Smoked Babyback Ribs - Part 1 (Prep)

I recently remembered that I had not made a post on smoking meat. When I started looking for pictures I realized of all the meat I had smoked I didn't have a picture of the finished product. For some reason it never happened. It's time to fix that.

This is a three part series because smoking ribs is a three part process plus I know, for myself, if posts are too long I tend to loose interest before I get finished. It started last night with prepping the meat.

These ribs started as a full rack but because they are easier to handle while cooking (plus by the time they are done the ribs are fall apart tender) I usually cut them in half (roughly) during the prep. Before they are cut the ribs are washed and the silver skin is removed from what would be the underside in the picture or from the interior side of rack of ribs. If you have never done this there are numerous tutorials online. Here's is one from Weber Grill called Removing the Membrane from Baby Back Ribs. If you need more, you can also find a number of videos online.

Many times, however, it's not explained why this is important. Before cooking this membrane will inhibit the seasoning process. Placing the seasoning over this membrane is wasting the seasoning and your time. While the ribs are cooking, this membrane doesn't soften up but becomes tough resulting in ribs that are very hard to chew with seasoned flavor on one side only. Take the time to do this, you won't be disappointed. This will be time consuming the first few times you do it but eventually it will only take a few minutes.

While I am doing this, my wife operates as my sous chef and starts mixing the rub. She gathers up the eight to ten spices from the spice rack and starts asking how much of each goes into the rub. For a rack of ribs the rub starts with a tablespoon each of salt, crushed black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. From there spices are added depending on what we have in the spice rack at the time and the rub varies from one mix to the next. The spices that are normally added include cayenne pepper, rosemary, thyme, parsley, cilantro, and cumin.

The quantities of the additional spices depends on the flavor you want to promote. If you want the ribs to have a little heat go heavy on the cayenne pepper or add some crushed red pepper flakes. For a more earthy flavor, go heavy on the parsley, cilantro and cumin. The great thing about cooking for yourself is that you can flavor your dish to suit the taste of yourself and your family.

With the rub mixed together you may feel like you have too much spice for the meat, you probably don't. Apply the rub mix generously to the meat. It's called a rub because it needs to be rubbed into the meat not just sprinkled on top. Rubbing it in gets a more even coating over the meat. Next cover the meat and put it back in the refrigerator. The rub needs at least 12 hours to marinate the meat and 18 to 24 hours would be better. Some of the spices used were traditionally used to cure meat for long term storage, the longer the rub marinates the meat the better.

Today the ribs will get smoked. I know from experience that when the meat comes out of the refrigerator it will have a smell that sometimes makes me think of trying a taste before it gets cooked. Don't worry, Part 2 will be coming up soon.