Hi,
I cooked Baby back ribs a couple days ago, thought I'd post how it went.
I firstly used the rub described in the "Project Smoke" book by S Raichlen; listed under Oak-smoked cherry-glazed baby back ribs. It's a paprika heavy rub with some other spices, sugar and salt - but notably no Black pepper.
I also took the opportunity to test out which of the sausages my butcher sells are the best smoked; out of the ones he had in I selected the Cumberland, the "Traditional" (thin seasoned with cracked black pepper - I think), and the English Sausage (which I think i just slightly seasons); he had some other that either didn't appeal to me or didn't look like they'd smoke so well. And I threw on a chicken on there to make the best use of my time - I just spatchcocked it and used the left over pork rub but threw in a bit black pepper.
I smoked with Oak; it's British/European oat rather than post oak - but I am not sure there is a lot in it having eaten quite of Texas BBQ - it certainly smells similar when burning.
I tried to keep the offset at around 140C, which is about 280F.
This was at about half way. The book recommended glazing it with cherry, but I am not a huge fan of cherry flavours so I used a reduced apple juice & apple cider vinegar solution every 30-45mins or so.
Just finishing off the chicken, trying to get the breast up to about 64C while getting the legs to around 74C. We'd made some beans but there had been an accident with the application of the chilli and they were super spicy - so we put the bowl in the smoker to see what'd happen.
The results. It was dark by the time we'd got it to where we want it, which wasn't a problem as it was unseasonably warm that night.
The ribs had a strong bark on them, perhaps almost too much, I think next time I'll try and keep the temperature a little lower and might do a bit better at applying the apple solution. The rub was really good, the only thing I'd change is either using more salt or use a finer ground salt (I think what happened is I used good quality sea salt with large crystals which didn't really stick in the same way that the other ground spices did.
Sticking the beans in the smoker turned out to be a massive success, for some reason unknown to me, it sees as though the spiciness was neutralised by the smoke.
The BBQ sauce (see in the steel pan); is my own recipe and it made from Kecap Manis which is a fantastic ingredient if you've never used it. Its kind of like (british) Black Treacle mixed with soy sauce.
Out of the sausages; they were all good, but the "Traditional" was definitely the best; the Cumberland too the middle spot and the English was the least good (but still great!). The Cumberland was the thickest so didn't take on as much of the smoke; the traditional was narrow so took on lots of smoke but also had the black pepper which is a winning combo. The English was thin but didn't have the seasoning.
The chicken turned out really well too, it's the first time I'd used a rub with sugar in on Chicken, but this really knocked the chicken up a level.
I cooked Baby back ribs a couple days ago, thought I'd post how it went.
I firstly used the rub described in the "Project Smoke" book by S Raichlen; listed under Oak-smoked cherry-glazed baby back ribs. It's a paprika heavy rub with some other spices, sugar and salt - but notably no Black pepper.
I also took the opportunity to test out which of the sausages my butcher sells are the best smoked; out of the ones he had in I selected the Cumberland, the "Traditional" (thin seasoned with cracked black pepper - I think), and the English Sausage (which I think i just slightly seasons); he had some other that either didn't appeal to me or didn't look like they'd smoke so well. And I threw on a chicken on there to make the best use of my time - I just spatchcocked it and used the left over pork rub but threw in a bit black pepper.
I smoked with Oak; it's British/European oat rather than post oak - but I am not sure there is a lot in it having eaten quite of Texas BBQ - it certainly smells similar when burning.
I tried to keep the offset at around 140C, which is about 280F.
This was at about half way. The book recommended glazing it with cherry, but I am not a huge fan of cherry flavours so I used a reduced apple juice & apple cider vinegar solution every 30-45mins or so.
Just finishing off the chicken, trying to get the breast up to about 64C while getting the legs to around 74C. We'd made some beans but there had been an accident with the application of the chilli and they were super spicy - so we put the bowl in the smoker to see what'd happen.
The results. It was dark by the time we'd got it to where we want it, which wasn't a problem as it was unseasonably warm that night.
The ribs had a strong bark on them, perhaps almost too much, I think next time I'll try and keep the temperature a little lower and might do a bit better at applying the apple solution. The rub was really good, the only thing I'd change is either using more salt or use a finer ground salt (I think what happened is I used good quality sea salt with large crystals which didn't really stick in the same way that the other ground spices did.
Sticking the beans in the smoker turned out to be a massive success, for some reason unknown to me, it sees as though the spiciness was neutralised by the smoke.
The BBQ sauce (see in the steel pan); is my own recipe and it made from Kecap Manis which is a fantastic ingredient if you've never used it. Its kind of like (british) Black Treacle mixed with soy sauce.
Out of the sausages; they were all good, but the "Traditional" was definitely the best; the Cumberland too the middle spot and the English was the least good (but still great!). The Cumberland was the thickest so didn't take on as much of the smoke; the traditional was narrow so took on lots of smoke but also had the black pepper which is a winning combo. The English was thin but didn't have the seasoning.
The chicken turned out really well too, it's the first time I'd used a rub with sugar in on Chicken, but this really knocked the chicken up a level.
