Ribs have to be up there with some of the best eating possible, and Ribs on the smoker are another level. Myself and my friend Will have spent hours discussing and testing out how to create the ultimate ribs on the smoker. A few weekends back I decided to use the BBQ god Aaron Franklin, founder of Franklins BBQ joint in Texas.
I started with watching a couple of his videos on YouTube dedicated to the mighty Rib. The first one focused on preparing the Ribs, if you are interested here is the video
Video 1 – Preparation
He suggested that you get hold of Pork Spare Ribs, to get the right balance of meat and fat. So it was off to my trusty Milford Butcher to see what I could get hold of. We had our neighbour coming for lunch so needed a good lot of it. In the end I managed to get hold of these couple of beauties:
These were nice and meaty and after removing the membrane on the back, it was on with the rub. Instead of a complicated rub comprised of hundreds of herbs and spices, Frankins was simple and easy, salt, pepper, paprika (i used both smoked and normal) garlic granules, onion powder and chilli
I fashioned a homemade shaker with an old jar and a trusty electric drill, which worked surprisingly well and then coated the ribs with this, ending up with two of these beasts.
Then it was onto the smoker and so began the waiting game!
For the next stage I used the second of his video’s as a guide, this one about the cooking/ smoking
Video 2 – The Cooking
So I fired up the smoker, added in a bunch of my great restaurant grade charcoal and a few bits of Mesquite wood, added on the lit coals, closed the lid and left them for 2 hours.
In the meantime I cracked on with Frankiins BBQ sauce which I would be using to baste when it came to foiling them.
Video 3 – The BBQ Sauce
Again this one was nice and simple to make, and most of the stuff we had in the pantry so all good.
Mine turned out a little thick, as I think I overcooked it a little, but with a bit of water and an adapted old Siracha bottle I managed to create a nice sauce to spray onto the ribs as they were cooking. The sauce tasted great, the best BBQ sauce I have made so far, smokey flavour with a nice citrus edge to it – very tasty
After 2 and a bit hours the ribs were looking good, a little charred but starting to show a nice bit of colour.
The next step was to coat bad boys in sauce, wrapped them in foil and cooked them for another hour an a half. After testing these with the skewer and the bend, they felt ready and as you can see they looked great. A nice thick bark from the rub and sauce, they kept the shape, but were tender and fell off the bone – happy days!
So it was back into the kitchen for a 30 minute rest whilst I prepped the Sweet potatoes and fennel slaw. I then sliced and piled the ribs up high:
and we tucked in washed down with bottles of Sam Adams beer – Perfect!! The Ribs were great, very tasty, I had cooked them for maybe 20 minutes too long (smoking is a learning curve) as they were a little dry, but overall they were a success and I loved the simplicity of Franklin’s cooking.
Next up I will be trying his pulled pork and I will do a Brisket once this Summer I have promised myself!
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