Last weekend I had the entire Saturday to get some yard work done and lounge around the house. No sense in just letting the smoker grill just sit there doing nothing, so I put it to work... Baby Back Ribs. It was about 2 pm when I put match to paper to light the charcoal. But I am getting ahead of myself.
It really started in the morning with putting the rub ingredients together and applying it to the racks. I like my baby backs with a little zip, but J doesn't like the heat as much so she just salted her rack(the ribs that is). My rub is a combination of paprika, chili powder, salt, brown sugar, black pepper and cumin. Her rub was Penzy's Pork Chop Seasoning.
The grill was ready for meat around 2:30. I used my Brinkman smoker grill utilizing the in-direct grilling technique. Ribs on!! I employed a cast iron smoker box and hickory chips for flavor. I also used a mop consisting of apple cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. I placed this mix into a small spray bottle applying it every 1/2 hour or when I added more wood chips. I kept the internal grill temp. around 250 degrees F and smoked the ribs until the charcoal went out, about 4 hours.
Then removed the ribs to a half sheet pan and covered them with aluminum foil. The ribs are basically ready to eat at this point, but I had to put them in a warm (200 degree) oven for a while due to a couple of friends that stopped by for a few cocktails. We hardly have cocktail hour here, because its cocktail HOURS. The beers were flowing earlier in the day while the ribs were on the grill, but its whiskey time.
J and her friend, lets call her Debbie, started in on the margaritas and Mai Tais well before the ribs were done. See above, the beer was mine. Anyway we weren't ready to eat yet, so the ribs kind of hung out in the oven. This turns out to be the secret of lip smacking smoky fall off the bone goodness. The moist warm environment under the foil makes the ribs turn out this way. Eventually I got the ribs out of the oven and then brushed on some homemade jalapeno jelly on them instead of a BBQ sauce. I brought them down stairs to the bar and J, me and our friends went through them with a couple of more drinks. I can't wait to do them again.
