I am obsessed with my dads cooking. He can smoke any meat, fry and fish and sautéed any veggie. He is a jack of all trades. I got some great advice from my stepmom years ago- you will eventually marry someone like your dad. After she told me that I thought about it. She was right. I was about 13 when she have me that wisdom and from there on out I typically found myself attracted to guys like my dad. I even married one and… My dad taught him one way to keep me happy; how to smoke some meat.
I have shared a few recipes on how we cook our fish and a great recipe for run for just about any meat. Here is my husbands famous rib recipe:
Grab some baby back ribs, hickory wood blocks and charcoal. Peel off the fat film liner on the back of the ribs. Next you will cut them into a few sections (quarter them) and line them in a 9×13 tray (we use our lasagna pan). Then rub them down with the homemade rib rub:
Rib Rub
Lowys season salt
Generous portion of brown sugar
Sea salt
Mixed ground pepper
And a smidge of garlic pepper
Rub mix on both sides.
Pour 1-2 dark beers (like Amber Bock or Boston Lager), more apple cider vinegar (it will help the meat pick up the seasonings) and orange juice. You want the entire mixture to cover 2/3 up the rib sides. Then you let it marinate until you get the fire started. What ever juices are left over after the ribs are places on you use in the drip pans.
For the fire: (per Hubs)
Start with normal charcoal and get the fire going in the mean time. For the smoke, I use hickory wood blocks from the grocery store and those should be soaking in a mixture of oj and water and a little sugar. Too much sugar will cause the fire to get too hot. Once the fire is going then time to add the ribs.
I utilize the brinkman water smoker so the fire is underneath and the drip pan is right above the fire. I add the ribs and utilize the remaining fluid from the marinade to pour into the drip pan. Then smoke ribs under a heavy cloud of smoke and ideal heat. Usually not too hot. Not sure on the temperature but most smokers will have a dial that will say warm , ideal, and hot. I try to keep the temperature indicator in between the I and the d of ideal with a nice stream of smoke billowing out of the top. If starts to get warm add more charcoal to keep the fire going and a lil less wood or dry wood will get it going quick. If it gets too hot you will probably notice cause the smoke will stop and there will be flames coming up , get this under control quick or you’ll overdone the ribs. Keep it in the ideal range with good smoke for about 4 to 5 hrs.
A big thanks to Hubs for taking a second to share his secrets. I have heard several times that smoking meat is intimidating. I am hoping this will help you all conquer that fear.