Tag: smoked baby back ribs

11

Smoked Orange Juice Baby Back Ribs

April 1, 2013
by Curt

Smoked Orange Juice Baby back RibsBeing born and raised, and living most of my life in Texas, it gets harder and harder every year to get used to the long drawn out Wisconsin winters. It seems like warmer weather never gets here.

So, having said that, I finally got a decent, (below freezing), day to get out and fire up the smoker. On the menu for today is baby back ribs! I decided to try just straight up orange juice for the marinade, since orange juice based marinades go so well with pork, and put the spices on the outside in the form of a spice rub.

So check it out, these ribs turned out very tasty. The orange juice marinade proved to be a great idea. The spice rub didn’t hurt either!

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Smoked Orange Juice Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients

  • 2 full racks of baby back ribs
  • 1 12 oz. can concentrated orange juice (with 3 cans water added)
  • Spice rub
  • 1 teaspoon minced onions
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Preparation

  1. Make a pitcher of the orange juice. (Don't forget to add the 3 cans of water to it!)
  2. Rinse the ribs and remove the membrane on the back side of the ribs. (Hint: Push the handle end of a spoon between the ribs and the membrane and slowly raise the membrane up, then peel it off.)
  3. Place the ribs into a large container with the orange juice and seal it up. Place in the refrigerator for about 10 hours, or overnight.
  4. Once the ribs are fully marinated, pour off the orange juice and discard.
  5. Put an ample amount of the rub on all surfaces of the ribs and gently rub it in. Leave the ribs out of the refrigerator to warm up closer to room temperature while you get your smoker prepared.
  6. Prepare your smoker and maintain a temperature of 230° to 250° F. I used peach wood for these, but you can certainly use your favorite wood instead. Mesquite is a nice choice for a stronger smoke flavor.
  7. Once ready, put the ribs on and close up the smoker. Turn once after a couple of hours. They should be done and close to fall off the bone tender after 5 to 6 hours in the smoker. I took them off when I was getting an internal meat temperature of about 195° to 200° F.
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3

Smoked Apple Soaked Baby Back Ribs

April 28, 2012
by Curt

It’s been a while since I’ve smoked up some baby backs! I’ve talked to some who believe you should only lightly rub them with a dry spice rub and then smoke them. But for me, I’m all about flavor. I firmly believe in marinating the ribs overnight before smoking them. And of course, also giving them a generous dry spice rub before putting them on the smoker.

So if that’s also the way you like your baby back ribs, give this a try. Low and slow smoked, along with a good marinade, and I guarantee fall off the bone tender baby back ribs for your eating pleasure!

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Smoked Apple Soaked Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients

  • 1 full rack of baby back ribs
    • Marinade
  • 1 12 oz. can frozen apple juice concentrate (thawed)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • Dry Rub
  • A generous portion of your favorite spice rub

Preparation

  1. Thoroughly rinse the ribs and remove the thin membrane from the back side of the ribs. Cut the rack in half and place both halves into a zip-Lock baggie.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl, mix together the apple juice and the cinnamon. (Do Not add water!). Microwave for about 30 seconds on high to help dissolve the cinnamon. Pour over the ribs, remove as much air as possible from the bag, seal it and place it in the refrigerator for approximately 8 hours.
  3. Once marinated, prepare your smoker and stabilize it to 250° F. Note: I used mesquite for these ribs, because I wanted a heavy smoke flavor.
  4. Remove the ribs from the marinade and discard the marinade. Generously rub the ribs with your favorite dry spice rub and place on the smoker rack.
  5. Maintain a temperature of 250° F throughout the cooking time. This should take approximately 4 hours to bring them to a fall off the bone tenderness. Note: The internal temperature of the meat between the bones should be at least 190° F to achieve this tenderness!
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1

Sweet & Mesquite Baby Back Ribs

July 4, 2011
by Curt

I just made 2 racks of baby back ribs yesterday, and tested out my newly tweaked, and I might add; PERFECTED, sweet marinade. Follow the link to see all the details on the marinade I used.

Now for the details of the cook. First off, the night before the cook, I removed the membrane from the back side of the ribs, and then cut the racks in half. Then I mixed up the marinade, and completely covered the ribs in a tupperware container, sealed it, and put it into the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, after 11 hours in the marinade, I removed the ribs and drained off the marinade. I then rubbed all surfaces of the ribs with my favorite honey powder based rub. I have used a number of rubs, and have experimented with my own mixtures, but I keep finding myself using this one when I want a sweet rub. After rubbing the ribs thoroughly and generously, I put them back into the container, (after washing it), and put them back into the refrigerator.

2 hours later, I removed the container from the refrigerator and set it on the kitchen counter to start warming up a bit. I then went outside to get the smoker ready. Which means; get the chair out, the table and thermometers needed, and any other things like tongs and pot holders.

Now I start the fire. I have finally documented my personal method for starting my fire in my vertical smoker. Follow the link to read my method. This method has been tweaked after many cooks, and keeps my fire cooking at 225 to 250 degrees F  for 8 to 10 hours with little to no fuss.

There are a lot of different woods that will compliment baby back ribs nicely, but I chose to use all mesquite for this cook. For those that didn’t follow the link to my fire starting method, that’s a mixture of charcoal briquettes, and mesquite chunks.

Okay, all this preparation and fire starting took about 45 minutes, so the meat was on the counter that long. Long enough to warm up some, but not too long to sit on the counter above the 40 degree danger zone. Time to put it in the smoker.

Important Note: Always bring up the temperature of your smoker to your desired cooking temperature before putting the meat in the smoker!

I put the ribs directly on the grill, which is about 15″ above my fire. Close the lid, and watch the temperature. This first half hour or so is about the only time I have to make adjustments. I have 4 different vents I can plug and unplug in the top of my smoker to get the temperature where I want it to stay.

I should mention, I never once opened the smoker for the first 3 hours of smoking. Typically, with a large roast, or a whole chicken, I would have a remote digital thermometer in place and constantly monitoring the internal temperature of the meat after about 1 hour in the smoker. But with ribs, considering the fact they are not very thick, and the close proximity of bones, this would not be very accurate or dependable.

So, after 3 1/2 hours, I removed the lid of the smoker and probed different areas of the ribs with an instant read digital thermometer. It was reading an average of 180 degrees. This was very close to being done, but not quite there yet. A half hour later, I checked it again, and was getting 190 degrees. PERFECT!

I also checked the tenderness by picking up a rack with the tongs at one end of the rack. When you give it a good bounce while holding just one end, it should slightly tear apart at the weak point between two bones.

I removed the ribs. And of course, I immediately pulled one rib off and ate it. WOW! WOW! WOW!!! The sweet marinade is a definite keeper!

I then put them into a sealable container, closed the container, and brought them into the house. I let them sit like that on the counter for about a half an hour.

And then I put them on a plate and took pictures for all of you to see!
 
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