Category: Barbecue

Testing 1, 2, 3…

I’m trying out a new home-made barbecue rub. Yes, I still have more shelf space devoted to jars of commercially-made rubs than I care to admit to, but I’ve got some good reasons for venturing out on my own:

Availability – as much as I love the rubs by folks like Dizzy Pig, John Henry, and Tasty Licks, I always feel bad when I recommend a specific rub in a recipe because I know that not everyone has ready access to them. If somebody gave me a recipe that specifically called for Uncle Crunchy’s Pecan Butt Rub, and Uncle Crunchy wants $12 for a jar of rub plus $6 shipping, I wouldn’t be jumping up to make that recipe. My goal is to have a couple of stock rub and sauce recipes on this site, so folks can just make it themselves.

Experience – the more I learn, the less I know. Combining herbs and spices to create a specific flavor combination is a whole lot harder than it looks. Working out my own spice blends helps me learn more about how the individual ingredients work together.

Versatility – ultimately, I’d love to come up with a base rub that can be used on almost everything, and then create a half dozen variations that can be made with that base. Want a poultry rub? Take X amount of base and add these poultry-specific ingredients. Want an Asian barbecue sauce? Take that same base and add it to so much hoisin sauce. Stay tuned for more on this work in progress.

That said, here’s my General Purpose Rub 1.0 on some chicken thighs.

3-5 pounds chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
2 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Combine everything but the chicken in a shaker jar. Stir to combine and break up any lumps. Makes about 1/2 cup.

At least 2 hours before cooking, dust the thighs heavily with the rub (1-2 tablespoons per pound of chicken), then lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan and let them sit uncovered in the fridge. This lets the seasoning work its way into the thighs and also helps to dry out the skin a bit to make it crispy.

Set the grill up for a raised indirect cook over medium-high  (400°F) heat. On the Big Green Egg, I used the plate setter to diffuse the heat.

Put the thighs on the grill skin side down, close the lid, and let them cook for 20. Flip them and let them go another 20 minutes.

Check the thighs for doneness. Chicken is technically done when the juices run clear and the internal temperature hits 160°F, but I like my thighs cooked a little longer to at least 180°F.

So leave the thighs skin side up and continue to cook until they hit 180°F, then remove them to a warm plate and let sit 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: ★★★½☆
The chicken turned out tasty and crispy, but the rub could use some more work. It had plenty of heat, but almost all of it was at the end, nothing up front. There were lots of individual flavors going on, but it needed a little more sugar and salt to unify them. So it’s a good rub, but not a great one, yet.

This is one of the first times I’ve used turbinado sugar (raw sugar crystallized from the initial pressing of the sugar cane), and I can highly recommend it.  Raw sugar is a different beast than regular brown sugar (which is just highly processed white sugar that’s had some molasses added back into it). It has an almost floral aroma to it and a nice caramel flavor that’s more complex than the strong molasses flavor of brown sugar.

The Nutrition
Chicken thighs are 4 Weight Watchers point a piece (3 points without the skin, but who wants to live without crispy chicken skin)? As for the rub, even at 2 tablespoon of rub per pounds of chicken, there is so little raw sugar in it that it doesn’t even merit a point.

ONE YEAR AGO –  Smoked Salmon Dip

TWO YEARS AGO – Shrimp & Corn Chowder

 

Sweet Chili Barbecued Pork

What makes for a good, all-around barbecue seasoning?

For me, it’s a mix of herbs and spices that gives you a layered, well rounded flavor with enough heat to make it interesting, and enough tangy sweetness to balance the rich flavor of the meat without overwhelming it.

I’ve had a lot of fun creating my own barbecue sauces. After playing with sweet chili sauce in my Thai Sweet Chili Spareribs recipe, I wanted to try a recipe that uses traditional barbecue spices but uses sweet chili sauce for the tang and sweetness.

