Baby Back Ribs, the Way We Like Them!

All of you people that compete know what I am talking about.  Any rib that you make for a competition is not how you make them at home.  Who would take the time to foil with mysterious liquids that add flavor and butter (gasp) that help tenderize the meat and add rich flavor.  Not I.  We like a basic rib around here.  We also like baby backs over spare ribs.  Our butcher sells a nice meaty baby back.  So, we feel that we do not loose anything by using back backs versus a spare rib.

So, how do we make them?  Very simple.

First, we take our baby backs and remove the membrane from the back.  Then, we coat each side with simple yellow mustard and rub.  We like Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken rub.

While the ribs are sitting, I bring the smoker to 250 F and add some hickory and apple chunks to the ash pan for our flavoring smoke.  The ribs go on the top rack, then I close the door and walk away for 3 and a half hours.  In the last 30 minutes, I very lightly sauce the ribs with our sauce of choice.  Since I am on a consolidation kick in the refrigerator, I used the last of our J. Wilbur Spicy Hickory for this cook.  Once the ribs have been sauced, I close the door and walk away for 30 minutes.  Then, we remove the ribs, let rest for 10 minutes, then slice.

We served these racks with a side of homemade macaroni salad.

What is the difference between these ribs and a rib for competition?  Well, competition ribs can be very sweet.  You are trying to impress a judge with one bite.  So, you have to load it up with flavor and usually flavor = sweet.  Sure, one overly sweet and candied rib is fine.  But, you would not sit down and eat a whole rack of these for dinner.  At least I couldn't.  Our ribs for home have a nice sweet heat with a thin layer of sauce.

Don't fret if you don't have a smoker.  You can make these in the oven.  You just won't have the smoky flavor that the smoking wood imparts to the meat.  By adding about 1/2 tsp of Liquid Smoke to your BBQ sauce will help add some smoke flavor.  Give them a try.  You won't be sorry.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Baby Backs with J. Wilbur Rub and Sauce

Ok, I lied.  I did not take off the rest of the year from making traditional BBQ.  We had some contractors that were finishing up some repair work to the house after the hot water heater leaked and damaged about half of the house.  Over the time that they were here, they fell in love with our BBQ.  So, for their last day, I made some baby back ribs and took the opportunity to try out some new products from J. Wilbur.

A friend of mine from Seattle, Slow Smoke, sent me the above goodies to try.  He says that these are the preferred BBQ rub and sauce in the Pacific Northwest.  He also said they were a little on the spicy side.  So, with that warning, I tucked them away until after the BBQ season to try in some down time.  Here is our review.

Slow Smoke was right on with the spice level on the rub.  After the finger test, this rub started sweet and ended by grabbing your tongue.  I also liked the salt level: not too salty, just right.

The sauce had a really nice flavor.  It sort of reminded me of the molasses based concoctions that my mother came up with when I was a child.  The apple cider vinegar added depth to the flavor.  Contrary to the rub, this sauce starts with a kick and ends sweet and smooth.

So, I took some baby backs, pulled off the membrane and dusted with a healthy coating of rub.  I then set the ribs aside to come to room temperature while I lit the smoker and brought to 250 F.

No foil for these ribs.  I just smoked them for four hours at 250 F with some hickory in the ash pan.  Here is what they looked like after 3.5 hours, just before I glazed with the sauce.  I like the color and the sheen on these ribs.

Here they are after the sauce and 30 more minutes on the smoker.

Even nicer color with the sauce.

How were they?  Surprisingly, for the level of kick in the rub, they were nice and balanced.  Hope loved them and she does not like any heat on her ribs.  I would not use the rub in competition as there is too much of a kick for judges, but I will definitely be using this rub at home.  The sauce was even better than the rub.  I will definitely be trying this in mid-winter practices to see how it might improve our overall rib scores.

Thanks for the tip Slow Smoke!

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill