So driving down South I was forced (like I would object) to eat a large amount of roadside food. By far one of the best foods I had the good fortune of eating was BBQ ribs. And those of you in the know know exactly what I am speaking of. I am most certainly not speaking of salty tough overcooked pork or beef stewed in a bottle sauce. What I am talking about is dry rubbed, smoked, slow cooked ribs that fall off the bone. Meat where the only sauce you need is optional or has been mopped on by artisanal “Pit Masters”.
Wanting to find that taste close to my own home I set out in search of it. After trying a few places here in Brooklyn NYC. I found one thing to be a universal truth, you can get good BBQ, but you have to wait for one time of the year when the annual BBQ festival is going on in New York City. That was up until I found a local guy who sells a really good dry rub. I experimented with it and emailed him back and forth for advice and finally think I struck a perfect balance and wanted to share the recipe for the good wholesome BBQ deprived city dwellers. So without more of my incessant babbling, here we go:
Bear in mind here that the style of ribs I am making is just one of the various styles you can make. Also that I am working with a full rack of ribs here but you can work with a half, or baby back ribs.
The first step is selecting the meat for the meal. Myself I like to smoke the whole rack of ribs, that’s on average 3 ½ LBS ideally. Also I prefer a spare rib over a St. Lewis, the St. Lewis being a trimmed down version of the spare rib.
When you are at the store selecting your ribs veer far away from anything vacuum packaged or in a plastic bag, or even worse previously frozen, instead reach for the butcher counter and a good butcher, you might pay a few cents more per pound but the flavor is well worth it. I like to look for a rack ideally around 3 ½ pounds and under, this is usually the most tender flavorful rib meat you can use for BBQ ribs or smoked ribs. Look at the color of the meat; look for a uniform color without too much variation.
When you get the rack home the first thing you want to do is wash it off. This step will remove all the bone fragments and fleshy debris from the butcher cutting it up. After it’s washed pat it dry with a clean dish towel or a few paper towels. Then assemble the brine.

The Brine:
2 cups water 1 cup sugar 1 cup salt large stock pot
A pot large enough to fit the full rack of ribs with some extra room
Dissolve the salt and sugar into the water in the pot over medium heat, when all the salt and sugar are dissolved remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool. If you’re short on time use some ice, when its cool to the touch, cool not warm, place the rack of ribs in the pot and fill with enough cool water to cover the rack cover the pot. Place in the lowest part of the refrigerator; remember your food safety.
The purpose of the brine is to start your flavor building profile of the meat. I usually like to substitute brown sugar for regular but you can use white or raw whichever you prefer just please no Splenda you could even use malted barley syrup, maple syrup or agave syrup. The brine uses reverse osmosis to first draw moisture out of the meat and the flood the cells with the sugary mix to insure a tender, juicy piece of meat suitable for a long slow cooking.

The next morning remove the meat from the brine and rinse it off under cool slow running water, then pat it dry and its ready to apply your Dry Rub. I Prefer the dry rub method because it forms a nice crust or what the people in the BBQ/Smoke world call BARK. Generously sprinkle the meat with your Dry Spice Rub you can find an excellent one, the one this recipe is based on on this site hoginblack.com . Let the meat sit and come to room temperature.
In the mean time if you’re using a grill/BBQ/Smoker it’s time to prepare the wood chips, for gas grills soak a few handfuls of small wood chips in water and a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. For a smoker or BBQ grill I prefer the larger wood chunks that can be burned directly under the meat and provide both a smoke flavor and a nice even long lasting temperature, most Lowes or Home Depots carry them.
Let the grill reach around 220 degrees F. Place the ribs on the grill and allow to cook for anywhere from 3-5 hours or until the meat starts to pull away from the bone slightly and they bend and the bark cracks when held with a pair of tongs. You can spray the meat with a light mixture of apple juice and water every hour to ensure moist meat but the brine should accomplish this.
Now for anyone looking to do this in the oven you can still get a great tasting rib with the same preparation, only you can’t use wood chips (don’t want anyone dying of carbon monoxide poisoning). Let the ribs slow roast in a covered pan on a rack for the same amount of time at the same temperature. I would pour about a cup of apple juice/water on the bottom of the pan to steam the meat with.
Now if you are using an oven to cook the ribs and you just have to have the smoke perfume on the meat I have come up with a pretty nice way to accomplish this.
You MUST DO THIS PROCESS OUTSIDE!!!!
First you need 2 long deep sheet pans, about 5” deep, drill a series of 3.8” holes in the bottom of one pan. Get a charcoal chimney starter and fill it half way with charcoal and allow them to get red hot. Fill the bottom pan with wood chips and place this on the chimney starter. Then place the perforated pan on top of the wood chips and the ribs in the perforated pan on a rack. The chimney starter will allow the chips to smolder, smoking and perfuming the meat. You will need to cover the meat with aluminum foil or a cover to keep the smoke in so it penetrates the meat. The time you leave the meat on the smoke will change the smoke flavor of the meat so play with it a little to get it set to your preference. Then finish cooking them in the oven.
I also like to make a nice light BBQ sauce with some heat to add a kick as you eat these.
Ill post those recipes soon.
Happy ribbing from NYC

On Jan 1, 11:57*am, youredone82
> wrote:


> on by artisanal Pit Masters .

You crack us up, ya know?

Hey guys, we're artisanal.


> recipe for the good wholesome BBQ deprived city dwellers. So without
> more of my incessant babbling, here we go:

"wholesome BBQ" ? WTF

A few hundred words too late there buddy.

On Tue, 1 Jan 2013 18:43:11 -0600, Sqwertz >
wrote:

>Where is Kent, BTW - did we misplace him for good?

Maybe he's now posting from foodbanter...