2 pounds pork country-style ribs
1 tablespoon barbecue rub (Penzys Barbecue of the Americas, this time)
1 cup sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy is good and ubiquitous, but The Ginger People’s Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce rocks if you can find it), divided

Combine the rub with a 1/4 cup of the chili sauce. Put the ribs in a zip-top bag. Pour the sauce over the ribs, turning to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and stash in the fridge overnight.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook at 300°F. I used the inverted plate setter on the Big Green Egg and a drip pan filled with water to diffuse the heat. Add your smoking wood (apple, in this case) and when the grill reaches temp and the smoke has turned blue, arrange the ribs over the drip pan. Close the lid and let them cook, flipping every hour, until they reach 160°F internal (about 3 hours).

Lay down a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil and move the ribs to the center of the sheet. Pour 1/4 cup of the chili sauce over the ribs. Fold the foil over the ribs and crimp tightly. Move the foiled ribs back to the grill and cook for another hour.

After an hour, carefully pull back the foil and check to see if the ribs are done. Their internal temp should be around 190°F and the meat should fall apart when you poke at it with a fork. If they are done, remove the foiled pack of ribs from the grill and let them rest for 15 minutes before slicing. If they’re not done, reseal and return them to the grill until they are.

I thinly sliced the rib meat and served it over rice with the remainder of the chili sauce on the side.

The Verdict: ★★★½☆
The combination of barbecue spices and sweet chili sauce is a real winner. The chili sauce just melts into the ribs and pulls all those lovely herbs and spices with it. As far as cuisine, it could really go either way – served over rice it was a great Asain-ish dish, but it would have gone just as well with baked beans and coleslaw. The next step is to build a  barbecue sauce using sweet chili sauce as the base.

Sadly, the pack of “boneless” country ribs I picked up looked a whole lot better in the store than they did on the grill. They were certainly not boneless, and had a bunch of nasty cartilage. What meat there was was very tender and tasted great,  there just wasn’t a whole lot of it.

The Nutrition
Three ounces of meat is 387 calories and 10 Weight Watchers points, so this is best in a meat-in-a-minor key recipe. A few flavorful slices over a veggie-laden rice pilaf makes a great meal.

ONE YEAR AGO –  Oven-Baked Oatmeal

TWO YEARS AGO – Suck Creek Thighs & Corn Pudding

 

Thai Sweet Chili Spareribs

I’ve had a big rib craving lately, and fortunately for me, somebody decided to play football on Sunday so I had all the excuse I needed to make up a batch. I planned to go with a Kansas City-style sauce, but Asian flavors kept calling me and I just couldn’t say no to the brand-new bottle of sweet chili sauce sitting in the pantry.

1 rack pork spare ribs, trimmed and membrane removed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried lemon peel
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried cilantro (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

The night before the big game, combine all of the herbs and spices in a shaker-top container (I used an empty Penzeys spice jar) and shake well to combine. Lay the ribs out on a baking sheet and coat heavily with the rub, working it in on both sides. This recipe should make just enough for one rack of ribs, so use it all up.

Cover the ribs with some cling wrap and stash in the fridge until just before you fire up the grill.

Thai Barbeque Sauce
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy)
1/2 cup hoisin sauce (Premier is gluten free)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon gluten-free soy sauce
1 bunch – cilantro
3 green onions, sliced to fit in food processor
1 to 3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

I like to make my sauces up the night before to give all the flavors time to develop. For this one – put the garlic, green onions, and cilantro in a food processor and pulse until minced. Add the chili sauce, hoisin, vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil and blend until well combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Pour into a covered container and store in the fridge overnight.

Plan on a 5 to 6 hour cook on game day. You want the ribs over indirect heat at 300°F.  I filled up the firebox on my Big Green Egg, lit it, and once it was up to temp added some hickory wood for smoke. I used an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat and a pan with some water in it to catch the drippings.

Cook the ribs for 3 hours at 300°F, flipping every 30 minutes.

