…And the livin’s easy
I spent the first official day of summer enveloped in hickory smoke.
This Saturday, my dad and his friend, Bob, smoked three huge racks of pork ribs up at our Bath County river house. I made some zucchini and summer squash on the grill, but other than that, I had absolutely nothing to do with these beauties.
Well, I did have SOMETHING to do with them: I ate some. Wouldn’t you?
According to Dad, he used a dry rub on all three racks. Then, for the sake of experimentation, they smoked one rack with just the dry rub and used sauce on the other two racks. One got Stubb’s and the other got Kraft barbecue sauce, which had been doctored up a bit by Bob.
We all decided that the dry rub finished off with sauce is the way to go. But all three racks were absolutely delicious.
I believe I may have to invest in a smoker one of these days. I can’t seem to get the thought of smoked trout out of my mind now. Anyone out there like to smoke meat? I’d love to hear some of your tips.
June 23, 2008 - 10:59 AM
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I am not an expert when it comes to smoking meat. I believe my first turn off is the red/pink center. It looks a little undercooked (even though it isn’t).
I DO love baby back ribs and my husband made a killer set of them last week. He made two large racks and we just finished eating leftovers yesterday. He rubs them, grills them to char the outside and then bakes them in the oven to finish. Later, when its time to eat, we heat ‘em back up on the grill with a little honey barbecue sauce.
I wish those leftovers were still around…
We bought a charcoal grill/smoker two weeks ago and we love it. Now we use the gas grill for quick, weeknight cooking and fire up the coals and mesquite chips on the weekends and cook everything we have left in the ‘fridge.
Both weekends we have cooked dinner and after we ate we cooked a pork loin while the coals were still hot. Then we enjoy the smoke-flavored pork in a couple of dishes through the week.
Can I be adopted into you or Amy Hanek’s family?
ha ha Debbie – thanks for the compliment!!
I don’t have a gas grill, only use charcoal. I have a Weber charcoal “kettle” grill, and a “cheap-o” charcoal smoker/grill. I’m such a slacker! I only tried the smoker a couple times, then basically gave it up. I just cook everything on the grill. I have a “chimney” charcoal starter that is “the bomb!” It makes easy work of starting the charcoal. Lindsey, those ribs DO look good!
We have a gas grill that we use all the time, a charcoal grill that goes in the RV, and a charcoal smoker/grill. We’ve only used the smoker a couple of times; I get too impatient waiting for it to get done! And I agree with Amy, I don’t like the ‘pinkness’ even though it’s done. But those ribs sure do look good!
I smoked a ham on Sunday for my parents’ anniversary party. I dry rubbed it, smoked it, pulled it and crock-potted it all day with homemade bbq sauce. It was so good. I highly recommend Bruce Aidells Complete Book of Pork (that’s where the rub and sauce recipe came from). Those ribs look fantasic- I think I have a few in the freezer I need to pull out!