To me, nothing says summer more than barbecue and smoked ribs is a staple in my barbecue arsenal. Stay tuned for a 16 hour smoked brisket coming soon as well.

Ever since I can recollect, there has been a hot-topic debate over what barbecuing actually is. When I was growing up, we had “barbecues” and that meant anything being put on a hot grill, i.e. hot dogs, burgers, ribs, chicken, and then cooked relatively fast. This method is actually grilling. So, in fact, when my family was to have a barbecue, they were to be actually grilling the food not barbecuing it. Grilling is tender or lean cuts of meat put on a hot gas grill or over hot coals and fast cooking.

Barbecue, is low and slow. Please do not barbecue your steak. You won’t like it if you did…getting visions of shoe leather here. Barbecuing usually involves tougher cuts of meat and can, doesn’t always, use smoke. In my case, there will always be smoke. In most circles, barbecuing uses some sort of sauce; either homemade or store bought. People have tendencies here as well. Do we sauce while we barbecue? Do we pass the sauce when it’s finished? Do we sauce at the end of the barbecue? I typically like to apply a savory rub, wrap the meat in plastic wrap, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. I do not sauce until the cooking is complete and sometimes not at all. I do, however, apply a mop sauce periodically while cooking. This is usually a combination of citrus, apple cider vinegar, and oil. Applying the mop sauce, or mopping the meat, keeps the meat moist during the smoke. I am using hickory and apple wood to smoke these.

First things first: ribs should never, I repeat, never, ever, be boiled. Granted, you may speed up the cooking time, but boiling washes away so much flavor. Really it does. If you are short on time, smoke the ribs for 1 1/2 hours, wrap in foil with some mop sauce, and finish in a 350 degree-f oven until tender.

Okay, when it comes time to cook, I pull the meat out of the fridge about an hour before to bring it to room temperature. I place a foil roasting pan filled with apple cider vinegar, beer, or some liquid under the grate where the meat will be to catch the juices and deliver enough vapor to help keep the meat moist. I get my smoker going with charcoal, hardwood charcoal if I can get it, and bring the temperature up to about 180 to 200 degrees-f. Then onto the rack at the farthest part of the barrel. That is where the meat will sit for the next 4 hours. I then begin loading the fire chamber with wood chunks that have been soaking in water for at least an hour. The wood will begin smoking, feeding that smoky goodness through the barrel, over the meat, then up and out the spout. Throughout the process, more fuel will be added to maintain 225 degrees-f. No peeking! If you’re lookin’, you ain’t cookin’!

After about 1 1/2 hours, I begin mopping the ribs with the mop sauce. This is done about every hour or so. The ribs get smoked for a good four hours, but mind you, I don’t baby sit them. It’s too hot for that. I sit in the house sipping an adult beverage while the smoke does its thing. I check the temp and the volume of smoke every 45 minutes to an hour. If there is no smoke, I add wood, if the temp is dropping, more charcoal goes in. Simple really. And with practice, the reward is a juicy, succulent, tasty rib. I don’t believe that ribs should “fall off the bone", but be really tender to the bite with enough structure to hold on the bone. I don’t like mushy rib meat. Typically I like baby back ribs for this application, but this time the spares were on sale. At least something is.

I have to give many thanks to Krysta over at Evil Chef Mom for snail-mailing me some of her homemade blend of chili powder. I used this on one rack of ribs and my stand-by Memphis-y rub on the other. To get her secret recipe, please stop by her blog and drop her a line. It is really tasty!

For the beans in this dish, I used Rancho Gordo’s Yellow Eyes. After a 2 hour soak, into the pot with all the molasses and speck, and into the oven for 5 hours. They came out with a not so sweet sweetness and a hint of savory. But the texture of the bean was the best. This babies really held up to the cooking.

Follow up:

For the ribs:

INGREDIENTS:

2 racks of spare ribs washed (membrane removed)

1/2 cup yellow mustard

The rub:

2 tsp salt
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cayenne (to taste)
1 tbsp paprika (preferably smoked)

The mop:

1 1/2 cup water
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
reserved rub

METHOD:

Mix the rub ingredients together in a bowl. Reserve 1/2 rub for the mop.

Rub the ribs all over with the mustard.

Liberally apply the rub. Don’t be afraid or timid, get that rub all over!

Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for 4-8 hours preferably overnight.

Make mop. Place all ingredients in a sauce pan. Simmer until reduced by almost half.

Prepare smoker.

Smoke ribs, at 225 degrees-f for 4-5 hours or until meat shrinks up exposing about 1 inch of bone.

Mop the ribs throughout the smoking process.

Baked Beans:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups RG Yellow eyes (navy beans or other beans will work here)
1/2 pound speck or bacon coarsely chopped
1 onion, finely diced
3 tbsp molasses
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar

Sort and soak beans in cold water. (With the RG, I only needed 2 hours soak)

Place beans and soaking water in a large saucepan.

Bring to a simmer and gently simmer 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees-f.

Drain beans reserving cooking water.

In an oven-proof pot, all ingredients except speck and beans.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat.

Stir in beans and speck.

Cover the beans by 1 inch with the reserved cooking water.

Cover the pot.

Place into the oven.

Bake for 4-5 hours in the preheated oven, until beans are tender.

Remove the lid about halfway through cooking, and add more water if necessary.