Sauce the ribs on both sides and then wrap in two layers of heavy-duty foil or arrange them in a flame-proof 9×13 jelly roll pan and cover tightly with foil. Return the ribs to the grill and cook for another hour.

Carefully pull back the foil and check to see how done the ribs are. If the meat has started pulling back from the bone, they are ready to come out of the foil. If not, seal them back up and check again in 30 minutes. Repeat as needed.

When the ribs are ready, move them out of the foil and back onto the grill. Sauce both sides and cook for 20 minutes. Now check for doneness – the meat should have pulled well back on the bones and tugging on a bone should show that it’s ready to come apart. If the ribs are done, sauce them again and put them back on for another 10 minutes. Sauce them one more time and take them off the heat.

Let them rest for 10 minutes, then cut them along the bone into individual ribs and serve with more of the barbecue sauce, or plain sweet chili sauce, on the side.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
Wow! Just the smell of the rub alone was enough to win me over. By the time they were smoked and sauced these ribs were outstanding – lots of sweetness, but also a nice amount of heat and umami by the ton. This recipe will be making a repeat appearance very, very soon.

The Nutrition
A four bone serving is 600 calories and 10 Weight Watchers points, so skip the half-time show and run some laps, because these ribs are worth it.

ONE YEAR AGO – The Agony of Defeat

TWO YEARS AGO – Early Valentine’s Day – Steak & Crab

 

Beef Short Ribs

This is my second attempt at beef short ribs. The last batch was tasty, but not as falling-apart tender as I would have liked. This time I wanted the great smoky flavor, but I also wanted to move more in the direction of classic Italian braised short ribs – less barbecue and more red wine.

Thankfully, She Cooks He Cleans has a great braised short rib recipe that I thought would adapt nicely for the Big Green Egg.

4 beef short ribs
1-2 tablespoons Dizzy Pig Cow Lick Rub
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2-3 sprigs of rosemary
2 cups red wine
2-4 cups water
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cups beef stock

I seasoned the ribs with the rub and then set the grill up for an indirect cook at 350°F, using the plate setter to diffuse the heat and a little apple wood for smoke.

When the Egg was up to temp, I put a trivet on the plate setter, set a disposable foil pan filled with the wine and 2 cups of water on the trivet, then put the grate on top of the pan and arranged the ribs on top of that.

I smoked the ribs for two hours, then removed the grate and moved the ribs into the drip pan. I added more water until the ribs were halfway covered and let them braise in the pan for an hour.

I then moved the ribs out of the drip pan and back onto the grate over the pan and smoked them for another hour.

By now the meat was starting to fall off the bone but the meat itself wasn’t very tender. Flummoxed, I took the ribs off the grill and moved the cooking inside.

I took the meat off the bones and removed any obvious connective tissue and then put the rib meat into a Dutch oven along with the de-fatted liquid from the drip pan, the balsamic vinegar, and the beef stock. I brought the works to a boil on  the stove top, then reduced it to a simmer, put the lid on, and braised the meat for yet another hour.

I served the ribs with some of the remaining pan sauce ladled over top.

The Verdict: ★★★½☆ Not sure what I’m doing wrong here. The ribs had great beefy/smoky taste, but were still pretty tough and dry. When we get these at our favorite Italian restaurant, they start falling apart if you look at them too hard.

I’ve got one more pack of these left in the freezer, so I’d sure take suggestions on how to do the next batch. Thanks!

The Nutrition: 3 ounces is 11 Weight Watchers points, so they had better be damn tasty. These weren’t worth the calories.

One Year Ago – Shrimp Jambalaya
Two Years Ago – Spicy Orange Wings

 

A McRib it Ain’t

ir-leasing.ru

It is astonishing that a company can throw a load of chemical crap together and still call it food.

Well, there’s no restructured meat product, ammonium sulfate, polysorbate 80, or azodicarbonamide here. Just some fine smoked rib meat picked off the bones from the Minimalist Rib cook, shredded a bit, loaded onto an Udi’s gluten-free bun, and topped with a little Honey Hog barbecue sauce.

