Smoking Pork Spare Ribs Today

I’m smoking pork spare ribs today.

The ribs are Swift Premium brand, and are minimally processed (which means they haven’t been treated with meat tenderizers and preservatives). I bought them at Costco yesterday, unfrozen; 3 full racks in the pack, about $30. I’ll be smoking 3 half-racks today and freezing the rest for another day.

The ribs were already cut St. Louis style, but untrimmed otherwise. I removed the membrane, trimmed off loose meat and excess fat, and rinsed. Then I dry-brined them with kosher salt for about 3 hours in the fridge. I used about 1/4 teaspoon (maybe a bit more) of salt per side of a half rack.

Pictured below: ribs and joint.

See you in a few hours sounds like ...

white lighter. you're ribs are doomed from the start. sorry mate

Here they are after I applied rub. I made the rub fresh last night. The recipe I followed was Meathead Goldwyn's Memphis Dust recipe. I applied a very light coat of olive oil to help the rub stick, then I sprinkled the rub on heavy - bone side first, then meat side. Then I let them sit on the counter while I prepared my smoker.

ever try cattleman's?

RickyBobby26 said:

Here they are after I applied rub. I made the rub fresh last night. The recipe I followed was Meathead Goldwyn's Memphis Dust recipe. I applied a very light coat of olive oil to help the rub stick, then I sprinkled the rub on heavy - bone side first, then meat side. Then I let them sit on the counter while I prepared my smoker.

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You're no @Gary Goodson that's for sure.

your meat looks great

I see the joints missing in the second pic .......


This guys the real deal

And here they were when I set them on the smoker. Two racks on the top grate, and one rack (the thickest) on the bottom.

Bob Zmuda said:

You're no @Gary Goodson that's for sure.

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Gary is on his own level ...his name is way to holy in the meat world to even compare......

Lovin it. Those def 3/4 racks though. Lookin good.

RickyBobby26 said:

And here they were when I set them on the smoker. Two racks on the top grate, and one rack (the thickest) on the bottom.

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The way your telling the story is making me confused between hunger and a chub ......interesting

My smoker is a Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5" smoker. I'm using Kingsford charcoal briquettes for heat, and a mixture of oak and cherry wood chunks for smoke flavor. The cherry adds nice color as well. Grate temperature is 225 degrees, as verified by a Thermoworks ThermaQ grate temperature probe. The total smoke time should be 5-6 hours. I started at 11:20AM today.

Here they are after 3 hours on the smoker:

K yep all this sweet thick cherry talk has definately got me headed over to the odd sexual attractions thread to post ........and hungry

Here's my smoker and ThermaQ temperatrure monitor:

Indacouch said:

K yep all this sweet thick cherry talk has definately got me headed over to the odd sexual attractions thread to post ........and hungry

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for odd sexual attractions?

I like sauced ribs, but my family like dry ribs. So we're having dry ribs. Memphis style.

I'll be smoking competition style spare ribs tomorrow. I'm gonna trim them down St. Louis style then I'll be rubbing it with my own home made rib rub. Using the 3-2-1 method and adding butter, brown sugar, honey, and tiger sauce when I foil them. I might use a chipotle BBQ sauce to finish them up with a nice glaze.

And they will not be "fall off the bone" tender. To me, that's over cooked. I like my ribs tender, but I like to bite them off the bone.

RickyBobby26 said:

And they will not be "fall off the bone" tender. To me, that's over cooked. I like my ribs tender, but I like to bite them off the bone.

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Exactly