Duwop wrote:

> Me, I did two full racks of spares (and two chix) today on the >offset<
> bone down with no sauce (never while cookin', only as a side) and they
> turned out great as usual.

Amen, bro'. Bone-down always in my offset.

> Tomorrow I'm bringing in a few ribs for a poor
> Texan missing 'Q who endeared me knowing that sauce is for covering up
> mistakes and believes that meat is best cooked dry, sauce served on the
> side. He's getting extra knowin' that. :-)

:-)

So I've been experimenting with sauces, and I've homed-in on my
own style; a decent cheap Zin-reduction with just enough sugar and
wine vinegar to add pleasant tang. I tried using a decent cheap
Cab once and my 10-year old told me to use Zin the next time.

So here's a little confession; I got curious and picked up an
ECB at Wal-Mart. $60 for a Brinkman's Electric Smoker. First cook,
I bought a pack of baby backs at Costco, figuring I wouldn't screw
'em up ;-), gotta think positive. I cut an oak barrel stave into quarters,
wrapped three of them in foil, pricked them a bunch of times to make little
holes on top, and layed them in between the element.

I was quite surprised how well the ribs turned out. I mean, really quite
close to the results I get in the offset with lump. I can tell the difference
but it's pretty subtle. Next time I'll probably use 4 quarters of the stave.

For the first cook, I even put water in the pan, though I got a bag of lava
rock to put in the pan at some point.

It's always fun to experiment, and the results were great as usual. Heat,
smoke, meat and rub.

Dana