Yummmmmm!

Minimalist Ribs

Every so often you just need to break a recipe down to the basics. I make some fine ribs (if I do say so myself), but I think I’m starting to get mired down in all the bells and whistles – mustard slather, spice rubs, misting, foiling, 3-2-1, saucing, blah, blah, blah…

In an attempt to pare down the ribs to their smoky/savory/tender essence, here’s my minimalist recipe:

3 racks of baby-back ribs
Fresh-ground sea salt
Fresh-ground back pepper

I set the Big Green Egg up for a raised direct cook at 300°F. I didn’t use a plate setter to diffuse the heat, but did use a Woo2 extender to raise the cooking grid up about 4 inches further from the heat.

While the Egg was getting up to temp, I seasoned both sides of the ribs with the salt and pepper. Yep – nothing but salt and pepper. And just a moderate coating, as you can see, they weren’t caked with seasoning.

I put in a good sized chunk of apple wood for smoke, and when the smoke changed from white (bad) to blue (good), I put the ribs on bone side down for an hour, then flipped them and let them go for another hour.

I figured it would take about 3 hours at 300°F, but when I flipped them at the 2 hour mark they were already showing signs of being done – the slabs started to crack when I picked up one end with a pair of tongs and the meat had also started to pull back from the bones. I left them on, bone side down, for another 30 minutes. By the time they hit the 2 1/2 hour mark they were so done that it was tough to take them off the grate in one piece.

I let the ribs rest for 10 minutes and served them dry with some Honey Hog Sauce on the side.

The Verdict: ★★★★½
I gotta admit, I was surprised at how good these ribs tasted right off the bone – no sauce or anything. They were smoky and tender and very flavorful. They even had a pretty good bark (that crispy crust on the outside) from just the salt and pepper.

Would the ribs have been better if I had slathered/rubbed/basted/foiled/glazed them? Sure, but not necessarily a whole lot better. The ribs and smoke are bringing the majority of the flavor to the party all by themselves. The rest is mostly window dressing. Tasty window dressing, true, but simple recipes like this sometimes show you just how little tweaking and fussing the basic ingredients really need.

I knocked off half a point because the doneness across the ribs was a little uneven – the leaner flat end was pretty crispy while the fatter curved end could have used another 30 minutes on the grill. This might have been from using raised direct heat, but it also might have been from using smaller ribs that showed a big difference in thickness from one end to the other.

The Nutrition:
While ribs won’t ever be diet food, these weren’t that bad – 460 calories for 8 ounces of meat (4 to 6 bones worth), 12 Weight Watchers points. Leaving out the sugary rubs and serving them dry with the sauce on the side helped to cut a lot of carbs. Rather than the traditional sides, we lightened it up with corn (frozen from this summer) and cauliflower fauxtatos – look for a pre-Thanksgiving post on this great (borrowed) idea.

Honey Hog Barbecue Sauce, v 1.0

I wanted to try a version of my Sticky Hog sauce using honey as the main sweetener.

1 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).

Bottle and store in the fridge.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
This is maybe an even better sauce than Sticky Hog. It has plenty of kick, but the honey gives it a rounder, more mellow taste. I think the addition of mustard and reduction in the amount of black pepper also helps round out the flavor. The allspice brings a nice warm sweetness to everything.

Notes for version 2.0 – maybe a little more allspice, maybe regular chili powder instead of ancho, and maybe try 50/50 brown sugar and honey.

Last Hurrah Ribs

Labor Day is pretty much the end of summer up around these parts. The air is turning light and cool and we’re getting a lot less daylight. I fire up the Big Green Egg mostly year-round, so I’ll still be out grilling, but the days of sitting out on the deck in shorts and t-shirts are numbered.

