The contents of that picture did not last long, I can assure you.
Nor did 4 of the other 5 half-racks I cooked up today. They were so good, neither child complained about them. The boy even said “This is the only thing I like barbecue sauce on,” which was amusing because they don’t have any sauce on them, just a rub.
Speaking of which:
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 3/8 cup chili powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon orange peel(dried and crushed)
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili
Combine all of the above to create the rub. I know, complicated stuff.
I had 3 racks of ribs, which I rinsed last night and then salted with kosher salt. I can’t give you an amount there, lets just say it was enough to salt both sides of all 3 racks. In this case, I cut all 3 racks in half to make it easier to place them in the WSM.
Then, I placed a rack on a sheet of aluminum foil and liberally spread the rub over the meaty side of the ribs. I actually, uh, rub it in; but I didn’t give them the deep muscle massage treatment. I also coated the underside of the ribs with a lighter layer rub. Once coated, I wrapped the foil around the rack and set it on a cookie sheet.
Once all 3 racks were treated, I placed them in the fridge so they could get happy over night.
This morning, I fired up the WSM. I got some coals going in the middle and then packed around that with fresh charcoal, filling the bottom with charcoal. I just used Kingsford. I also filled the bowl up with water right off the bat (being able to use the garden hose made this so much easier). Then, I let it come up to temp, slowly choking it down as it approached 200F.
The ribs went on at about 180F- I figured they could heat up along with the WSM. When it finally came up to temp, I cut two pieces of hard maple and tossed them on top of the coals.
That was it, except for that brief interval about 4 hours in where I topped off the water bowl. Otherwise, I just monitored the temp.
6 hours later, they were done.
10 minutes after that, they were mostly bone.