Ahh BBQ ribs! Perfectly tender and smoky, with a nice tasty bark and a drizzle of some tangy sauce – what a wonderful treat they are.  You too can make them, and we’ll show you how.  You’ll want to get your smoker or grill going, and since we’re doing ribs you will want a low fire.  We are looking to cook these low & slow, so 225 degrees is the temperature we’re aiming for.  First get your ribs and lay them out on a large sheet pan.  You’ll want to remove the membrane on the bone side and trim off any large pieces of fat that you find.  Then slather them with a little bit of mustard (to give the rub something to stick to) and then give them a liberal dusting of your favorite rub – DruBQ!

Let your ribs sit for 10-15 minutes until you see the rub starting to get tacky.  Then flip them and sprinkle the other side liberally with more rub.  They should look like this:

By now your smoker should be up to temp, so let’s get these bad boys going!  Place the racks on your smoker and check your air inlets to make sure you’re not running too hot.  Here at Dee Roo, we favor cooking on a 23” Weber Smokey Mountain vertical smoker, but the type of smoker does not matter – love the one you’re with!  If you’re using a grill you will want to cook using indirect heat, so push your coals over to one side of the grill and lay the ribs on the other.  Add your choice of wood (we prefer chunks of cherry for pork) and let the pork smoke.  Do not open the smoker for at least one hour. 

Here we are one hour in.  The ribs are doing well, you can see some bark just starting to form on the edges and the racks are starting to dry out.  These will cook for another 2 hours and then we will wrap them in foil for another hour so they get nice and tender. 

Our smoker is rolling low and slow, the way cool remote thermometer thingy says so.

Here we are three hours in.  Note the bark is well formed and the meat is pulling back nicely from the ends of the bones.  They’ve taken all the smoke they’re going to take, so it’s time to wrap them tightly in foil and let them braise for an hour to get real tender.

A note on wrapping:  Using foil to wrap the ribs tightly is commonly referred to as ‘The Texas Crutch’.  Some BBQ purists look down on such practices, but I first learned this as a member of a competition bbq team in Memphis.  Competition cooks will wrap their racks tightly in foil, using a bit of apple juice (and butter and brown sugar and other ingredients) during the middle phase of the cook in order to guarantee perfectly tender ribs.  The key is to not leave them in the foil for too long, otherwise the ribs will fall apart.  On St Louis style racks like we’re using I will wrap each rack tightly in 2 sheets of heavy duty foil with a ½ cup of apple juice per rack and let them go for one hour.  After one hour the ribs are nearly done – all we need to do is get them out of the foil and back on the smoker for another hour or so in order to firm up the bark and add sauce.

Speaking of – it’s time to make our soon to be world famous ginger chipotle bbq sauce!

Here we are with the finished product.  I have glazed one rack with sauce, the other two are dry and will be served with sauce on the side.  The wife loves the saucy ones, but the kids and I like them with just the dry rub and a little of our homemade sauce on the side.

 And here we are on the plate with a nice coleslaw and a bit of tomato & cucumber salad from the garden!

Recipe and Preparation Steps

For the ribs:

3 racks St Louis style spareribs

6-8 tbsp DruBQ rub

Start your smoker or grill and set up for indirect heat. 

Remove ribs from cryo packaging and pat dry with paper towels.  Flip racks bone side up and remove the tough membrane that covers the rib bones.  Flip over and spread roughly 1 tbsp of regular mustard on each rack of ribs, then sprinkle liberally with DruBQ rub.  Flip and repeat on the bone side, then turn the racks of ribs over and allow to get tacky, roughly 15 minutes. Go add 2 chunks of cherry wood to your smoker – one chunk right on the live coals and one on coals that will catch fire soon.

Transfer ribs to the smoker or grill, cover and cook for 3 hours at 225 degrees. 

At the 3 hour mark remove racks to a sheet pan and wrap them tightly in two sheets of heavy duty foil, being sure to add ½ cup of apple juice to each package. 

Cook in the foil for one hour, then remove the foiled ribs.  Vent carefully then place back on the smoker for another 60-90 minutes until done.  Brush with BBQ sauce during the last 20 minutes of cooking if you desire. 

Note:  To tell when the ribs are done, grab a rack with a pair of tongs in the center and watch how much the slab of ribs “bends”.  A fully done and perfectly tender rack of ribs will bend almost in half when done.

For the Ginger Chipotle BBQ Sauce:

1 bottle good quality ginger beer

1.5 cups ketchup

3 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp DruBQ rub

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

2 chipotle chiles and 2 tsp adobo sauce from the can

Pour the ginger beer into a sauce pan, add the remaining ingredients, and being to a simmer over medium low heat.  Blend the sauce smooth with an immersion blender and continue cooking over low heat until reduced to a nice thickness, about 30 – 40 minutes longer.  Brush on ribs during the last 20 minutes of cooking or serve on the side.