We were supposed to spend it hanging out with my family, but my dear wife came down with the crud and we were both out of commission for most of the weekend.  I didn’t figure I’d be doing any cooking, but she perked up a bit on Monday and out of the blue asked if I’d make her some ribs.

Sure thing, honey.

I tried a variation on my Express Ribs technique; cooking the ribs hotter and faster, then braising them in foil, and finally finishing them unwrapped. I set the Egg up for a raised, direct cook at 300°F with some apple wood for smoke.

I seasoned a couple of nice racks of baby back ribs with a heavy coat of Tasty Licks Ribit Rub. The ribs went on bone side down for an hour, then I flipped them ribs bone side up and let them go for another hour.

Then I removed the ribs to a sheet of heavy-duty foil and wrapped them up tightly. I did the same thing with a second layer of foil. The ribs then went back on, meat side down, for an hour.

After an hour of braising, I removed the ribs from the foil and tried to put them on the grill bone side down. I got one rack moved over intact, but the other was so done that it had started to fall apart before I even touched it.

I got both racks over to the grill as best I could and sauced them with the new version of my Sticky Hog sauce and let them cook for another 10 minutes. Since flipping them was not an option, I gave them a final coat of sauce and (carefully) moved them off the grill.

I let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
My dear wife LOVED these ribs. I was just happy that she was feeling better, so I sure wouldn’t argue with her. As done as they looked coming out of the foil, I was afraid they’d be mushy or soft. But going with a raised, direct cook meant that they were falling apart tender, but they still had a good bit of bark and some nice chew to them. Perfect way to say goodbye to summer.

The new sauce is a real winner too.

Pulled Picnic

Normally when I’m doing pulled pork I use Boston butt, but when we ordered our pig, I made sure ask for the picnic as well. Contrary to their names, these cuts come from the front leg of the pig. The butt is the shoulder and the picnic is the foreleg.

Because these cuts do the hard work of moving the pig around, they have big bones running through them and are full of connective tissue, fat, and multiple muscle groups. Doesn’t sound like anything that anybody in their right mind would want to eat, right? But that’s the joy of barbecue – taking something cheap and chewy and turning it into something tender and tasty.

I had a request from some friends to cook for a small party, so I went with 2 butts (on the right) and 2 picnics. I seasoned them with a healthy dusting of Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust.

Normally when I do pulled pork it’s low ‘n’ slow – 225°F for 16-20 hours until the meat hits 210°F internal and starts to fall apart. But I’ve also had good luck cooking the butts at a higher temp and then finishing them in foil. Due to weather and logistics, I decided to go the hot and fast route this time. I set the Big Green Egg up for an indirect cook at 350°F. This meant filling the firebox with lump and using a plate setter and drip pan to diffuse the heat. When the cooker was up to temp, I added some chucks of apple wood for smoke.

I put the butts on the bottom grate and the picnics on top of the extended grid and let them cook for 5 hours at 350°F, until they had developed a nice dark bark on the outside and had hit 160°F on the inside.

At this point the meat was done, but it was nowhere near tender. To get to tender I needed to break down all of that connective tissue into melty collagen. That’s where the foil comes in.

To braise the meat, I removed it from the BGE and put it into a large roasting pan. I added 2 cups of apple juice, sealed the pan with a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil, and loaded it into the oven set at 250°F.

I baked the meat for 3 hours, until the internal temperature of the biggest butt hit 210°F. I removed the pan from the oven and let them cool for an hour. When I removed the foil the meat was so tender I could barely get it out of the pan.

I set the first hunk o’ pig in the middle of a large jelly roll pan and started to pull it apart using a pair of bear paws. As I do more of these multi-butt cooks, I’ve started to refine my pulling technique a bit. The first pass with the paws was just to remove the bones and any large pieces of fat, and to start to separate the muscle groups.

Then I set up a second pan and started working by hand to to remove all the inedible bits and move just the meat into the second pan. As I did this I started to open up the muscles and separate the meat fibers.

