Spare Pork Ribs on the UDS

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chasenr

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2016
26
10
''Twas the morning after New Years Day and the UDS was starting to get lonely.... so I decided to get a rack of ribs going!

Ribs has been on the short list of meat I've been hoping to smoke so I picked up 4lbs of pork spare ribs @ 2.49 per lb. Not a bad price.
I pretty much followed Bears step by step again as the last Pork butt from his recipe turned out very well.

Step 1: rub it down with yellow mustard and a spice mixture. Spice mixture was primarily paprika, brown sugar, salt and chili powder with a few other subtle flavors.

Step 2: wrap and fridge overnight.

Step 3: fire up the UDS. I had my basket about 1/3 full which is around 4lbs of briquettes. I didn't have any more briquettes on hand so I decided to wing it as I knew I could easily finish the ribs off on the bbq grill. I also added a couple large pieces of cherry. I lit the half full weber chimney and after letting it go for 5 or so minutes, added it to the basket and deposited the works in the UDS. I planned to smoke around 230f so I worked it up to this temp.

Step 4: take out the wrapped ribs, unwrap and put on top rack. This was around 11 am. I have a thermo pro thermometer. I positioned the probe so that I could monitor the temp of the UDS remotely. No need to follow the IT of the ribs at this point..

Step 5: because i decided to follow Bears 2.5, 2.5, 1, I went to foil the ribs around 1:30pm. I didn't have any apple juice to my dismay but I remembered that I had an apple flavored bourbon. So I mixed this with a bit of pineapple juice (all totally about 1 oz) and spread the mixture over the ribs before foiling. I also inserted the probe at this time. Yes, I did read the IT is not always the way to go with ribs as it is hard to find a good spot to insert the probe, but in my mind, IT is king. At this point the IT was around 135f.

Step 6: around 3:30 I noticed the IT stalling. It took about a half hour to move from 170 to 175. Earlier, it was moving a bit quicker than that, around 15-20 degrees per hour. I double checked the temp in the UDS and found it at 200. Thinking that I may be running short on briquettes, I double checked my basket and sure enough, it was close to empty. I then added a couple more pieces of cherry and opened up another 1" intake. This brought temps back up to around 250 which I was fine with.

Step 7: I knew at that point, I would not be able to finish on the smoker due to low fuel. I decided to finish the cook foiled, so hit an internal temp of 190 at 4:00 pm. I then took the foiled package outand wrapped it in a couple towels.

Step 8: the plan was to eat at 5:00 so I heated up the grill around 4:40 to 350. I lathered on a mix of sweet baby rays sauce and the apple bourbon. (It was quite a tasty sauce.) I grilled each side for about 5 mins, to get the sauce to carmelized a bit.


Dinner was the last step. It turned out very tasty and fall off the bone. I was very happy with the results.




Thanks for looking!
 
nice looking ribs man and points for improvising with the grill and the bourbon.

wish I could pay $2.49 per pound of ribs.  Here is Australia, the best I get from my butcher is $15/kg which is about $7.50 per pound.  
 
You have just found the secret to consistent, great que.....................Improvisation !!! Some days cold out, some days hot; sometime meat is colder than  the last time you cooked; etc. etc.

As most smokers post comments, recipes, etc. etc. you will find that almost all of the data comes from trial and error, or just plain luck. Keep notes and keep smokin'

We are not all chefs by nature and we have to fine tune everything we do, each time we cook, in order to produce good eats for our loved ones.

Great job on the ribs.....

Happy New Year.
 
nice looking ribs man and points for improvising with the grill and the bourbon.



wish I could pay $2.49 per pound of ribs.  Here is Australia, the best I get from my butcher is $15/kg which is about $7.50 per pound.  


Thanks Ghoster!
That's crazy! Time to start raising your own! :)


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Great looking ribs!



Can't go wrong with ribs, corn, & fries!



Al

Thanks Al, love me some corn and homemade fries. My wife finally figured out a fantastic recipe. And yes, I'll admit... that's the only way we eat potatoes! Lol! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You have just found the secret to consistent, great que.....................Improvisation !!! Some days cold out, some days hot; sometime meat is colder than  the last time you cooked; etc. etc.


As most smokers post comments, recipes, etc. etc. you will find that almost all of the data comes from trial and error, or just plain luck. Keep notes and keep smokin'


We are not all chefs by nature and we have to fine tune everything we do, each time we cook, in order to produce good eats for our loved ones.


Great job on the ribs.....


Happy New Year.

Thanks Slipaway! Yea, time behind the smoker is the best way to learn. Plus it's a heck of a lot of fun!
Happy New Year to you too!



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