Honey Spiced Ribs

[Alien BBQ]

Honey Spiced Ribs

Honey spiced ribs is a favorite in my household because it gives everyone a special treat. The girls love the sweetness of the BBQ glaze. While the boys like the zip from the spiciness. Myself, anytime I can eat country style ribs, I am all for it. In my opinion, country style ribs epitomize BBQ at its best. There is enough meat on the bone to make one rib a meal, while two or more are even better. Finally, it is pork and takes to mouth-watering glazes very well.

You will notice that in this recipe there is no call for sugar. Sugar caramelizes on ribs and can cause a browning or burnt look to the ribs. Buy using honey and ketchup in the glaze; you lower the chances of burning your ribs. Not that you can’t, but the meat will stand a better chance in looking the way you want it to on the plate. This is also, what I call a thin glaze. In other words, it gets applied in thin coats and is allowed to build up on the meat. This too lowers the chance of burning.

As with many of my recipes, this BBQ session is a two-step process. The first is the dry rub that is applied and allowed to “set.” Buy letting the dry rub set on the meat during the first hour (@250 degrees) or ˝ hour (@325 degrees) you lessen the chance of the spices falling off when you apply the glaze.

This cooking session I will be smoking at 250 degrees for approximately 4-5 hours. You could BBQ them faster (up to 325 degrees) and cut your cooking time to 2-3 hours but I am taking my time to increase the moisture content of the meat. One thing to note is that you really should not use a clock to tell you when your meat is done. At 150 degrees, I normally apply the last glaze and allow it to cook for about 15 more minutes to thicken the glaze. I then pull it an allow the meat to rest for about 20 minutes. During this time, the temp will increase to about 160 ish and is ready to serve.

The Meat:
Choice double thick country style cut pork ribs. Approximately 10 lbs for this recipe.

The Wet (Glaze) Ingredients: Mix in a bowl and use for the glaze.
1 Cup Honey
2 Oz. Kentucky Whiskey
2 Oz. Sriracha Garlic Chili Sauce
2 Oz. Ketchup

The Dry Rub:
2 Tbspn. McCormic Sweet Onion and Pepper Mix
2 Tbspn. Durkee Smokey Mesquite Mix
1 Tbspn. Perfect Blend Seasoning mix




Mix the dry rub together and apply sparingly to the meat. Make sure to cover all sides of the meat.



Place the dry rubbed meat on the smoker and allow it to cook @! 225 degrees for one hour to “set” the rub.



After the first hour, apply a thin coat of the glaze to the ribs. Additional layers of the glaze should be applied every hour and just before serving.



Once the glaze begins to thicken on the meat, the ribs will take on a mahogany color as they cook.



The finished ribs will be slightly sticky to the touch and have a deep color to them. As you bite into them, you will experience the layers of flavor (ie. the smoke, rub, glaze, and pork.)



Inside will be naturally pink from the smokering and have a slightly whitish center. I used a serrated knife to cut these and it left a coarse surface. For appearances, I would use a smooth blade for a neater cut.

Leftovers can be put into a food processor (without the bones) and chipped up to create a very flavorful chopped pork sandwich or can be used in other dishes.

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[skybob]

Man, that looks good. Alien, glad you're back! How's the cookbook going?

[Alien BBQ]

It is coming. I got wrapped up in speaking and training engagements this summer and have not seen a whole lot of my house. We are building two nuclear enrichment facilities in the state and I have become real popular with the companies supporting the projects. In fact, right now I won’t see my house for the next week because I am on the road.
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[SmokinJo]

Hey, Alien what wood chunks would you recommend for this recipe?
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Bar-B-Chef Offset Smoker

"If at first you don't succeed destroy all evidence that you tried."

[Alien BBQ]

I used Pecan...
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[JONESEY]

Forgive me for the stupid question (I'm sure you're all used to me asking these now however), but Country Style ribs ... is that just another cut?.

I normally order a rack of ribs from my local butcher, but wondered if you were getting something different here?

[allsmokenofire]

[lantern]

Country style ribs are actually not ribs at all. They LOOK like ribs due to their shape, but are actually cut from the butt.