When all the butts and picnics were done (I kept them separate for pulling so that I could compare the difference between the two cuts) I put the meat into a large roaster with a bit of finishing sauce mixed with pan drippings and went through it one more time with the paws to finely shred the meat.

The Verdict: ★★★★☆
I saved a bit of the picnic for me (testing purposes, of course) and sent the rest on with our friends. They reported that the reunion went well and everybody liked the pork.

The picnic was good, though a little drier than I would have liked. It had good smoke flavor with a decent amount of smoky, chewy bark. The picnic meat was noticeably different from the butt – darker with more and thicker stands of meat. It didn’t pull as finely as the butt, but seemed moister. I’d definitely try it again, although next time I’d like to try a picnic shoulder (a whole shoulder with the butt and picnic still attached to each other) and do it low n’ slow.

Express Ribs

I’ve been wanting to cook ribs, but the weather has been so cool and stormy that it’s been tough to find the time to get them done without getting drenched or blown off the deck.

It looked like I had a good opportunity coming up on Saturday, but I wanted to shorten the the cooking time just in case we had the change plans.  So rather than my usual straight 5 hour cook, I decided to speed things up by going with the 3-2-1 method at a higher temperature.

The 3-2-1 (or in this case 1.5-1-.75) method it is a great way to cook ribs long enough so that they are tender without drying them out. The first number is how many hours the ribs are smoked over indirect heat unwrapped. The second number is how many hours they are cooked after being double wrapped in heavy-duty foil. The final number is how many hours they are finished unwrapped. This combination gives the ribs a smoky flavor, breaks down the toughness of the meat, and adds a final crispy bark.

I had 2 nice racks of baby back ribs that I seasoned heavily with Tasty Licks Ribit Rub courtesy of Fred’s Music & BBQ Supply.

I set up my Big Green Egg for an indirect cook at 350°F (that’s right, three-fifty) – filling the firebox with lump charcoal and using an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat and a drip pan with a little water in it to catch the fat. I used a chunk of guava wood for smoke.

I arranged the ribs bone side down on the grate, then closed the lid and let the BGE do its magic for an hour. I flipped the ribs bone side up, and let them go for another 30 minutes. Then I removed the ribs to a sheet of heavy-duty foil and wrapped them up tightly. I did the same thing with a second layer. The ribs then went back on, meat side down, for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, I flipped the rib bundle over so it was bone side down and let it go for another 30 minutes.

After their braise in the foil you can see how the meat has really started to pull away from the bone.

After an hour of braising, I removed the ribs from the foil and put them on the grill bone side down. I let them cook for 30 minutes and then started checking for doneness. When ribs are done a slab will start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. These were already at that point. All I had to do was look at them hard and the meat would start to pull away from the bone.

I sauced the meat side with Sticky Hog and let them cook for another 10 minutes. I flipped them carefully, sauced the bone side and let them go for another ten. Then I flipped them meat side up and gave them a final coat of sauce and let them cook for a final 5 minutes.

I removed the ribs from the grill and let them rest about 10 minutes before serving tearing into them.

The Verdict: ★★★★☆
Despite the short 3 hour and 15 minute cook time, these were some of the most tender and tasty ribs I’ve ever made. The meat had a bit of chewy bark and pulled away from the bone easily, but didn’t fall off in a soggy mess. The Ribit Rub gave the ribs a nice paprika-laden warmth.

I was a little disappointed that the ribs didn’t have more bark and were a little light on smokiness. The smoke I understand – less time in the smoke equals less smokiness. But I thought that the temp would make up for the time on the bark.

Update – The Verdict: ★★★★★: I had a chance to do these again this weekend and used oak and apple wood for smoke. The added wood really bumped up the smokiness. I also switched to Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy dust for the rub, which gave me better bark :), but less heat :(.

I don’t know if I like all the futzing around with the foil, but it’s good to know that if I need to I can crank out some quality ribs in a limited amount of time.

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