Tim's Famous Ribs - Low and slow on the smoke, baby.

My husband smokes a mean rack of ribs. Tender, smokey and delicious. Here's how we make it happen.  We buy a rack of pork spareribs. If you have the time, a day before you're going to smoke the ribs, salt them well with kosher salt, wrap them in plastic and put them back in the fridge. You can skip this step, but the ribs are more moist and delicious if you do. 

Now we shall make the rub. This makes enough for probably 3 racks of ribs. I usually double it and keep a Ziploc bag of it ready to go. Works on ribs, steaks and chicken.

Mix the following

4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like them hot)

I like to buy the little things of Tone's spices. They're about a a dollar each and you don't get stuck with leftover spices.  About two hours before you're ready to cook - rub the ribs good.

It will be messy

Now you're going to take about 16 ounces of hickory chips and soak them in water for about an hour

Then make a little square foil packet (double the foil)

After it's wrapped, poke some holes in it with a fork or a knife

Now if you have a charcol grill, build a fire by piling all of your charcol on one side of the grill - making a hot side and a cooler side.  When the coals start to ash, put the foil packet on top of the coals and put the cooking grate on top of it. Open grill vent to let smoke draw over the grill for five minutes.
Then place ribs over the cool part of the grill.  If you have a gas grill put the wood chips on top of the primary burners and turn the burner to high. Shut lid and let that go for about fifteen minutes, then turn that burner down to medium and turn off other burners. Then put ribs over the cool part of the grill.

Let the ribs smoke, turning them every 30 minutes until the meat is tender. Usually 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Now when the ribs are finished, wrap them in foil.

Wrap them tight. Don't skip this step. It makes the meat incredibly tender.

Now put the foil wrapped ribs and put them in a paper bag. We're locking in the heat and the flavor. Don't skip this step. If you don't have a brown bag, you could use newpaper.

Leave it to steam for an hour. NO CHEATING!

Now serve these moist delicious ribs with the BBQ sauce of your choice or just as they are.