Saturday, December 26, 2009

Pork Spare Ribs

My friend let me borrow his electric smoker for a couple months, so I thought I would put it to good use and make some spare ribs! I know not too many of us use, or have a smoker on hand, but you can get the same result by slow roasting in the oven with a little liquid smoke+water in the pan and keeping it covered with aluminum foil.
These spare ribs were purchased at Costco for a price of $15.99 for 8 pounds. That is actually a lot of ribs for one sitting, so I would recommend they be split up into 4'ths and saved for a later date. I think I am going to be making a lot of happy co-workers and friends on Monday!
Ribs, if you have never had any experience with them, come with a membrane on the back that is tough and should be removed before cooking. Its fairly easy to do, just get your knife under it to start, and grab it with a paper towel and tear it off(picture #2)
The smoking process was pretty easy. I cooked them at 220 degrees for about 5 hours and replacing the Apple chips about every hour. General rule of thumb is about an hour for every pound of meat you have. Apple chips gave the ribs a very nice smokey but not overbearing flavor. The rub is something I put together on my own. It ended up being a little spicier that I wanted, so I might go very lightly next time on this rub.
Ribs are an easy dinner and we all love them. These turned out wonderful, and I would love to cook them again, but maybe for a larger crowd! They are great served with a generous helping of BBQ Sauce and baked potatoes! (my favorite!)

Chris' Spicy Rub

2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
2 Teaspoons Coarse Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons Paprika
1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Oregano Leaves (dried)
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin

*I use fresh Garlic after the rub has been applied and let rest for about an hour. I prefer fresh over granulated, but you can use that instead. I generally eyeball garlic- about 2 Teaspoons of fresh. I would use about 1 Teaspoons of granulated if you want to substitute.
Happy Dry Rubbing!!!
















3 comments:

  1. Wow! That looks really good Chris, thanks for posting the recipe.

    p.s. We'd be happy to join you whenever you need a larger crowd. hehehe

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  2. Ummm... YUM! I'm putting in my request for THIS next Anchor Bay trip! Your parents have a smoker, right??

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  3. oh ya! I forgot about that! Good idea! Ribs for Anchor Bay it is! OR, we can always do a smoked Turkey with Cherry wood- I think that might be my next project!! :p

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