Well, it's 6:30 AM local time and the coals are almost ready. I'll be posting to this thread through the day with updates on the smokin for the day if anyone is interested.
The menu for this afternoon is pulled pork sandwiches with Carolina BBQ sauce and homemade slaw, fried pickles, and Buccanneer Ribs (a recipe from Raichlen's Ribs...more to follow).
First, the prep from last night:
I thought I would take a few shots of how to prepare spare ribs St. Louis style. Spare ribs come from the lower rib cage and are packaged with the sternum part still attached. There is decent meat in this area, but there is also a lot of connective tissues and joints which make for generally less pleasant eating. Thus, I like to prepare my spare ribs St. Louis style, which involves trimming the unwanted bits off and squaring up the rack a little.
To do this, start with a thawed rack of spare ribs. First, I like to remove the shiny membrane on the back side of the ribs. If you leave this membrane on, it will get tough and it's basically inedible so it's nicer for your diners if you take the time to peel it off. The easiest way is to start with a butter knife and just try and peel up the membrane from the middle of the rack. An important point, you don't want to peel the full thickness of the membrane, leaving the rib bones completely bare. If you do, the rib bones will tend to just fall out of the meat when the ribs are done. It is not too hard to get the membrane to start peeling in the middle. Once you get it going, get your finger in there and wiggle it across the entire width of the rib. Then grab the membrane with a paper towel (it's pretty slippery) and just pull it off. This pic shows the membrane started correctly with also an area where the entire membrane wanted to come off, showing the bare rib (I'm pointing to it).
Ok, now to trim up the spare ribs. Find the flex point where the rib meets the sternum and start your cut there. Once you locate the joint, it's pretty easy to envision where the other joints are, there is sometimes a line of fat along the joint line to help you.
Here's the full rack before trimming (membrane already removed):
Just slice right through the whole area and then trim up any meat on the ends (squaring the rack) leaving you with this:
Don't throw away the trimmed bits, they will cook faster than the ribs, leaving the chef a nice little mid-smoke snack!!
Now we're ready to rub/marinate. For this meal I am doing two racks of spares and 3 racks of baby backs. The baby back rib comes from higher up on the ribcage, nearer the spine from the spares. There is no trimming needed, but you do need to remove the membrane. Both ribs have their good and bad points, baby backs are usually a little more tender and take less prep time. Spare ribs are often a little fattier, will take a touch longer to cook and require more prep. I think they are more flavorful though. Anyhow, I usually do a mix of both so people can choose.
These ribs were then marinated overnight in a mixture of onions, garlic, italian parsley, red wine vinegar, orange juice, orange zest, chili peppers, soy sauce, oil, allspice, black pepper and cloves. Buzz all this up in your food processor. I can post the actual recipe if anyone is interested, it comes from Raichlen on Ribs (a truly FANTASTIC book, IMHO).
Ok, the pork shoulder was dry rubbed with a pretty basic rub consisting of brown sugar, paprika, cayenne, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, mustard powder and Emeril's Essence (recipe is on food network site).
All of this was then put into the fridge overnight.
Ok, now to the smokin! First my smoking rig. This is a Weber Smokey Mountain I have had for about 3 years now. Notice my super trick modified lid with the thermometer in it. This way I know what temp the cooker is at without opening the lid. Very easy to do.
I set up for smoking this way. 5-6 chunks of hardwood (apple in this case), soaked overnight go into the bottom. Then charcoal over the top of that, about 2/3 of the way full. Then a few more chunks of wood on top. Like this:
One chimney starter of charcoal goes on top(mine took 35 minutes Dottore, I timed it). This cooker will stay at temp with this setup for about 14 hours, easily. No further charcoal addition is needed. Just light it, adjust the vents from time to time to keep the temp where you want it (225) and let it go.
Ready to assemble the rest of the cooker:
Fill the water dish with water, and put the shoulder on, fatty side up (this way the fat will drip over the meat and keep it a little more moist:
Oh, I'll also be basting the shoulder every few hours with a mixture of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, brown sugar, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
Ok, that's it for now, I'll check back in when the ribs go on...probably about 3 hours or so...