Ribs...again! The family was over tonight so we decided upon a good (hopefully) and easy (relatively) meal. I used the same rub from the pork shoulders several weeks ago and tried a "Nashville Sweet" sauce from Raichlen's BBQ USA. The sauce was also good and easy....even after I made a last minute run to the store for Ketchup. Yes, off all things Ketchup!
Since I had three racks, I broke out the seldom used rib rack. I could have easily fit on a fourth rack too, which is good to remember. The ribs were smoked with soaked cherry wood and I extended the cook time out to 4 hours and 15 minutes...in part to experiment with tenderness and in part due to the extra rack of meat. I monitored the temperature with my probe and found it to be a good 25-40 degrees higher than the hood temp. The entire cook bounced between 225-250. The verdict? Great. This was probably the best set I have done in terms of tenderness. IMO, I went a little light on the rub, but that is easy to correct. The meat gave way from the bone after a slight tug and after inspecting my remains, I dare say I was able to really clean some bones.
