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Apple
City Barbecue Grand World Champion Ribs |
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Note from Cheri:
The recipe and text below are reprinted with permission
from Peace, Love and BBQ - Recipes, Secrets, Tall
Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue
By Mike Mills and Amy Mills Tunicliffe (2006, Rodale).
Here is a loving tribute, almost in scrapbook form,
of the authors' lifelong relationship with and passion
for the ultimate American cuisine, barbecue. No, I don't
mean grilling or merely cooking outdoors, but rather
the true meaning of barbecue -- that slow cooked bit
of carnivorous heaven that earns America it's rightful
place in the map of the world's great culinary contributors.
Author Mike Mills is the only person to win three Grand
World Champion titles at the Memphis in May International
Barbecue Festival. He is also barbecue guru
and partner at Danny Meyer's Blue Smoke Restaurant
in New York City and owner of six notable barbecue joints,
two in Southern Illinois and four in Las Vegas. Along
with his daughter Amy, a journalist and publicist, he's
created a culinary roadmap to America's great barbecue
joints and competitions, along with the characters who
make them tick.
Click
here for more information about this fabulous book,
along with more great sample recipes.
More on Ribs!
Click here for
our photo tutorial on smoking ribs.
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People are mystified about how to cook ribs properly. I'm going
to walk you through every step using a basic charcoal grill. Obviously
if you have different or more high-tech equipment, you'll need to modify
these procedures. If you're setting up your backyard charcoal grill for
indirect cooking, you'll want to use a disposable aluminum pan to capture
the grease as the fat renders while cooking. Some people add water to
this pan to add moisture to the cooking environment.
Let me caution you right up front to mop the ribs with sauce no more
than 10 minutes before you take them off the grill. Saucing the meat too
early is a mistake many people make when smoking or grilling. Virtually
all barbecue sauce contains sugar, and your meat will have a burned crust
around the outside if you use sauce too soon in the process.
Ribs are readily available in most grocery stores. When selecting
ribs, try not to buy ones that weigh less than 2 pounds. A true baby back
rib weighs about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds; they are very fragile and dry
out quickly. This recipe calls for a meatier rib. A loin back rib is preferable;
they're easier to cook, less fragile, and have more meat.
Once you start smoking ribs, you can't leave the smoker unattended
for any more than about 20 minutes. You'll need to continually check that
the temperature in the grill remains between 200 and 210° F. at all
times. If it gets too hot, open the lid and allow some of the heat to
escape. Coals that appear to be glowing red will cause a hot spot. Don't
cook the ribs directly over the hot spot; move the ribs to a different,
cooler part of the grill. If the temperature dips below 200° F., move
the ribs to a hot spot for a while. If the temperature gets too low, add
some more coals.
You'll need about 4 cups of apple wood chips to be authentic; you
can use hickory, pecan, sweet maple, or cherry, but the ribs won't taste
as sweet. You'll also need a chimney starter or another small covered
grill or bucket to keep extra hot coals.
"Life is too short for a half-rack." -MIKE MILLS
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Serves 4, or you can cut the racks in half to Serve 8
Sprinkle the ribs liberally with Magic Dust, coating both sides.
Put them in a shallow pan or on a cookie sheet and cover them with
clear plastic wrap or a lid. Refrigerate them until you're ready
to use them. I recommend letting them marinate for at least an hour.
At the restaurant, we dust the ribs up to a day in advance.
Soak the apple wood chips in water for half an hour. Drain. Remove
the grate and arrange the medium-hot coals in a grill or smoker.
If you are using a grill, it must have a lid. Set an aluminum pan
next to the coals as a drip pan. Spread out the wet wood chips on
the coals. Replace the rack, close the grill, and check the temperature.
It should be between 200 and 210° F. If the temperature is too
high, open the lid to allow some heat to escape.
Notice that the meat on a rack of ribs is on the top. The bottom,
where you remove the membrane, is called the "bone side." Once the
temperature is steady, place the ribs on the rack, bone side down.
You want to cook them bone side down as much as possible. Turning
them dries out the meat. If necessary, you can cut the racks of
ribs in half to comfortably fit your grill.
Cover and smoke the ribs for about 1 1/2 hours or until the ribs
are done and tender. You'll want to check the ribs every 20 minutes
or so. Examine them to see if the surface of the meat looks dry
or moist. Ribs "sweat" about three times during the smoking process.
The pores of the meat open, and this allows moisture to escape.
This is when the seasoning from the dry rub and the smoke itself
are reabsorbed into the meat. When they're sweating, mop or mist
them with some apple juice and sprinkle them with a little more
Magic Dust.
Opening the lid will lower the temperature; add more coals and
wood chips as needed to maintain the temperature. About 10 minutes
before you remove the ribs from the pit, mop them with the sauce.
When you take them off the pit, mop again with sauce and sprinkle
some more Magic Dust on them. Serve immediately.
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