They tend to be a bit tricky if you cook them quicker than they like to cook due to the two different textures in the meat from one half to the other(top to bottom).

[Alien BBQ]

Hence they cook in 1/4 the time for a but and still chop up well.
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[Pigslips]

[Alien BBQ]

155 and rest should be fine.
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[Big Dog BBQ]

If a Country Rib is actuall part of the butt, wouldn't you want to slow smoke to a higher temp to render more fat into the meat for flavoring?

Not that I'm questioning your recipes Alien as they all look very good, just thought you generally cook pork by the cut, (i.e.- Lean cuts = lower finishing temp and fattier cuts = higher temp).

Looks Great and as stated in previous posts: 'Keep us Droolin' Alien' Please!
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Doug

"Causing Nightmares for Vegetarians Since 2K"

[Alien BBQ]

What? (thunder rumbles) You question my recipes? (lightning flashes). Actually I will cook these to a lower temp to meet the consistency of the meat I want. If you were to cook these to 200 degrees, you would be close to pulled pork temp. This would have a tendency to come completely off the bone when you bite into one (an aha falls over the crowd) By pulling it early, you do miss out on the fat rendering but you have a rib that lets you eat it off the bone (the crowd goes wild with applause.)
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[Big Dog BBQ]

Alien....Not only do you provide some of the best recipes and fabulous insight to Q'n, but you pretty darn funny too

Question your recipes.........Never

Try to learn more about the why's of cooking good Q....... Well, maybe sometimes

Thanks for explaining the reasoning behind your choice of finishing temp on those awsome looking ribs. We'll be trying them as soon as the new cooker arrives, (Currently suffering Q withdrawls due to my decision to purchase a cheapo smoker that's now in mild burnout stage ). This is going to be a long 6 weeks unless I break down and go by a standy-by.
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Doug

"Causing Nightmares for Vegetarians Since 2K"

[Alien BBQ]

ECB is $28 at Wally World.
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[Tom C]

OK Alien I get to pick on you a little!

We are trying to put together the ingredients for the dry rub of this recipe and could not find the McCormic Sweet Onion and Pepper. My wife said she tried several stores in town with no luck. Turns out it was discontinued in 2005. This a link to a list of their discontinued items:

http://www.mccormick.com/content.cfm?id=12157

Do you have a suggestion for a substitute?

It also looks like Lawrys Perfect Blend Seasoning and Rub may also be on it's way out. It is not listed on their web site but can still be found on-line. We didn't find it in any of our local markets. We're going to check Costco to see if they have it there. We may need to find a substitute for that as well until we can get it by mail.

Just thought I would let you and others know that some of the ingredients on this one will be hard to come by if not already on hand.

We are still determined to try this out even if we have to find subs. It really looks fantastic! I'l let you know what we end up with.

[allsmokenofire]

Not an uncommon problem when recipes are based on pre-made spice blends instead of actual spices.

My opinion is that the predominate flavors in this recipe lie in the wet glaze and not necessarily the rub. I'd go with a rub that you like and then mix the glaze up and you should be fine.

....but that's just me.
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Mike
Team Enoserv

[Alien BBQ]

I will go thru the pantry and see what the ingredients are. I like to use the spices I find at Sam's, Big Lots, and our local restaurant supply store because they are pre-blended and make it easier for people following the recipe to mimic the same flavor. I happened to really like these because they were coarse ground and full of flavor. It is a shame to hear that they are discontinued. I will try and call my cousin (who is a VP at McCormick) to see if anything is close.
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[Tom C]

Thanks Alien,
We have a Big Lots in town but didn't think to look there. Maybe we will get lucky. No Sam's though just a super size Walmart (no luck there). Hope your cousin will have some ideas for a sub. If nothing else we'll see what the wife and I can come up with. It will be fun ether way. Can't wait to try the glaze.

[mark8086]

Alien,

Man those look good!!

Glad to see that you specified "Kentucky Whiskey". None Better!

To paraphase Cooking God Julia Child, "Never cook with a whiskey you wouldn't drink."

Mark
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Mark Hester
www.theweekendgrillers.com
Go Cards!