Pork Ribs: Take One

I almost titled this one “How much for just one rib?” in honor of that classic, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. But, I didn’t want to be misleading – I cooked up a whole mess of ribs. I had a bit of luck working in my favor – Artizone.com had given me a lovely gift card for some feedback on their website and I knew they delivered Hirsch’s Specialty Meats. Right to the door, baby! (Although, as I later learned, Hirsch’s is not very far from my front door at all.) I’ll talk a little bit more about my love for Artizone in my next post but, let me tell you, those were some beeyoutiful ribs! So, all my quality ingredients needed was a tried and true recipe. Fortunately, I already had Clint Tenney’s ribs recipe sitting in my inbox, just waiting for me to take it for a spin…

Clint’s Famous Ribs

• Wash ribs…take off the membrane on the backside of ribs
• Smother ribs in yellow mustard and apply your choice of rub (BBQueen: I used Stubb’s Pork Rub)

It was kind of fun slathering ’em up. I used both plain yellow and spicy brown mustard.

• Cover ribs in saran wrap and let them sit overnight in the fridge
• Soak  two big handfuls of Apple and Cherry wood overnight in apple juice (BBQueen: I used Applewood only and soaked for 45 minutes)
• Take your smoker to 225 degrees for the entire cook (BBQueen: Sounds easy, right? I wrestled with my BGE for an hour trying to stick the temp at 225. I may have cursed at it a few times but only my dog was there to hear and she’s not tellin.)
• Place a drip pan with water or apple juice underneath the ribs
• First hour…just let ‘em be
• Second & Third hour – spritz with apple juice every 30 minutes
• Fourth Hour – apply your favorite sauce (BBQueen: I used Stubb’s Smokey Mesquite)
• Cook for 4 ½ hours total
• You can also foil your ribs at hour #3 and place back in the smoker for an hour before saucing… this makes them very tender and I typically apply a brown sugar, honey and butter sauce that goes in the foil. (BBQueen: I skipped this part, as my friend Jason had shown up with some cold beer and I commenced drinking it.)

I’m pleased to show you what I saw at the end of those 4 ½ hours, my friends:

It took a lot of willpower to snap this shot before we dug in…

And they tasted just as good as they looked. I do think I may try Clint’s tip about tenting with foil and/or cooking them lower and slower next time for even more smoky tenderness. Well, I would stay and chat but I gotta go heat me up a rib or two before bed…

Up next: Pizza! Pizza!

My First Smoke

Just in case my mom ever finds her way past email to the interwebs, let me start by saying that this post is about smoked pork shoulder. This cut is also referred to as Boston butt and, while that lent itself to a lot of great headline ideas, I decided I would never get this written if I stopped every five seconds to giggle. After consulting my BBQ bible, it seemed that pork shoulder was a good place to start — mostly since I’ve read it is hard to mess up.

First, I had to pick a rub. Legends of Texas Barbecue has a recipe for Stubb’s Hot Pork Rub but it produces massive quantities and I had most of the ingredients but not all. Given that I often improvise my own rubs, I figured I would just eyeball the proportions and leave out anything I didn’t have. Even though my rub turned out fine, I thought it was a bit salty — will probably take my friend Clint’s advice and use a rub like Dizzy Pig next time. Confession: I didn’t let it sit overnight in the rub — just an hour or so on my kitchen counter while it came to room temperature. (I know, not very Zen all of this rushing and short-cutting. What can I say? I am a work in progress.) It sure did look purty though…

Okay, maybe I went a little crazy with the rub…

I set up my lovely Big Green Egg for indirect heat and steadied it out at between 210 and 250 degrees. I decided to skip the water pan (I know, you BBQ enthusiasts are just shaking your heads now) with the thought that my mop (aka basting sauce) would keep things nice and moist. The mop smelled so dang good…

I used some limes that I had on hand but lemons would definitely be better…

Here’s the mop recipe I used: Mix 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup Wesson oil, 2 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, one smashed garlic clove, a quartered medium onion, and one quartered lemon. Bring it to a simmer and baste every 30 minutes.

After about four hours, my heat started to drop (still perfecting the really long smokes) but I figured we were in good shape. I pulled the pork shoulder off, tented it with foil for about 10 minutes, and then sliced it into steaks. (The hubby was hoping it would just fall apart. It was tender but not quite that tender. Water pan, anyone?) We plated it up and dug in…

This was a weeknight, so we added a yummy salad. (Recipe to follow.)
Hey, I’m no Paula Deen…

The flavor was superb and the meat was crazy tender. I put a bit of bottled Stubb’s Smokey Mesquite BBQ sauce on the side that first night but didn’t really need it. No sauce needed = success, in my book.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you some grits to meditate on over the weekend…