Here we are on Monday morning and after showering last night AND this morning, I still smell like a campfire.  A telltale sign of a good weekend! 

Hapa’s Brewing Company went on the road over the weekend.  Naturally we were accompanied by the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker and naturally we make a stop at Cash & Carry on the way out.  This time around we would be cooking pork loin back ribs, better known as baby back ribs.  Baby back ribs come from the top of the rib cage between the spine and spare ribs.

           
                Pork rib diagram                    Bone side of back loin ribs                             Meat side of back loin ribs

At Cash & Carry I was able to find a Cryovac pack of three slabs of baby back ribs totalling 8.4 pounds.  I prepped all three the same way.  First, I removed the membrane from the bone side of the ribs.  This membrane prevents the rub and smoke flavors from being imparted into the meat and does not make for good eating.  I also removed any large pieces of fat from the meat side of the ribs.

        
Removing the membrane                                 Fat removed

Next, I applied the rub that consisted of: sugar, salt, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper, granulated garlic, and onion powder.


Rub applied

For this cook I fired up the cooker by lighting a full chimney of briquettes and adding another full chimney on top of that.  I used four chucks of oak and two of apple for my smoke wood.  When the cooker came up to 225 degrees I added the ribs.  In order to get the ribs to fit onto the cooker and to promote even cooking, I rolled the ribs and used a wooden skewer to hold them in place. 


Out of the house and onto the fire

I kept the cooker in the 250-270 degree range for the entire cook and after four hours I checked on the meat.  To check for doneness I gave the ribs a pull.  They meat came right off the bone, and I knew it was time to eat!  After unrolling the racks and divvying up portions, everyone added their favorite barbecue sauce and ate.  One hour, 40 sticky fingers, 200 napkins, 4 sauce covered faces, and 4 smiles later we were done. 


Out of the fire and into the mouths!