03.10.2002

I made these ribs from a recipe I found here. I modified the sauce a bit.

Ribs:
From Hy-Vee. Pork Baby Backs, two and a half racks. Very meaty.

Dry Rub:
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Paprika
1/4 Cup Salt
1/4 Cup Celery Salt
3 Tbsp. Onion Powder
3 Tbsp. Chili Powder
2 Tbsp. Cumin
2 Tbsp. Black Pepper
2 Tbsp. Dried Mustard Powder
1 Tbsp. Cayenne Pepper

Mixed all ingredients. Sprinkled on ribs at about 8:00PM the night before cooking.

Tips for next time: I don't know that I really like Celery Salt that much. This is the first time I've cooked anything with celery salt, and I really don't like the smell. I still have some of this rub left over, so I'll probably use it again, but the next rub I make probably will not have as much celery salt. Maybe I'll try some Garlic salt instead. You can never go wrong with Garlic.

Sauce:
1 Tbsp. Seasoned Salt
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1 Tbsp. Cumin
1 Tbsp. Mild Curry Powder
1 Tbsp. Paprika
1/2 Tsp. Ground Allspice
1/2 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Mace
1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
2 Cups Ketchup
3/4 Cup Dark Unsulphered Molasses
1/2 Cup White Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Honey
2 Tsp. Cholula Hot Sauce
1 Tsp. Huy Fong Sriracha Chili Sauce

Mixed dry ingredients in bowl, added wet ingredients and attempted to mix. It didn't mix. Put on stove and heated until lightly simmering, removed and refrigerated.

Tips for next time:
Mix the wet ingredients in the saucepan and begin to heat. Stir in the dry ingredients more slowly so they don't clump. I think there's a bit too much molasses in this recipe, and I went overboard with the hot sauce. Cholula is better than Tobasco, I think, but I think I added just a bit too much. Same with the Sriracha.

Equipment:
Char-Broil H20 Smoker (The Red One)
Kingsford Match-Light charcoal (to start)
Kingsford regular charcoal (for adding)
New Braunfels Mesquite Wood Chunks
Char-Broil Hickory Wood Chips

Water Pan:
Water

Outside Conditions:
30-40° F., Very Windy
I kept the smoker in the garage, and had the garage door anywhere from halfway to fully open.

Tips for next time: Too cold. Wait until it's at least 60-70° F. It's March now, I should be able to wait. Hell, we may get a nice day next weekend.

Cooking Process:
The ribs sat in a plastic bag with the rub overnight. I started the wood chips soaking in water at around 10:00AM. I started the charcoal at noon. I used a small pile, about eight inches high, of the Match Light charcoal. When the coals had ashed over, I spread the coals, leaving about a two-coal deep layer on the bottom of the coal pan. I filled the water pan with water, added it, and closed the smoker. I waited for about fifteen minutes for the smoker to heat up to the proper temperature. It didn't heat up like I was expecting, so I added more of the Match Light charcoal. The heat of the coals started to evaporate the fluid out of the Match Light charcoal. It put off a very strong odor, and I was glad that the ribs weren't on yet. After the coals caught, the smoker heated up to the right temperature. After the new coals had ashed over, I put the ribs on at 12:15PM. I added about a cup of the soaked Hickory chips to the coals. They immediately began to smoke. I knew I was going to need to continue to add more charcoal, so I went and bought a bag of regular non match-light charcoal.

About 30 minutes after the ribs went on, the temperature was down too low again. And the hickory chips had fully burned off. I wrapped about another cup of hickory chips in foil and added them to the coals. I added more charcoal, and shut the garage door a bit more. Eventually the heat came back up. I'm guessing that the foil packs smoked for about an hour each, and I had to continue to add them. I was struggling with the temperature all day, and I think it's because it was just too cold outside. I added some mesquite wood chunks (much bigger than the chips) late into cooking. This brought up the temperature a lot, and put off a ton of smoke. Probably too much, as a matter of fact. I put them on un-soaked.

At 6:00PM, I brushed the ribs liberally with my sauce. They came off at 6:30 PM. The meat thermometer was reading 185°. The pages I read said that the ideal tempeature is 160°, so perhaps these were a bit overdone.

The Results:
The ribs were edible. There was a thick outer coating around just about all the meat that was difficult to cut. Maybe it just dried out? Did I let the water level fall too much? I wasn't keeping a great eye on the water. But inside the outer coating, there was good meat. The meat was a bright pink, almost like Ham. It wasn't the greyish brown I was expecting, like when you get ribs at a restaraunt. But I did eat plenty of them, and they weren't bad. I didn't get sick, so I guess they were fully cooked. I think I may have gone a bit overboard with the pepper sauce and molasses.

Tips For Next Time:
Fix the sauce. A bit too hot, a bit too much molasses. Add some liquid smoke next time. Don't bother trying to smoke in temperatures that low. DO NOT smoke in the garage. There's a delicate balance between enough ventilation and having the door closed enough to keep the temperature up. I probably got CO poisoning. Next time, it'll be a nice day, and the smoker will be on the back porch.

Watch the water leve more closely. Also, add a LOT more charcoal when first lighting. I think that areas of the charcoal pan were starting to go out, and that would be less of a problem if there's a nice layer of coals to start with. Once an area goes out, it takes a while to re-light.

Soak a lot more of the chips, and add a cup in a foil pack about once an hour. Try that next time, then the time after, try cutting back. I don't know that I am, but I think I may be creating too much smoke. We'll see.