First try at spares

[zdave]

I found spares on sale a few weeks ago so I figured it was a good time for a first try. I had intended to smoke these yesterday but I ran out of time to have them ready for dinner. Fortunately I had today off as well so they just got a little extra time in the marinade. I used marinade/mop and rub recipes from a Richard McPeake book called "The Art of Smokeology", which is a pretty good book despite the recipes being a little scattered.

I also decided to cut the spares St Louis Style having watched the Weber instructional video on youtube. I then diced the remaining meat into large chunks--these look like the Rib Tips I get from time to time at my favorite local BBQ restaurant. They all marinated overnight and I rubbed them and put them on an hour ago with hickory and a blend of assorted sweet woods (Apple, Pear, Sugar Maple, etc). The racks I will 3-2-1 but I think i will just watch the tips closely and pull them off when they look delicious.

The photo will also show my equipment setup that I've mentioned before. I currently use a Char-Broil "Big Easy" gas grill with the far left burner on and wood chips on top of that. It is easy to keep the temperature down for "low and slow" cooking (yet still overcome the cold weather) and the lid is tall enough that butts or turkey breasts are no problem.

 

[flash]

Looks good. Look forward to some finished photos.

 

[desertlites]

lookin good,I just bought a few racks,trimmed st. louis style and froze,waiting for a rainy day-heck it rained last fri.prolly won't for a couple months now.oh well maybe I will smoke ribs on a sunny day.

 

[richtee]

That's a good start Dave! Keep that smoke Thin an' Blue!

 

[zdave]

desertlites, you are in Phoenix, yes? Pretty soon I bet you'll be able to smoke without charcoal.

 

[kookie]

Looks good...........Great start............

 

[zdave]

Here's the final results. The tips came out real nice and only about half of them made it to the fridge--lunch tomorrow.

I just unwrapped the ribs and re-mopped for the final hour. It will be too dark and i will be too hungry by the time they are ready for photos, so here they are. Sorry for the camera phone pictures, some are better than others.