Green Egg Smoked Pork Baby Back Ribs

Have you watched So I Married an Axe Murderer? If you have, you should remember how Charlie’s mom got herself a Juice Tiger and announced that she juices everything now. Well, the same happened to us after we'd bought a Green Egg grill. We grill and smoke everything we can put our hands on. For the smoking purposes we also got a special blower/fan called BBQ Guru that lets the Green Egg maintain the same low temperature for a long time. We also bought a plate setter for indirect heat.

One of our most favorite dishes so far is smoked pork baby back ribs. A large Green Egg can accommodate about 3-4 pork racks at a time. We cut each in three and arrange the pieces on a 3-tier grill rack. There is also a V-shaped rack where you can accommodate 5-6 whole racks (just make sure your grill/smoker is large enough to accommodate it).

For 3-4 racks of ribs we use about 3 large handfuls of wood chips: apple, maple, mesquite or hickory. Lately we’ve been using a half-n-half mixture of wild apple and maple chips. We soak them in water about an hour prior to the beginning of smoking.

This is how it goes:

Start a preparation of pork 1 day prior smoking. First thing is to mix a rub. Our favorite recipe is this one:

• 4 Tbsp paprika
• 4 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp mild chili powder
• 1-1.5 Tbsp cayenne
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper

Just stir all the spices together in a bowl and set aside. This will be enough for 4 medium or 3 large pork rib racks.

Now, rinse and pat dry the ribs. Check if there is a membrane (thin whitish skin) left on the bone side of the ribs. If there is, pick it up with a tip of a knife at one end of the rib rack, then grab it with your fingers and pull it off. It peels very easily. Cut each rack into 2-3 parts.

Smear the ribs with some yellow mustard to make the surface sticky. Now generously sprinkle the ribs all over with the rub. Place the ribs into a large container and refrigerate overnight. 

The next day, take the ribs out about an hour prior to smoking, unwrap and let air dry on a counter on a grill rack. You may use a fan on a low setting to facilitate the drying process.

While the ribs are air-drying, soak wood chips and start the grill/smoker. First, try to build a few thin layers of wet chips covered with small charcoal pieces (it will take about 1/3 of the presoaked chips). Since the charcoal will be burning in the downward fashion (toward the bottom of the Egg), the heat will gradually reach each layer of chips, thus producing the good smoke we are after. 

Insert the fan/blower into the Green Egg and then start the charcoal. Wait about 5-10 minutes with the lid open until the charcoal gets going and then switch the Guru on and set the temperature to 200F. Now you can close the lid.

After a while, when the “white smoke” is mostly gone and the temperature reaches 180-190F, check the smoker. If you can see that there is no open flame, and that the charcoal is going, we are ready to start smoking!  Place about half of the presoaked wood in the hot areas of the burning charcoal and put the plate setter on top. We usually cover with aluminum foil so it’d be easy to clean.

Place the rack with the meats into the smoker and close the lid. Cook the ribs at 200-210F for about 4-5 hours turning them over when (and if) needed. The smoke is very important during the first 1.5-2 hours of cooking when the meat is still raw. If the grill has stopped producing smoke, remove the ribs and the plate setter and add more chips. You may need to do it several times. Just make sure to wear grill mitts when removing the rack and the place setter.

Also, if you see that the surface of the ribs is getting too dry, place a pan filled with water (wine, beer, broth) under the ribs on the place setter.

After 4-5 hours, place the ribs on a piece of foil, spray with some water or beer (I use a spray bottle, similar to the one people use for plants) and wrap. Put back on the grill seem side up and cook for another 1.5-2 hours or until the ribs are very tender and almost falling of the bone.

(sorry for the bad cell phone photo).

Let the ribs rest for about 7-10 minutes, then slice and serve. We like the ribs just like this, but I also make a BBQ sauce for those who love them with the sauce.

 

 

Comments

[Joe]

Hi! I'll be trying the rub tonight, though they won't be able to sit too long. I'm using country style ribs and am going to have to shorten the cook time, but I think I can break between the layers and get the rub distributed across the surface area a little better. I will share my results!

Love the blog btw. I'm glad Ilya shared this with me.

[Tania Erminson]

Cool! Hope the ribs turned out delish, Joe!

[Joe]

They were excellent. The rub was a big hit. I didn't have any of the ingredients at our new place to make the BBQ sauce so I made a North Carolina style sauce with a bit of 5 spice for some added complexity. Will definitely be using the rub in the future.

Next weekend we're doing some pizza on the egg. I'll report in on that too :)

[Tania Erminson]

Sweet! I'm happy to hear that the rub worked. Could you please share NC BBQ sauce recipe? I love 5 spice. Gives a nice touch to the cocktail sauce too.