Recipe Smoked Baby Back Ribs Tagine Style Smothered In Spicy Apricot Sauce

TENDER BABY BACK RIBS

Steps:

• Rub ribs with oil. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, paprika, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne; rub over ribs. Wrap in a large piece of heavy-duty foil (about 28 in. x 18 in.). Seal the edges of foil. In a small bowl, combine barbecue sauce and beer; set aside., Prepare grill for indirect heat. Grill ribs, covered, over indirect medium heat for 1 hour. Carefully remove ribs from foil. Place over direct heat; baste with sauce mixture. Grill 20 minutes or until meat is tender, turning and basting occasionally with sauce.

NO FAIL BBQ BABY BACK RIBS (GRILL)

Steps:

• Remove silver skin from bone side of ribs. Never used to do this, but now understand why the pros do. Using the tine of a dinner fork helps get things started, then it just peels off.
• Put a large sheet of foil on the counter and place the ribs meat side down. You want enough foil to VERY lightly wrap (or tent) the ribs for grilling.
• All the spice measurements above are estimates. We like things a bit on the zippy side, but not burning hot -- just a little bite. With that said, we season the bone side of the ribs heavy with garlic powder, medium heavy with cayenne, medium heavy with pepper, and light with salt. Really hard to over do it, as after 4+ hours on the grill, the spices seem to mellow.
• Flip the ribs and repeat the seasoning. Again, may look heavy, but the flavors kinda vanish during cooking. Why you need to try it once and adjust to taste the 2nd time. I never taste the garlic no matter how much I put on, but the cayenne does adjust the spiciness. Even when we go pretty heavy with the cayenne, it is not over-powering.
• Lightly wrap the ribs. You want to create a tent on top so the foil does not touch the meat. Pull up the ends lightly and seal. You do want to seal things so moisture does not escape. You can put these in the fridge all day, or put on the grill immediately.
• I have a Weber Genesis gas grill that has a front, center and rear burner. Don't have to pre-heat, but I only turn on the front burner to low-medium -- grill will heat to about 250 degrees. Place the ribs towards the rear of the grill (away from the burner). Leave them there for 2 hours. Nothing you need to do except make sure the temp stays around 250. 200 is fine, 300 is fine -- but lower seems to produce better results.
• After 2 hours, open the foil and coat with BBQ sauce. Should be a lot of juice in the foil at this point. If not, add some water, beer, or something. Re-seal the foil and let them go another 2 hours.
• Now the tricky part. Pull the ribs towards the front the grill. Get a couple wide spatulas, open the foil, and carefully lift the rack of ribs from the foil and place directly on the center of the grill. At this point, the ribs will be pretty much done. Remove the foil from the grill. Turn on all the burners and coat the ribs with sauce. Close the lid. Things should start smoking from the sauce dripping and burning. If things are not smoking, turn up the heat. Keep an eye on things at this point. You do want a nice char, but you don't want to overdo it. Maybe 10-20 minutes for this step.
• Get the 2 spatulas and remove to a cookie sheet or platter. Enjoy.
• If you like Sweet Baby Ray's Original, you will like these. Fall off the bone every single time, and they require very little effort or attention. You can adjust the base seasoning to your liking. I have made these with the same general recipe and process from anywhere between 3 hours and 6 hours with very little loss in outcome. Hence the reason I call it "no fail".

SMOKED BABY BACK RIBS

Steps:

