Huge Spare Ribs
Prep
20m
Cook
360m
Total
380m
Bigly says
Pay attention. Spare ribs. We're doing spare ribs. HUGE spare ribs. The greatest spare ribs ever pulled out of a smoker by a man, a woman, or a cartoon combover with strong opinions about pork — and that last one is me, I'm the combover, in case you're new here, welcome, you're in for a TREAT. These ribs are tremendous. Tremendous. The best ribs of my life were at a gas station in Albuquerque — a man named Ramón made them, he didn't speak, he just looked at me, nodded, handed me a rib that changed me as a person. These ribs are ALMOST as good as Ramón's. That's the highest praise I give.
Many people don't know this — many people, they have NO idea — the spare rib is actually the SUPERIOR rib. The baby back gets all the marketing, all the commercials, all the prime real estate in the meat case, but the baby back is the JUNIOR VARSITY. The spare rib is where the flavor lives. The spare rib has the meat, the fat, the bone, the bark, the SOUL. The baby back is for people who are scared of flavor. Sad people. Scared, sad, picky people who also probably use turkey bacon, which is a CRIME, but we'll get to turkey bacon another day.
The secret is low and slow. 225 degrees. You set it, you walk away, you trust the process. Six hours. SIX HOURS. And I know what you're thinking — 'Bigly, that's a long time' — and yeah, it's a long time, that's why it's the BEST. Easy things are easy. Great things take time. There are restaurant kitchens that cut this corner with pressure cookers and 90-minute Instant Pot ribs, and what comes out is boiled rib-flavored MUSH. Wet sadness on a plate. A disgrace to pork. Don't do that. End of discussion.
Ingredients
- 2 racks (about 5-6 lb total)pork spare ribs, St. Louis cut(ask the butcher to trim them St. Louis style — flap and tips removed)
- 3 tbspyellow mustard(binder only, you won't taste it)
- 1/2 cupdark brown sugar
- 3 tbspsmoked paprika
- 2 tbspkosher salt
- 1 tbspblack pepper, coarse ground
- 1 tbspgarlic powder
- 1 tbsponion powder
- 2 tspground cumin
- 1 tspcayenne pepper(more if you've earned it)
- 1 cupapple juice(in a spray bottle)
- 4 tbspunsalted butter(for the wrap)
- 1/4 cuphoney(for the wrap)
- 1 cupyour favorite BBQ sauce
- 2 tbspbourbon(the good stuff, not cooking bourbon, cooking bourbon is a scam)
Steps
- 1
Pull the membrane off the back of the ribs: slide a butter knife under the silver skin at one end, grab it with a paper towel, and pull it off in one piece. This step is non-negotiable.
- 2
Pat the ribs dry. Brush both sides lightly with yellow mustard to act as a binder.
- 3
Mix the brown sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and cayenne in a bowl. Coat both sides of each rack generously with the rub. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while the smoker comes up to temp.
- 4
Set up your smoker at 225°F using a fruit wood like apple or cherry, or hickory if you want it bolder. Place the ribs bone-side down directly on the grates.
- 5
Smoke for 3 hours, spritzing with apple juice every 45 minutes after the first hour to keep the surface from drying out.
- 6
After 3 hours, lay out two large sheets of heavy-duty foil per rack. Place the ribs meat-side down on the foil. Top each rack with 2 tbsp butter pats and 2 tbsp honey. Wrap tightly into a sealed packet.
- 7
Return the wrapped ribs to the smoker, bone-side down, for 2 hours. The bones will start to peek out from the meat — that's what you want.
- 8
Whisk the BBQ sauce with the bourbon in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until just combined.
- 9
Unwrap the ribs carefully (mind the steam) and place them back on the grates bone-side down. Brush both sides with the bourbon BBQ sauce.
- 10
Smoke uncovered for a final 45-60 minutes until the sauce sets into a sticky glaze and the meat passes the bend test: lift the rack with tongs at one end and it should bow until the bark cracks slightly.
- 11
Rest the ribs loosely tented with foil for 10 minutes. Slice between the bones and serve.
One more thing
Six hours. Six hours and you've got ribs that fall off the bone — but not TOO much off the bone, because if they fall completely off the bone they're overcooked, that's a competition disqualifier, I've had judges look it up — you want the bite mark, the perfect bite, where the meat releases clean and leaves a little tooth print. That's the goal. That's the gold. The TV chefs won't tell you about the bite mark because the TV chefs don't KNOW about the bite mark. Sad. But you know now. You're in the club. Welcome to the club. That's the recipe.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Huge Spare Ribs.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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