Happy Wednesday to you from sunny PEI. I really cannot believe I just wrote that opening line based on the weather we have had in June but…. we have been to the beach the last 4 days. Weather has been fantastic.

The other morning I had taken a couple of racks of ribs out for an evening snack and I knew had to start early to prep them. I started off with a dry/wet rub that would stay on them for about 6 hours while we hit the beach. After that point, I picked up some apple wood chips and created a little smoker pouch and cooked the ribs for 3 1/2 hours over indirect heat.

The results were well ummmm…. DELICIOUS

Here is the lowdown on the rub and the rest of the grilling details. If you ever have a lot of time on your hands or you just want to taste ribs at night, I highly suggest you give this project/labor of love a try.

Ingredients

• 2 racks of Pork back ribs
• 1 Tbsp. dry mustard
• 1 Tbsp. Cumin
• 1 Tbsp. Coriander
• 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
• 2 Cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp. Smokin’ Stampede



• 1 Tbsp. Onion powder
• 1 Tbsp. Paprika

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Rub all over ribs and massage into the meat tissue.



2. Wrap the ribs in saran wrap and let rest for at least 3 hours
3. Soak wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes prior to putting on the grill. Once the 30 minutes has elapsed, preheat grill on high on one side.
4. Place the drained wood chips in a tin foil pouch on the side with the heat turned on. The wood chips will last about 30-45 minutes. (I created a few pouhces before I started)
5. Place the ribs down on the grill without the heat turned on and close the lid.
6. Check back every 45 minutes to give them a baste and switch out the wood chips.
7. Cook them for about 3 1\2 to 4 hours if you can stand to wait.
8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: To keep the ribs juicy, I highly suggest basting the ribs every 20 minutes or so on the grill with your favorite barbecue sauce.

They really hit the spot despite the time and effort.  Late night ribs with an ice cold beer sitting around a camp fire.  Tough to beat.  Check out the camp fire pics.  Our camping neighbor gave us a color packet that you drop on the flames and it changes the colors…. so cool.

Have a great Wednesday.  I think we are hitting the beach again. Talk soon and let me know if you make these ribs.

Take care

zesty

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How to make great BBQ ribs. Easy tips and tricks for great ribs.

The following tips and techniques are things I have learned in the past from trial and error as well as reading alot of great cookbooks and watching alot of chefs on TV.  This is not new information but i hope I can summaraize alot of the major tips to making your next batch of ribs simply sensational.

It’s not hard to make great BBQ, and I hope to help you understand the how’s and why’s of BBQ, so your next batch of BBQ ribs will be unbeatable.

5 Tips for great BBQ ribs

1. No boiling of your ribs! Although it works I find the ribs much blander and more one dimensional when cooked this way. What you really want to do is sort of roast the meat. BBQ is a low heat method of roasting, and by dry roasting will concentrate the great flavors of the meat.

2. Low and slow! The secret to tender BBQ ribs is a long cooking time over a low temperature. You want to keep the heat between 250 and 300. Lower than 250 and you risk drying the meat, and higher than 300 is getting too hot for tenderizing cooking.

3. Take off the silver skin. The silver skin is a membrane that is attached to the underside of the bones. You can’t chew it and marinades, rubs and sauces can’t penetrate it. It’s got to go. Take a knife to slice it then grab it with your fingers and peel the rest. Season the ribs the night before you plan on cooking them. Rub whatever spice rub you’re using on the meat the night before, to give it enough time to penetrate and flavor the meat.  One of my favorite rubs as I have mentioned earlier can be found here.

4. Cook them over indirect smoky heat. I don’t have anything very fancy so I just put some wood chips in a homemade tin foil pouch adding 2 parts dry and 1 part wet to start the smoking process and then sealing the pouch and placing it directly on the fire.  The real key is indirect heat at the right tempreature.  There are often times when I don’t have smoke – they are just not quite as flavorful but don’t get me wrong – they are still yummy!

5. Don’t sauce until the ribs are done. When they are done, heat the grill up to medium and grill the sauced ribs for a few minutes.  If you do it any earlier the sugar from the sauce is just going to cause the ribs to burn – and we don’t do that!

Follow these steps and let me know if you have better tasting ribs or if you have other ideas that I may have missed – i would love to know about them.  Send me email or add a comment. Or send me some ribs in the mail.

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