Trying something completely new for me: smoking meat. I’ve never done it, but for some reason became sightly curious about it recently. Maybe something to do with living in Kansas City. Browsing around I saw a smoker on sale for $199 – and it has Bluetooth! The GrillMaster 320G. Stainless Steel with a glass window in the door. Some smokers have windows, most don’t. The reviews on windows were mixed, with some people liking them, and others saying they get smoked up and you can’t see through them. I like to watch, so I went for it. After finishing the assembly, the first step is seasoning with a test run while empty, just a 1/2 cup of hickory chips. I could see the smoke very easily inside the chamber, and didn’t think the window would become uncleanable or opaque with time.
Saturday Jude and I rode our bikes down to Whole Foods and picked up two racks of pork baby back ribs, 2.7 lbs at 9.99/lb. It was a gorgeous day, and it was fun to ride with him along the path under the trees, and teach him to ride on the right hand side, how to stop at the street crossing and check both ways. He’s six.
I should have spiced the ribs overnight with a rub, but it was a busy day, so I decided to get to it first thing in the morning.
I took the ribs out of the fridge and let them sit while mixing the rub together.
Rub
1 Tbl Onion powder 1 Tbl Garlic powder 1 Tbl Salt 1/2 tsp cayenne 5 Tbl Cane Sugar (Brown Sugar) 1/2 Tbl Chili Powder 3 Tbl Smoked Paprika
Remove the fine membrane on the underside of the ribs. It was a little hard to grab at first, but once you get it, you can use a bit of paper towel to keep a grip.
Remove any excess liquid from the meat with a paper towel and sprinkle on the rub. Rub on whatever will stick to the meat. I used about half of what I made. I wrapped the ribs back up and put them in the fridge for an hour (normally they’d sit with the rub for 2-4 hours or overnight).
I warmed up the smoker to 230. Placed 3 cups of apple juice in the liquid tray, apple wood in the smoke chamber, and put the ribs each on a separate rack. I was using a method called the 3-2-1 method. The idea is to cook them for 3 hours uncovered, then wrap them in foil with orange juice and barbecue sauce (1/4 cup of each) for 2 hours, then the last hour open, with just a brushing of sauce.
They came out tender, just about falling off the bone, and yummy.