Smokin Ribs on the BBQ'er

Grilling over a fire and smoking meat has been a fascination for a long time. The problem with working and going to college means time is limited so the fascination is trial and error on the weekends...and only several times in the summer months at that. My dream is BBQ'ing the perfect ribs (who am I kidding??....I want to be a champion BBQ'er of EVERYTHING!). I am a true meat eater from way back. My family had little when I was growing up and we lived off of the gardens and animals my parents raised. As the 3 (at that time; there are now 4) of us then became older, Mom and Dad moved up in life and acquired the American dream home and better income. Much of the land around us was, and still is, used for raising cattle (Raymond, WA). Some people were naming cows while I was naming cuts of meat. To this day, I have a deep respect for the BBQ'ing fanatic who faithfully grills in all seasons and in all types of weather. No propane here. No sirree! Briquettes, wood, and soaked wood chips for smoking. Hubby has the whoopee propane grill and I have already heard all the stories about how he can just walk out on the deck and start up the heat and be grilling away 10 minutes later. How nice for him. Yes, I am being sarcastic. I do get impatient waiting for the briquettes to turn glowing red in the chimney, I do dislike ash being stirred around when I need to add more briquettes to keep the heat to temperature, and I do dislike having a portable oven thermometer on the rack, constantly falling over. Hubby has never yet grilled the perfect ribs and, tooting my own horn, I did! Okay, I didn't grill them; I smoked them. My BBQ grill is a double barrel, so I can put heat in one compartment and have the food on the grates in the next compartment. Indirect heat is a lovely thing. No burning once the BBQ sauce is applied.

I used a dry rub and let the spareribs absorb the spices for 2 days before taking the ribs out of the refrigerator and letting come to room temperature for 30 minutes; then the grilling began!
I used a bought sauce called "We're Talkin Serious Bone Suckin Sauce" because I am hooked on the flavor and because I did not have the time to devote in creating a masterpiece sauce...just encase my ribs turned into shoe leather again. Yes, the last time I grilled ribs, the meat was so tough Rocky, the Golden Retriever, even looked the other way in horror. It was a sad moment in my minimal grilling history. Here is the recipe, adapted from Epicurious.

Kansas City Spareribs
For dry rub
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup paprika
2 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
2 1/2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 to 3 racks spareribs (about 9 pounds)
8 pounds (about) 100% natural lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes
4 cups (about) hickory wood smoke chips, soaked in cold water at least 30 minutes
1 1/2 cups purchased tomato-based barbecue sauce (such as KC Masterpiece or Bone Suckin Sauce)


Make dry rub:
Mix brown sugar, paprika, coarse salt, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper in small bowl for dry rub. Sprinkle 2/3 cup dry rub all over spareribs. Cover ribs with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight. Cover remaining dry rub; store at room temperature.
Unwrap seasoned spareribs; sprinkle all over with half of remaining dry rub. Let spareribs stand at room temperature 30 minutes.
Using natural lump charcoal and 1/2 cup drained wood chips for smoker, start fire and bring temperature of smoker to 200°F. to 225°F. or barbecue to 275°F. to 300°F. Arrange ribs on rack in smoker or barbecue. Cover and cook ribs 2 hours, turning occasionally (heat needs to be indirect). Add more charcoal as needed to maintain temperature and more drained wood chips (1/2 cup for smoker or 1 cup for barbecue with each addition) to maintain smoke level.
Sprinkle ribs evenly with all remaining dry rub. Cover and cook 1 hour 15 minutes. Brush ribs generously with barbecue sauce. Continue cooking until meat is very tender and brown, about 30 minutes longer. Maintain temperature by adding more lump charcoal; maintain smoke level by adding more drained hickory wood chips as needed.
Transfer ribs to large serving platter. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut rib racks between bones into individual ribs and serve immediately.



The spareribs are the best ribs I have made, EVER! I would make these and "not" put BBQ sauce on next time, the rub is that good. The meat is moist and tender!