TL;DR:
Dry rub: 1 part each: Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and ground mustard. Match with 4 parts brown sugar, mix well. Rub racks before bagging, sous vide at 145F for 48 hours. Drain racks, add more rub, and finish on the smoker at 450F for at least 30 minutes.
I am a relative amateur when it comes to smoking meat, but this particular recipe has been slowly evolving for over fourteen years- Eric’s baby back ribs.
This is my preferred way of cooking and serving, don’t knock it until you have tried it! This started on a cheapo smokebox smoker, and then moved to a Traeger in 2010. I have since incorporated an immersion bath (AKA sous vide) component, which makes preparing and serving this “laborious” dish easy for a lazy procrastinator like myself.
My rub is basically the same as a recipe I found waaaay back when, that incorporated Dr. Pepper or another soda/liquor of your choosing. I dropped the liquid ingredients over time, primarily due to the mess and my perceived lack of flavor profile addition. I used to measure this precisely, but now I eye ball it. Filling 1/4 of a medium to large mixing bowl is plenty for 6 racks before and after rubbed.
Dry rub:
1 part each: Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and ground mustard.
Match with 4 parts brown sugar, mix well.
The beauty of this method is I can buy in bulk, and prepare the ribs for freezing in a number of ways; such as one rack a bag, or two. For parties I will do two racks to a bag, it is less work. For meals at home, one rack per bag. Adding sous vide to the mix means I can pull the portioned and rubbed racks out of the freezer, and put them directly in the immersion bath. The picture above is in preparation for our official housewarming party, where I planned to finish two racks at a time over three hours. It worked well.
Set your heater to 145F and let the countdown begin. I have done these as short as six hours, as long as fifty. I personally like the texture once the forty hour mark has elapsed, and going forty eight hours simplifies my math for serving time.
Finishing on the smoker adds a touch of flavor as well. I have moved from the smoke taking center stage to the rub. Get your grill of choice going, and get it as hot as it will go, likely 450F if it has a selector.
Results may vary, but I can guarantee that you will be left with a pile of bones every time you serve this!
Alternate cooking methods can be done, I became proficient on the smoker only with a modified 3-2-1 method: one hour 300F, at least five hours smoke. This can be done for same day serving, but getting more than your smoker will hold laying flat is problematic in my experience. I never really achieved the results I was looking for doing six like this.
If you are interested in a “Ribs 101” step by step post, let me know.
Eric