Baby Back Ribs and Beans this weekend!

[Spliner]

So.. I've done these before but food porn is always good on a Monday and I am celebrating the replacement of my smoke generator from Bradley:

3 Racks of Extra Meaty Back Ribs from Wal-Mart.  Removed them from the package, rinsed and patted dry.  Removing the membrane (in case any of you have not done it before) is easy if you start at the small end and go slow:



So.. ready for rub:



Quick and dirty today.. out of Jan's rub so I will be using this:



Here they are, ready to go on the Bradley racks.. rubbed well on both sides:



Squeezed on the Bradley racks.. you can see they bend well once they start to get close to room temp.  I also trim a little bit off to make them fit.  Alternately you can simply bend them in an upward U shape and leave the whole rack like that, but I generally just do it this way if the racks are this long:



Pre-Heating the smoker... I should have already heated it.. but running short on time today so will let them sit and marinate for another 30 min or so while the Bradley pre-heats.  As you can see after putting them in the smoker the temp dropped substantially.  This was because it was a windy and cool day, and I should have pre-heated for an hour or so.  But.. hey.. it'll get the job done:



They went in for 3 hours of Hickory (I was out of Apple).  Also, while the ribs come back up to temp, I started the beans.  Aluminum pan, 3 can's of Bush's Hickory and Brown Sugar Baked Beans, a fist full (about a cup or a bit less) of extra brown sugar, and a healthy squirt of Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce (We love them sweet):

I also started pre-heating the oven to 350 right about now:



At this point I pulled out an old pan, chopped about a quarter pound of Hickory Smoked bacon (sensing a theme yet?  Hickory.. Brown Sugar.. lol), added about a quarter of a large red onion chopped (This old pan is one I usually use on the grill burner lol.. it needs to be retired but hey it still works):



Bacon and Onion are done.. drained.. add those to the beans (oven should be pre-heated to 350 by now):



And off into the oven they go.  I usually will leave the beans in the oven for the first hour at 350 to heat them thoroughly.. then they go on the bottom rack in the smoker for the last two hours of smoke (3 hours total smoke for the ribs.. and 3 hours for the beans as well because after I remove the ribs I'll usually toss in Bratwurst and Hotdogs as well and smoke for another hour.

So.. after three hours, pull the ribs, wrap in foil and add about a quarter cup of apple juice.  Reduce heat on the oven to 225 and put them in for two hours.  Beans stay in the smoker with the Bratwurst and Hotdogs for another hour.  After two hours in the oven at 225, I pull the ribs, and put them on my gas grill at low heat to finish cooking them and add sauce.

I generally take the juice from the bottom of the foil packets, mix part of it with more Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce, and brush it on the ribs the whole time they cook.  They were outstanding, and the Baked Beans were to die for.  Here's the finished Ribs:



Tender enough to cut with a dull butter knife, but not so tender they fell off the bone.  Perfect.

The Bradley elevated the flavor on the Johnsonville Beer Brats, and the Beef Hotdogs.  The whole family was in BBQ bliss this weekend thanks to Bradley getting my smoke generator replaced.  Thought we would celebrate with a massive BBQ!

For those of you new to the Bradley Smoker, these were done with the 3-2-1 method.  Three hours of smoke in the Bradley at 225, then wrapped in foil pouches with a little apple juice and put back in (the oven in my case, I needed the smoker for other things) at 225 for 2 more hours.  Then the final hour is either back in the smoker or on your grill to add/set sauce and let the ribs firm up a bit.  Perfect every time.  Beans in the smoker are always a bonus, just be careful not to put too much cold food in at once or the Bradley will never recover its temps, especially on a cool or windy day.  If you're doing just 1 or 2 racks, especially the ones that are not extra meaty, you could try 3-1.5-.5 (reducing the time in the foil pouches by half and the last hour by half).  The extra meaty ones from Wal-Mart do well with the full 3-2-1 method.  If you have not tried hotdogs and bratwurst in your Bradley you're missing out.  It brings their flavor up about 10 notches!

Spliner

[beefmann]

looking good all around,,,, what time is dinner... can i bring some some wine??

[Spliner]

Dinner was Saturday lol.. leftovers today.  ;)

At least I can stand inside and look outside at the cold weather that has blown through and eat leftover ribs lol.  Mother nature is being stubborn in Missouri this year!

Spliner

[piratey]

We need colder weather, and snow in California.  Wish we could get some of your weather pattern here.

[meyer lemon]

NICE

[bundy]

Looks so good