Recipe of the Month by Jarvis Johnson
Restaurant-Style Smoked Ribs
Easy, tender, juicy, and finger-licking delicious smoked pork ribs are one of the best meals you can make for a summer picnic or party - they are everyone's favorite feast and are surprisingly simple to make with the right tips and tricks.
If you've ever wondered what goes into restaurant-quality ribs at home on your smoker, you're in luck - I'm going to share tons of tips and tricks to help you become a rib smoking pitmaster in no time.
On the side. Make a delicious side of BBQ Baked Beans, some Parker House Rolls, grilled corn, pour a Scotch and Soda, and let's get to smoking these fall-off-the-bone tender ribs!
This recipe is perfect for a smoker or on a grill!
How To: Smoke Ribs
Ingredients:
Rub ribs with rib rub. It sounds silly, but this step is essential for flavor! We like to add tons of rich, earthy, salty, spicy flavor before our ribs ever touch the smoker - by absolutely covering them in rib rub full of herbs, spices, and salt. While we love ribs smothered in sauce, perfect smoked ribs should be so full of flavor right off the smoker, they don't even need sauce to taste great!
For the Rub:
- Ground black or white pepper. Pepper has a citrusy, piney, and hot flavor that adds depth to the fatty pork rib meat and helps to cut through the smoky flavor.
- Kosher salt. Salt doesn't just add flavor to pork by helping to accent pork's light buttery flavor - it helps accentuate the solubility of the muscle and fat (meaning it helps tough, chewy tissue break down to be more tender!)
- Hungarian paprika. Whether you choose sweet or hot paprika is largely up to you - I prefer hot Hungarian paprika, but my spouse prefers sweet - either way, this sharp peppery seasoning helps to season pork and add depth and dimension to the smoky bark.
- Onion powder.
- Celery salt. - Celery salt is botanic, with a green and grassy finish that helps to lighten the smoky flavor, so it doesn't overpower your pork meat. Additional salt also helps to further tenderize pork.
- Garlic powder.
Give ribs a bath. In the middle of smoking ribs, when they’re wrapped in foil, I like to give my ribs a bath in some apple juice, or apple cider, and butter. This creates a juicy rib flavor and helps the meat become tender and soft and not dry out when wrapping to cook in foil.
For the bath:
- Brown sugar. Brown sugar helps to create a sticky sweet crust on the outside of the pork, without being too sweet. It has a perfect light molasses flavor that enhances rich smoky notes.
- Apple cider vinegar or apple juice. Rich, fatty, and smoky dishes need acid to balance them out, and the crisp, sweet notes in apple cider vinegar pair perfectly with pork's light, slightly sweet meat flavor. Apple juice adds additional sugar, and a bit of sweetness that is light, crisp, and isn't overpowering to penetrate the rich smoky flavor from the grill.
- Butter adds fat to the bath to help the brown sugar stick to the bark, as well as extra crisping on the outside of the pork meat.
For the Ribs: Baby back ribs, Spareribs, or St. Louis style ribs.
Lets Make ‘Em!
Once you've gathered the basic tools and ingredients, we’ll use the following method:
Trim and prep ribs for smoking properly. A lot of your success as the smoker will start before you ever step foot outside; starting with well-prepared ribs will ensure your feast comes out perfect every time.
Remove “silver skin.” Silver skin is the whitish, silvery membrane that runs along the back side of the ribs. While it’s not necessary to remove, it’s easy and can help to make your ribs softer and easier to eat.
- Slide a small, rounded knife (not a sharp knife) under the silver skinanywhere along the rib rack and pull up on the skin to loosen it.
- If it won't pull up in one spot, simply try another.
- Lift and loosen the membrane or silver skin with the knife until it's loose enough that you can grab it with your hands.
- Pull the silver skin off the rack of ribs; it should peel away in one large sheet, but if it breaks - no worries! - just use the knife to restart the process in another section of ribs.
Use the 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs method. The 3-2-1 method is foolproof and consists of 3 easy steps:
- 3 hours of smoking. Prepare and preheat your smoker to 225 degrees, using the wood chips of your choice (be sure to make note of the section above where I talk about wood choices). Trim any messy flaps from your meat when you remove the silver skin membrane. Pat ribs dry to remove any excess moisture. Prepare and mix your rib rub, coat ribs in rub well, and let it come to room temperature. Place the ribs on the smoker and smoke for 3 hours.
- 2 hours - smoked, while wrapped. Arrange large sheets of foil to wrap the ribs in. Add the ribs, flesh side down, then cover with the cider and butter mixture. Wrap the ribs tightly in foil and return to the smoker to smoke for another 2 hours. This step can be done in your oven (if you run out of wood chips, mess up timing, etc.)
- 1 hour - finish, with sauce. Remove the ribs from the foil and paint on the BBQ sauce (if desired). Return to the smoker until crunchy and set in - around 15 - 20 minutes. If you like very crunchy BBQ sauce bark, you can repeat this step every 15 minutes or so for this last hour of cooking time. This step can also be done in your oven (if you run out of wood chips, mess up timing, etc.).
Remove from the smoker and rest for at least 10 minutes until separating and serving.
Create a bark. Creating a crunchy BBQ sauce bark is a beautiful thing – a slightly caramelized sauce that is more crunchy than drippy, sticky instead of wet, is heavenly on smoked pork ribs. For an extra crispy, crunchy "bark", follow these tips:
- When ribs are almost done smoking, unwrap from foil and brush a thin layer of sauce on, then let them continue to smoke until the sauce is "set" - or firm, sticky, and not wet.
- Sauce should not slide around when set.
- For an extra crunchy crust, repeat with another thin layer of sauce and cook for another 15 minutes until set again.
Know your wood. Since pork is a light and slightly sweet meat, it can become easily overpowered with heavy smoke. Trust me - there IS such a thing as too much smoky flavor! Picking the right kinds of wood chips can help get the perfect smoke flavor for smoking ribs without overpowering them. In general, you'll want to look for lighter woods or fruit woods for a lighter, cleaner flavor that won't overpower your ribs and will taste "cleaner." Look for the following wood chips: Hickory, Oak, Mesquite, Grapevine, Apple, Cherry, or Pecan
Smoke. Smoke ribs on smoker for 3 hours.
Wrap. Lay out foil and lay ribs on top, adding butter, juice, and cider into foil and wrap ribs tightly in foil. Cook in foil for 2 hours.
Baste. Open foil and baste ribs in cooking liquids for one more hour, let set for 15 minutes.
Sauce. Baste a thin layer of your favorite BBQ sauce over ribs and let set while they cook for about 15 minutes. Sauce will be sticky, not runny. Repeat with another thin layer of sauce, letting set, up to 2 more times. Total time for final smoke will be one hour. Let ribs rest at least 15 minutes before slicing or serving.
When done properly, these steps can give you juicy and delicious ribs that don't even need a sauce for moist, tender, and delicious meat - though they also serve as the perfect base to then top with your favorite sauce.
