Dry Rub
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/3 cup dry Colman's mustard
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1 tablespoon ground white pepper
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
Combine dry ingredients. Rub onto all sides of pork ribs. Put ribs in a 3.5 gallon plastic zip top bag. Stick the bag in the refrigerator and allow ribs to marinate overnight.
Soak several big handfuls of wood chips in water for about 45 minutes. Drain. Make an aluminum foil pouch to hold chips (see directions). In addition to the soaked chips, put a handful of dry chips and a cup of wood dust in the pouch. Put the pouch on the Flavorizer bars over the rear burner of your Weber Gas Grill. (A few years back, I invested in having a natural gas line run from the main household supply back to my deck and bought a Weber Genesis® S-320 natural gas grill, so that I could stop schleping to the hardware store to replace propane tanks. Not worrying about running out of gas in the middle of a long cook like this one is great.)
Light the grill and run it on full until you start getting smoke from the wood chips.
Take the ribs out of the refrigerator and transfer from plastic bag to a large, clean cutting board. Use paper towels to mop up any liquid and to wipe off excess rub. Put ribs, concave side down, in a large, disposable aluminum roasting pan and loosely tent with aluminum foil. Put roasting pan on grill, as close to the front as possible.
Turn off the front and middle burners. Turn the back burner down to its lowest setting. This should eventually maintain a stable temperature of about 250 degrees, but I like to start the process with the grill at maximum temperature. It sears the meat and helps promote good smoke.
Cook ribs 5 hours at 250 degrees.
Remove roasting pan from grill. Turn rear burner up to full. Put rib slabs on grill, towards the front (you still want indirect heat), concave side down. Slather rib slab side facing you with your favorite BBQ sauce. (I prefer Stubbs; Helen prefers KC Masterpiece. I went with her fave tonight.) Cook 10 minutes. Turn ribs. Slather the conave side now facing you with sauce. Cook 10 minutes. Watch for flare-ups.
Remove ribs from grill, putting them on a large cutting board. Tent loosely with foil and allow to rest 10-15 minutes. Cut into individual servings and serve.
Coleslaw and corn bread are my favorite accompaniments.
What to drink? Some would say iced tea. Some would say beer. I say Sparkling Shiraz.