• Prepare the ribs (see below). Combine the brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, cumin, mustard powder and 2 tablespoons salt in a small bowl. Rub the ribs all over with the cut sides of the lemon and then the spice mixture and place in a large roasting pan or resealable plastic bag. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Meanwhile, soak the wood chips in water 1 hour, then prepare your grill for smoking, filling the smoker box with one-quarter each of the wood chips and apple.
• About 30 minutes before smoking, remove the ribs from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature. Meanwhile, combine the apple juice, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar in a small spray bottle. Shake to mix.
• Once the grill reaches 250 degrees F, lightly brush the grates with vegetable oil and place the ribs on the cooler side of the grill, meat-side up. Spray with the apple juice mixture. Close the grill and let smoke 1 hour.
• Replenish the smoker box with another one-quarter each of the wood chips and apple. Flip the ribs so they're meat-side down with the opposite edge of the racks closer to the smoker box. Spray with the apple juice mixture; close the grill and let smoke 1 more hour. Repeat this process every hour until the ribs are dark brown and tender and the meat starts to shrink away from the bones, about 2 more hours. Remove the ribs from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
• How to prep your ribs:
• Position the ribs meat-side down. Insert a paring knife under the membrane that covers the back of the rack. Loosen the membrane with the knife. Grab the membrane with your fingers and peel off completely.

SMOKED RIBS WITH CAROLINA-STYLE BBQ SAUCE

Steps:

• For the rub:
• Combine all the spices in a small bowl. Brush both sides of the racks with oil and rub with the spice mixture. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
• In a large pot over low heat, add all the mop ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.
• Remove the ribs from the refrigerator 45 minutes before smoking to allow them to come to room temperature. Add the mix of hickory and applewood chips to the smoker according to package instructions. Heat a smoker to 220 degrees F. Put the apple cider in a small heatproof pan in the smoker.
• Put the ribs directly on the smoker rack. Smoke for 6 hours, brushing the ribs with the mop every hour for the first 5 hours. During the last hour, brush the ribs with the North Carolina Barbecue Sauce every 10 minutes. Remove the ribs to a serving platter and serve.
• For the BBQ Sauce:
• Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Add the onions and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the ketchup and water, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes.
• Carefully transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then pour into a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature. Sauce will keep for 1 week in the refrigerator, stored in a tightly sealed container.

BABY BACK RIBS, SMOKED TO PERFECTION

Steps:

• Place 3 fist-sized chunks of wood in a smoker and heat to 250 degrees F (121 degrees C).
• While the wood burns down, mix salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and cumin together. Apply the rub to both sides of the ribs.
• Add ribs to the smoker, bone-side down, once a thin blue smoke appears. Smoke for 2 hours. Wrap ribs lightly in aluminum foil to retain juices. Continue smoking for 1 1/2 hours at 225 to 250 degrees F (107 to 121 degrees C).
• Remove foil and continue to smoke until meat is tender but still stays on the bone, about 1 hour more, brushing lightly with barbeque sauce in the last 15 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).

SMOKED SOUTHERN BABY BACK RIBS

Steps:

• Take the olive oil with a basting brush and go over all sides of the ribs. After you fo this, sprinkle the rub on both sides of the pork. If you run out, just mix some more. I am a heavy rub girl so I like a lot! The sauce is last portion of the ingredients. Start with the BBQ sauce and work your way down.
• Now its time to prepare your smoker. If you do not have a smoker, you can do this with a regular grill to get the same smoke flavor. If you do not have a smoker, just go to the end of the directions for smoking and you will see how to do it with a grill.
• I have an upright, cylinder shaped, 2 tier smoker made by Brinkman. I buy hickory wood chunks from Home Depot or Walmart. I will put 4 or 5 in a pan of water to soak for about an hour. I light my coals and let them burn until the coals turn ashy of the sides. I add my soaked wood and water pan/drip pan ontop of that. I close the lid so it can get up to temperature.
• After about half an hour, I place the ribs in the smoker (bone side down)and leave them alone for atleast 2 hours. You want to maintain a constant temperature in the smoker of about 200 to 220 degrees. The secret to fall-off-the-bone ribs is cooking them low and slow. Do not even take the top off for 2 hours. After 2 hours, take them off and wrap in aluminum foil. Add more wet or dry wood chunks to the bottom bowl. Close the lid and let them cook another hour and a half. If you choose to add sauce, this is the time to do it. Open the aluminum foil and pour my sauce over them. After about 30 more minutes, you have the finest ribs that you have ever had!
• Now, if you do not have a smoker I recommend you get one. It's only $39 at Home Depot. Prepare your grill with coals and place wet hickory wood chunks all around ontop of the coals. Place ribs on the grill (bone side down) and let them cook about 30 minutes, turning them over after 15 minutes. Afterwards, wrap in aluminum foil and place back onto grill. Let them cook an additional 30 minutes. Pour my sticky sauce over them in the foil and let cook additional 15 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH SMOKED PORK BACK RIBS

