Spare Ribs

There are so many opinions when it come to cooking ribs, so let me say from the very beginning...this is MY opinion, and I fully understand there are a million other ways to produce a yummy rack of ribs.  In the many folks that I have chatted with regarding ribs, there seems to be two schools of thought...the "OMG they are fall of the bone tender" and the "Tender but a little tooth required to get off the bone".  Generally, and I do mean generally, to get ribs to slide off the bone clean, some sort of steam or moisture is required.  I think that if ribs are steamed before they are smoked a lot of the flavor of the pork is lost.  So in my method today, I'll discuss how I generally like to smoke ribs.

First of all...get a smoker.  I've done the charcoal and wood smokers, and they require much tending.  For the past several years I have been using a Brinkman electric smoker.  These maintain the perfect temperature and little attention other than adding smoking wood is required.

Secondly, choose your ribs.  Baby back ribs are always good, but lately I prefer Spare Ribs.  These are larger pork ribs with a bit more fat, but I think have more flavor and provide me the end product I most enjoy.  Again..a personal choice.

Third, get the ribs prepared for a rub.  On the back of your ribs, there is a membrane that can be left on, but I prefer to remove it.  To do this, you simply create a cut with a knife, then using a paper towel, pull off that membrane.  This allows your rub to penetrate the meat and give you a more tender product throughout.

Next, chose or make a rub.  I like to do the following...Equal parts of:

Kosher Salt
Smoked Paprika
Hot Smoked Paprika
Thyme
Sugar
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Fresh ground black pepper

Rub this mixture on both sides of the ribs and let sit for an hour.

The final step in creating ribs is putting them on the smoker.  On my Electric smoker I cook spare ribs 6-7 hours, depending on how meaty they are.  The batch of ribs you see here came out tender...full of flavor and was a super easy meal to prepare on a lazy Sunday afternoon.