Ribfest 2013

Hey ya’alllll. Last weekend was a big event in the MGNN kitchen. ‘Twas… RIBFEST!

Ever since my dad lent us his smoker on Thanksgiving, the huz has been dreaming of making ribs. For one week straight,this was all I heard about, and the planned day was dubbed “Ribfest 2013.” We are weird.

Other than assisting in preparing Bobby Flay’s Rib Dry Rub seasoning [above], the huz made the ribs all by himself. I asked him for a general, bulleted overview of his methods and this was what he said:

Bought pork spare ribs (St. Louis cut) from Costco
Cut each rack of ribs in half (so they will fit into our smoker)
Apply dry rub one day prior to Ribfest

Wrap ribs in foil, place in a pan, and refrigerate overnight
Prepare smoker with hickory wood
Remove foil from the ribs
Six hours before dinner: place ribs in smoker
Smoke ribs for three hours, turning once every hour

Re-wrap ribs in aluminum foil, adding a splash of apple juice to each foil packet, and place in a preheated 225 F oven for two hours

Remove foil; apply BBQ sauce of your choice to both sides of ribs generously
Bake at 225 F for one more hour (without foil)

Remove from oven, slice into portions

Serve with Slow Cooker Corn Pudding. Throw some scallions in, too!

This recipe is a perfect accompaniment because it cooks in the crock pot while your oven is occupied with ribs. The center is sweet and gooey while the edges are slightly crisped and caramelized. Yum!

We also recommend Alton Brown’s Stovetop Mac-n-Cheese. It is my favorite homemade mac-n-cheese recipe (as I professed here).

Pretty much the perfect meal!

The tender, smoky ribs were clearly the star.

And the sides were perfect too! In retrospect I might add some sautéed greens to this meal, but other than that it is pretty hard to improve on this meal.