Baby Back Ribs....

I decided to fire up the smoker for tonight's dinner. Last week I tried making some ribs and it didn't work out very well. I experimented by rubbing the rack with a mixture of raspberry jelly, jalapeno hot sauce and garlic. The combo sounded good but the sugar in the jelly caramelised too quickly and the result was a charred, stringy and a tired piece of meat without much flavor. I may try the wet rub again but baste the ribs toward the end of the cook.

So, back to the drawing board and I'm happy to say that tonight's ribs were much better. I kept it a little simpler using a Tex Mex chipotle rub which I bought at a farmer's market we discovered over the weekend. I like nothing more than spending a Sunday wandering around a farmer's market, and this one in Montrose was awesome. It had lots of variety and a really good blackened catfish po' boy I picked up for lunch. Anyway, back to the ribs. I smoked them for four hours and then mopped them with some Stubbs barbeque sauce. They were tender but not mushy and spicy, with a hint of sweetness from the sauce.

The smoker is a lot of fun - the possibilities are endless and my next venture will be a brisket. This cut of meat is supposed to be one of the hardest to produce. Smoked too long and it can be dry; smoked too little and it can turn out like a piece of shoe leather. Smoked just right and it will melt in your mouth and grab your tongue to come back for seconds.