the ribs as possible. Optimal temperature is about 220 degrees. Open side of BBQ where coal and wood chunks are, and open the opposite side so the smoke works it's way over the ribs. The heat can be controlled by the air flow.

4) Smoke: Different wood yields different flavor. I've used Oak and I've used Cherry. Find your preference. Fruit wood for Pork such as Apple, Apricot, Cherry seem to work best. mark46th mentioned using red oak. I used a round of black oak which worked really well too. A large piece of wood works great because it requires less attention than chips but temps and space can be an issue. The last picture attached to the second post is what happened when I used too big a log. Temps got way too high and I had to pull it out with welding gloves and set the log to the side of the BBQ, allowing the smoke to waft through the open end of the BBQ and out the top of the other side. The breeze worked just right that day. Probably God's way of making me feel better about my stupid idea. That size log had no place in that BBQ, lesson learned.

If you're like me and you don't have a smoke box, or a real smoker, you will need big chunks of wood. Little chips burn up way too fast so it messes up temps (no fun). One time I tried putting the little soaked chips I had in aluminum foil because the little chips burnt as soon as they hit the coal (bad experience for me, I don't suggest it). Lesson learned: Use big chunks.

The chunks will have to be soaked in water so they don't burn up as fast, a handful of new chunks have to be added every 15 minutes or so.

Close the lid and open only when necessary. Optimal temperature is 220 degrees. I smoke the ribs for about 3 hours, having to add wood chips every 15 minutes or so. Spray the ribs with a 50/50 mix of apple juice and apple cider vinegar when you add chunks of wood.

5) Once the ribs have been smoked, wrap them in aluminum foil and coat them with apple juice/brown sugar mix for another hour. Wrap them tightly so none of the moisture escapes.

6) After the ribs are cooked they should be removed from the foil and put back on the grill for an hour with BBQ sauce applied in the last 30 minutes. This will cook-off any of the sugar on the ribs and the BBQ sauce it will caramelize.

Any technical information, critiques, experiences, is much appreciated.

[Lan]

The difference between smoking 3 hours vs 2, removing membrane and not. From what I've been told, if you can see the 'pull' you're doing okay. The pull is the exposed bone from what I remember.

The second and third pictures are the same rack and it doesn't have a very visible smoke ring, which is why I think it needed to be smoked longer, and I didn't pull the membrane.

[mark46th]

Those look pretty darn good, Lan.

OK- I'll divulge a little secret to help get the ribs a nice, dark red color. In my dry rub, I will grind up a small brick of achiote, a Mexican spice, kind of a Mexican turmeric. I put it in my food processor to pulverize it then add it to the dryrub. You have to wear gloves as you apply it or you will have red fingers and hands for a couple of days. It will stain counter tops and anything else it gets on. I also use it when I make wet(braised) ribs. After braising the ribs for about 90 minutes, I pull them out and brush them with a mixture of achiote, rice vinegar(original recipe calls for cider vinegar), canola oil, chipotles in adobo sauce and barbecue sauce. I put them on a hot grill to crisp them up before serving...

[cbtengr]

I have gotten a lot of good info off of these forums, smoking meat is not as hard to do as one might think. If you can read and follow simple directions you can turn out some mighty good BBQ. Several pretty good Pit Masters here on PS.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/

Another good sight is the Virtual Weber Bulletin Board

http://tvwbb.com/

[tonyz]

Lan,

Your ribs look great and your last two projects (including the Vietnamese inspired pork dish) illustrate some talent with and passion for food (the true trained pros, TS and Penn seemed to appreciate your work as well) - have you ever considered professional culinary training?

[Lan]

Thank you for sharing part of your recipe mark46th. I didn't quote you in case you decide to remove it as I know some people like to keep secrets secret. I will try your suggested ingredient; I'd never heard of it before. I salivated when I read your description.

tonyz- Thank you for the kind words. I have very little time to take a culinary class right now but I do want to someday. My interests lie in other things: building my car, bonsai, and I want to start studying karate again.

I follow directions closely, try and make adjustments to suit my taste, and take my time. Low and slow is the method I use in most of the things I make. Lots of stew, chili, and spaghetti at my house.

Your faith in my ability made me reread what I had posted in the Bún Thịt Nướng thread. I should have worded the Bún Thịt Nướng thread I posted differently. I copied the recipe from my forum to share with others here. What I meant when I said "This took me several attempts to figure out" would have been interpreted differently if readers here saw what I posted there. I made several attempts from recipes I found online. It took extensive searching but I found one that worked and executed it to the best of my ability. What I wrote here was misleading because of that. I did not intend to lie to the members here, and I apologize to those who thought I created the recipe from taste which I mistakenly inferred. I did not mean to be misleading, or dishonest. The real pros like TS and Penn have talent.

[mark46th]

Achiote is only a secret to most gabachos, Mexicans use it in a wide variety of dishes. It doesn't have a really distinct flavor, it has a very mild, flat flavor but it gives great color when it is used... I have seen it sold in small bricks, small bag as a dry powder and occasionaly as a paste... BTW- I found out about achiote from a BBQ Rib recipe in the newspaper from a chef in Santa Fe, N.M., named Mark Miller who owned the Coyote Cafe, IIRC...