Ingredients:
- 1
each
Rack Baby Back Ribs
- 1
each
Favorite Rub
- 1
each
Mustard
- 1
each
Favorite BBQ Sauce
- 1
each
Spritz Bottle - Half Apple Juice, Half Apple Cider Vinegar
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Directions:
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A buddy of mine "Car Wash" Mike has an awesome technique for making baby back ribs that is sure to produce some of the best ribs you've ever tasted and he has a loyal following of rib smokers that follow Car Wash Mike's Baby Back Rib Method that agree. He cooks these ribs on a Big Green Egg smoker but they will work just fine on anything that will hold 200-250 degrees for five hours.
Rinse and pat the ribs down with paper towels and flip them meat side down so you can remove the membrane. This is the thin layer of lining that covers the bones unless your butcher has already removed them, it'll be obvious if it's there. Slide a knife under the edge where the bone sticks out and work a hole large enough to get a finger into and then start peeling the membrane off. Now coat the ribs with your favorite rub and make sure everything is covered, bones and all. Now flip them over and apply a light coat of plain ole mustard. The mustard won't give any flavor but the vinegar in the mustard will start breaking down the collagen in the ribs, helps get a better bark on the meat, and helps the coating of rub you're about to apply to the meat side of the ribs. Put them in the fridge for 1-2 hours and go light your fire, set it up for indirect cooking if you have the option to such as a plate setter and drip pan with a Big Green Egg, and get it stable between 200-225 degrees.
Once your smoker is up to temp and stable, add your choice of wood on the fire, preferably a fruit wood like apple or cherry. It should start smoking right away, but you never want to put meat on while it's billowing smoke, wait for it to die down to just wisps or you may get a bitter flavor to your meat. You are now ready to add the meat to the heat.
Use a rib rack or inverted v-rack so the ribs stand on edge, this should help keep the surface from getting a tough skin on the bone side but if you don't have one, lay the ribs bone side down and close everything up.
After the first hour, grab the spritz bottle with the 50/50 mixture of apple juice and apple cider vinegar and give the ribs a misting, you'll be doing this every hour until they're done. After the third hour, after you've spritzed them, open up the vents a little and let the temperature come up to 250. After four and a half hours pick up the ribs from one end using a pair of tongs and if it folds easily in half, it's time to finish, if not, put them back on for another half hour. You should notice the meat pulled back from the bone a good bit also.
The ribs should be ready now though unless you're wanting real "fall of the bone" ribs which is usually not desireable. What most people actually want is for there to be a little tug but then pull cleanly from the bone. Also, you may run the risk of drying them out if you let them go past five and a half hours.
The final step is to use a good sauce, I like a sugar based sauce that is cold from the fridge so it's a little thick. Pull the ribs and open the vents up a little more to get the temperature up to 275, and cover the ribs in your favorite sauce. Also remove the rib rack because you will finish them flat on the grate. Once the temp is up to 275, put the rack back on bone side down and leave on for 20-30 minutes. Pull them and let them rest for at least five minutes, slice them up, and dive in.
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