Steps:

• Preheat smoker to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C).
• Mix paprika, chili powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Rub evenly over both sides of ribs. Place ribs, back-side down, on a wire rack.
• Place rack in the preheated smoker. Add apple wood chips according to manufacturer's instructions. Smoke ribs until meat shrinks away from the bones, about 5 1/2 hours.
• Remove ribs from smoker; cover with barbeque sauce. Wrap with aluminum foil. Let rest for 30 minutes.

SMOKED BABY BACK RIBS WITH HOISIN-HONEY GLAZE

Steps:

• Whisk first 9 ingredients in large roasting pan to blend. Add ribs to pan; turn to coat. Chill overnight, turning ribs occasionally. Remove ribs from marinade, reserving marinade.
• Place handful of torn newspaper in bottom of charcoal chimney. Top with 30 charcoal briquettes. Remove top rack from barbecue. Place chimney on lower barbecue rack. Light newspaper; let charcoal burn until ash is gray, about 30 minutes.
• Open bottom barbecue vent. Turn out hot charcoal onto 1 half of bottom rack. Using metal spatula, spread charcoal to cover approximately 1/3 of rack. Fill foil loaf pan halfway with water and place opposite charcoal on bottom rack.
• Place top rack on barbecue. Arrange ribs on top rack above water in loaf pan. Cover barbecue with lid, positioning top vent directly over ribs. Place stem of candy thermometer through top vent, with gauge on outside and tip near ribs (thermometer should not touch meat or barbecue rack); leave in place during cooking. Use top and bottom vents to maintain temperature between 250°F and 300°F, opening vents wider to increase heat and closing to decrease heat. Leave any other vents closed. Check temperature every 10 minutes.
• Cook ribs until meat is very tender when pierced with knife, turning ribs and basting with reserved marinade every 20 minutes, about 1 hour 30 minutes total. Open barbecue only when necessary (to baste meat, for instance) and close quickly to minimize loss of heat and smoke. After first 30 minutes of cooking, use technique described earlier to light additional 15 charcoal briquettes in same charcoal chimney set atop nonflammable surface.
• If cooking temperature drops below 250°F, use oven mitts to lift off top rack with ribs and place on heatproof surface. Using tongs, add half of hot gray charcoal from chimney to bottom rack. Replace top rack on barbecue, placing ribs above water in loaf pan. Cover with lid.
• Transfer ribs to baking sheet; let stand 10 minutes. Cut meat between bones to separate ribs and serve.
• *Available at Asian markets and in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets.

RECIPE: SMOKED BABY BACK RIBS TAGINE STYLE SMOTHERED IN SPICY APRICOT SAUCE

Steps:

• INSTRUCTIONS For the spicy apricot sauce: Place serrano peppers in smoker for one hour. Cook onions until soft and translucent then add serrano peppers. Add Moroccan rib rub, Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add apricot preserves, honey, tomato sauce and pan drippings. Cook rapidly until sauce thickens then let simmer for one to two hours. For the tagine-style ribs: Remove the membrane from the ribs and rub generously with the rub (about ¾ cup). Prepare smoker for barbecue at 225 to 250 degrees F. Add the ribs to a rack and set a water dish directly below to catch drippings and help braise while cooking. Carefully monitor smoker temperature, adding additional wood as required. After two hours, slice tomato and add to smoker along with the whole garlic clove. After two and a half hours, remove ribs from smoker, dress with spicy apricot sauce, wrap in aluminum foil (a technique known as the "Texas crutch") and return to smoker for the final 30 minutes. After three hours, finely chop smoked tomatoes, peel and chop garlic and add to prepared couscous. Remove ribs and slather generously with sauce. Cut into one to two ribs servings, place over bed of couscous, garnish with mint leaves and serve.