How to prep and smoke spare ribs like a pro. Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 4 Hours 30 Minutes Yield: 20 Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 racks of Pork spare ribs
- Rubs: Bam Bam’s Picks - Plowboys Yardbird, with a top layer of Smoking Guns Sweet and Heat.
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
- Clover honey
- Parkay butter
- Brown sugar
- BBQ Sauce: Bam Bam’s Picks - It's gotta be Blues Hog Original.
- Spray Bottle
- Apple Juice
- Wood chunks or pellets: Bam Bam’s Picks - Apple wood and pecan wood
Recipe Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Now it’s time to prep your spares. Start by trimming your spare ribs however you like to. If you want a St Louis cut, find the tallest bone and from that point, cut a straight line all the way across the rib. You will be left with a nice rectangle St Louis cut spare rib, the leftover top piece is what’s called the rib tips. Don’t throw away the tips! Cook them! I like to trim some of the fat off the top. Then flip them over and with a butter knife, get under the membrane and pull up a corner. Grab the corner with a paper towel and pull the membrane off.
- Now you are ready to season your ribs. To retain moisture in the rib hold off on seasoning them until 30 minutes before you are ready to place them on your cooker. Apply both of your rubs to the top side and sides of your spare rib, let them sit out for ten minutes, you will notice your rib sweating , this process allows the rubs to penetrate the meat. After ten minutes flip the rib and repeat. Now you are ready to place the ribs on your smoker.
- Once your smoker hits 250 degrees, place the ribs on the smoker for two hours. For the first hour, DO NOT open your cooker. This gives the rubs time to set. After the first hour, spray the ribs with apple juice every fifteen to twenty minutes. This helps with moisture, color, and adds another light level of flavor. Once you hit 2 hours, pull your ribs off. Its now time to foil. Lay out the sheets of heavy duty foil. On the foil itself, sprinkle your rubs, a small handful of brown sugar, a few ounces of Parkay Butter, and honey. Lay the ribs meat side down on top of the foil mixture. Repeat the same process on the backside of the rib and seal the foil. Place the ribs back on the cooker meat side down for an additional 2 hours.
- Remove the ribs from the foil and check for doneness. I like to use a toothpick to poke the meat between the bones. If it slides through with ease, the ribs are done. If there is still some resistance, wrap the ribs back up and put them back on your cooker for another 15 minutes, then check them again, repeat this process until the ribs are done. Now that your ribs are done. Take them off the cooker, break the seal of the foil and let them rest. If you forget to break the seal, the ribs will continue to steam and overcook inside the foil. Heat up your Blues Hog BBQ Sauce on the stove. Pull the ribs from the foil and baste them with the Blues Hog. Now it’s time to cut and serve! Enjoy!
Recipe Generator courtesy of BBQ Island