So my aunt has a Christmas MORNING tradition: whiskey hot dogs. Sounds weird at first; she concocts this gooey sauce and everyone stands around the dish spearing bite-sized hot dogs with toothpicks. She made them for us for the first time this year. Now I'm not a hot dog fan at all, but these things were mighty tasty. So I immediately got to thinking: this would be fantastic adapted to a smoked rib feast. Turns out -- I was right.
I started with a couple of rib racks with just salt and pepper.
Smoked the ribs for three hours a la the 3-2-1 method. Used ash wood from our tree and kept things at 225*. Also threw in some game day ABT's :-) (The bacon is chopped and mixed into the stuffing, so don't get on my case asking "where's the bacon!" It's there!)
Foiled the ribs, but they were already starting the fall-off-the-bone routine, so I only foiled for about an hour.
Then I really departed from the 3-2-1 method and inserted my aunt's whiskey recipe.
The recipe is super simple: 1 part each of whiskey, dark brown sugar, and chili sauce. I used 1 cup of each. I sliced the ribs into 2 rib segments, placed them in a baking dish and poured the whiskey sauce over the ribs.
Now -- don't get all sideways on me -- I covered the dish with foil and put the whole thing in a 400* oven and baked until the sauce bubbled. I removed the foil and continued the bake until the sauce thickened, turning the ribs and re-coating about every 15 minutes. The total oven time was about an hour. The result was a fantastic start on a new recipe!
The money shot (hard to see the smoke ring with all the glaze, but trust me -- it was there!) Nice light bark, too!
The final family assessment? Really tasty! However, not enough heat to offset the sweet in our opinion. I'll probably add red pepper flakes to the whiskey sauce next time. I am also pretty sure I don't need the foiling phase with this method because of the liquid boost from the sauce phase. Everything was super tender FOTB goodness!
Thanks for looking!! Cheers!
I started with a couple of rib racks with just salt and pepper.
Smoked the ribs for three hours a la the 3-2-1 method. Used ash wood from our tree and kept things at 225*. Also threw in some game day ABT's :-) (The bacon is chopped and mixed into the stuffing, so don't get on my case asking "where's the bacon!" It's there!)
Foiled the ribs, but they were already starting the fall-off-the-bone routine, so I only foiled for about an hour.
Then I really departed from the 3-2-1 method and inserted my aunt's whiskey recipe.
The recipe is super simple: 1 part each of whiskey, dark brown sugar, and chili sauce. I used 1 cup of each. I sliced the ribs into 2 rib segments, placed them in a baking dish and poured the whiskey sauce over the ribs.
Now -- don't get all sideways on me -- I covered the dish with foil and put the whole thing in a 400* oven and baked until the sauce bubbled. I removed the foil and continued the bake until the sauce thickened, turning the ribs and re-coating about every 15 minutes. The total oven time was about an hour. The result was a fantastic start on a new recipe!
The money shot (hard to see the smoke ring with all the glaze, but trust me -- it was there!) Nice light bark, too!
The final family assessment? Really tasty! However, not enough heat to offset the sweet in our opinion. I'll probably add red pepper flakes to the whiskey sauce next time. I am also pretty sure I don't need the foiling phase with this method because of the liquid boost from the sauce phase. Everything was super tender FOTB goodness!
Thanks for looking!! Cheers!
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