Yum:

I broke out the new smoker this afternoon for the first bbq of the season. The Smokey Mountain from weber is definitely worth the price tag. Not that its that expensive, but it is about twice what my previous water smoker ran me. But the thing is sturdy, airtight, huge, and looks like what I imagine Sputnik looked like:

Earlier that morning Lori had asked what we should do for dinner, and the first thing that came to mind was ribs (of course). We ended up at Hudson's smallish farmer's market where i met this guy selling pork from Pigasso Farms:

Perfect. As all local meat is, these racks were frozen so the first step was to defrost them quickly in containers of water. Thanks to that baby bourbon bottle for holding down the ribs:

Once defrosted, the first thing i noticed was that they were trimmed very close to the bone. Not something I'm used to seeing. I was also bummed because they were cut about half way down the bone about every 3 ribs. I suppose this makes for faster cooking (???) but its a hassle when you're handling them on a grill. But it wasn't then end of the world really...in fact they turned out wonderfully so maybe it doesn't matter at all!

I made my old standby ribs rub which contains:

• 1/2 cup Paprika
• 1/4 cup Chili Powder
• 3 T Cumin
• 2 T Coriander
• 1 T Curry Powder
• 1 T Cayenne Pepper
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Kosher Salt
• 1/4 cup cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp Allspice

But i completely forgot the brown sugar. Here it is mixed up in a masson jar, and poured onto the ribs after i removed the membrane from the bone side (that's an essential part of making ribs!):

I then covered these in saran wrap, and set in the fridge for about 3 hours. I brought them out to come to room temp for maybe 30 minutes, and once my coals had died down and the closed smoker was humming along at 225-250 degrees, i laid them bone-side down on the top rack. In the water pan i mixed a quart of apple juice with 2 quarts of water. Here they are on the rack: 

After about 2 hours of 225 smoking, I took a peek under the hood and found these:

I was making solid progress. I mopped them with a simple beer/oil/cider vinegar combo at this point, and again another 45 minutes later. I then came back at a total of 4 hrs to find hese:

I tasted a bit of the crust and this was when i realized i forgot to add the brown sugar to that rub. It had a great smokey flavor, and packed a good spice kick, but it was a bit overwhelmingly rich. I normally make a sauce that i glaze onto the ribs on their last 20 minutes on the smoker. But today I wanted to see what they were like dry.... so i hadn't really planned on a sauce. But I knew i needed one now, so I wrapped them up in foil to keep warm (and moist), and went to the kitchen to plan a dipping sauce. 

I knew i needed something with some sweetness to it, but also wanted it to cut through the richness of the taste i had. I turned to my "Carolina Red" recipe I make for pulled pork which is essentially vinegar and ketchup, but cooked it in a saucepan for 20 minutes to thicken it up and made a couple slight modifications. It was so perfect for these ribs... totally rewarding experience to think your meal needs something, and then you nail it. This sauce contained:

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 T horseradish
• 1 T cayenne pepper
• 1 T Cholulu
• 2 T sugar

I also served some Blue Smoke bottled sauce (yellow-ish one), and some leftover brisket bbq sauce from a Sara Foster recipe. Both of them were wrong for these ribs, but havin three sauces in little bowls looked awesome (see 2nd pic above).

I served the ribs with collard greens (recipe to follow), and cole slaw from the Spencertown General Store: 

The ribs were not fatty at all, and full of meat. Though never a really thick bite of meat... definitely attributed to the cut from the butcher (close to the bones), but honestly I think there was significantly more actual meat on these ribs than I'd get from a grocery store rack. These ribs were very, very good.... very glad I ran into the folks from Pigasso farm at the market this morning. Can't wait to order up a Boston Butt from them this summer!