PROQSMOKERS.COM
14
Spare Ribs
This recipe is for a rack of pork spare ribs. Untrimmed and smoked to perfection.
They take a long time to cook perfectly so preparation is key.
Step 1
First thing to do is remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs by
lifting the edge up with a knife and peeling it all the way back and off.
Step 2
Get some hotdog or English mustard and give the ribs a nice coating, the
flavour will be cooked out and it’ll help the rub stick, which is the next step.
Step 3
Coat the ribs generously with a dry rub of your choice but try to avoid
caking them, make sure you do both sides, before putting the ribs in the fridge for
an hour, sealed with cling film. You can use this time to get your smoker going at
225-250°F/105°C-120°C.
Step 4
Smoke the ribs (bone side down) or in a rack for 3½ hours, check your
temperature and water once an hour, no more. Opening the smoker causes
massive temperature fluctuations which can affect the cook, so try to do it as little
as possible.
Step 5
Once they’ve been on for the 3½ hours, take them off, cover them in glaze,
wrap them in 2 layers of heavy duty tin foil and place them back on the smoker
bones up, without the waterpan - this should take the temperature up to about
300°F for ½ an hour.
Step 6
Take the foil off the ribs, glaze them generously and grill for 10 minutes on
each side with the lid shut. You can always add more glaze. Remove the ribs and
rest them for 15-20 minutes before serving.
N.B. We usually say that temperature is the only way to truly tell if your meat is
cooked, but it’s hard to get an accurate temperature for ribs with all the bones and
different thickness of the meat, so the BBQ experts came up with another method
using the ‘flex’ of the rack. This means picking up the ribs about 1/3rd of the way
along the rack, and ‘bouncing’ them gently. If the rack bends to about 90° and
cracks appear in the top of the meat, the ribs are done.
