St. Louis cut ribs have been a crowd pleaser in my house. Whether its family, or friends and family, they'd get demolished. I tend to let the meats I smoke stand on their own, so just salt and pepper went on them. Then my wife, almost as a joke, bought something from the grocery store. Signature Select brand, cook in bag, pre-seasoned ribs. I shook my head and told her, "We have friends coming over. If these are terrible, you're taking the blame." There was no way I was going to cook them in the blasted bag, so I brought them out to the somewhat-trusty pellet smoker, took them out of the bag, and put them on with a tube of hickory. I did absolutely no processing of my own, even leaving on the membrane. The skirt on the back appears to have already been trimmed off.
They were phenomenal. Definitely the best ribs I've ever smoked. I felt totally emasculated. But that was OK, at least for that night, because I filled that emotional void with nearly a whole rack myself. For what its worth, it was unanimous that the Kansas City flavor was better than the Whiskey Pepper flavor, though not by much.
I bought another bag of the Kansas City ribs and a rack of unseasoned. I bought the ingredients for Meathead's Memphis Dust, as that was the rub recipe I'd been seeing recommended time and time again, and whipped it up. Smoked again using 3-2-1, but this time I did spritz with apple juice every thirty minutes. For what its worth, I think the apple juice added nothing. Did another blind taste test with the Kansas City vs Meathead. Unanimously, including myself, the pre-seasoned were the winner.
The Meathead ribs were better than any salt-and-pepper ribs I've made before, so I'm a convert there. Pork is getting an actual rub from here on out. Salt-and-pepper will be for brisket and beef ribs from here out on. But I don't know what to do about the ribs. Do I just keep smoking the Signature Select (SS) brand, or do I try to 1-up them with a different rub? The SS are easy, and we've already established that I'm lazy (did you catch that I have a pellet smoker?) so should I just give in and go with SS? I think the problem with the Meathead rub was that it was too sweet. Maybe I should remove half the sugar? Maybe add a little bit of cayenne? I don't want it hot, but in addition to losing some sweetness it does need a little "something" to make it stand out a bit.
The first three pictures below are the SS ribs and dinner. The last picture was SS (top) and Meathead (Bottom) on the smoker. I was too busy eating to take another picture.
They were phenomenal. Definitely the best ribs I've ever smoked. I felt totally emasculated. But that was OK, at least for that night, because I filled that emotional void with nearly a whole rack myself. For what its worth, it was unanimous that the Kansas City flavor was better than the Whiskey Pepper flavor, though not by much.
I bought another bag of the Kansas City ribs and a rack of unseasoned. I bought the ingredients for Meathead's Memphis Dust, as that was the rub recipe I'd been seeing recommended time and time again, and whipped it up. Smoked again using 3-2-1, but this time I did spritz with apple juice every thirty minutes. For what its worth, I think the apple juice added nothing. Did another blind taste test with the Kansas City vs Meathead. Unanimously, including myself, the pre-seasoned were the winner.
The Meathead ribs were better than any salt-and-pepper ribs I've made before, so I'm a convert there. Pork is getting an actual rub from here on out. Salt-and-pepper will be for brisket and beef ribs from here out on. But I don't know what to do about the ribs. Do I just keep smoking the Signature Select (SS) brand, or do I try to 1-up them with a different rub? The SS are easy, and we've already established that I'm lazy (did you catch that I have a pellet smoker?) so should I just give in and go with SS? I think the problem with the Meathead rub was that it was too sweet. Maybe I should remove half the sugar? Maybe add a little bit of cayenne? I don't want it hot, but in addition to losing some sweetness it does need a little "something" to make it stand out a bit.
The first three pictures below are the SS ribs and dinner. The last picture was SS (top) and Meathead (Bottom) on the smoker. I was too busy eating to take another picture.
