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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Spare Ribs on the fire

I call this my "pork and bean" meal while camping.
I start my smoked ham hock and pintos early in the morning and let them simmer all day.
The ribs take about six hours.
I season the ribs with some of my home made seasoned salt and place them on the low-heat side of the fire.




I let them slow cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours....





When they show a bit of color, I wrap them in foil...


I make a mixture of beer, a bit of bbq sauce and Dale's marinade...




I pour this into the foil pouch with the ribs.....


Then slow cook some more...probably about 3 hours or so....


Then I unwrap and let them slow cook for another hour to hour and 1/2 while I fry up some hominy..




The finished ribs are so tender and juicy.... I like the flavor of the dry rub, marinade and smoke so I serve my sauce on the side. You could cover with Q sauce during the last bit if you like them that way.


The ribs, pintos, fried hominy, watermelon, tatoe salad and cucs.....One of my favorite camp meals. :)





8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I found your blog the other day after seeing a pic of your barrel smoker in a google search. After reading/drooling over your site, I started wondering if there was a Mr. Cowgirl Country Life or if you might be looking ;) When I mentioned your blog to my wife she said "No Way"... so, what ever... I guess I'll just have to stalk you thru your site. *sigh* Anyways! I've been labeled as a bit of a bbq fanatic/out doors cook myself and as such, I godda tell you... I'm humbled and glad you're sharing your craft with the rest of us. I mean seriously? bacon wrapped corn on the cob?? BACON??!! In the immortal words of homer simpson - "Mmm... Bacon..."

Ryan ~ Montana

cowgirl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Smoke Eater said...

It took me a while to get back to this post... I couldn't remember what topic I had posted under, and I wasn't smart enough to check the box that sends post replies to my email! Now that I've taken care of that part...

I have a couple of smokers and grills (5 total now I think). All run o' the mill store bought types. My favorite for flavor is a chargriller with the side firebox that I bought a couple of years ago. It just does a great job, whether I'm smokin ribs, chicken, shoulder, cheese, peppers or duck, I just love the temp control and smoke that it produces.
The one I use most though is my Traeger pellet smoker (www.traegergrills.com) I use it the most because it's so darn easy, it's litterally like using an oven. 1 hopper of pellets (usually my own blend of mesquite, hickory and either apple or pecan) will last almost 24 hours and stays at a constant 180* - 225* depending on outside temps. The flavor is a bit milder than charcoal & wood smoking thus the mesquite to kick it up, but for the small amount of work and time tending that it takes, I love it! I can throw a cuppla' butts on in the morning and come back 8 hours later and have them perfectly cooked and ready to pull... Mmm, I'm gettin hungry now...

Your drum smoker has inspired me to make a drum smoker of my own (to the great horror of my wife. did I mention the 5 different fire cooking mediums I already own?)

But this one will be with a twist! My father is a bit of an inventor and has come up with an oddly wonderful little invention that he has named "The Rib-O-Lator" you can get an idea of it at www.ribolator.com (this is a temp site, the real one is in the works) The invention works pretty good but is limited to the size of the grill/smoker it's being used on (usually only 4 trays @ the most).
What I plan on doing is making a chain-driven system that would allow 8-12 trays to be in use at a time, thus allowing for more food to be cooked as well as not having any hot spots. It will take a bit of work to get all of the kinks worked out but I think it will be worth it! I'll let you know as it develops.

~Ry

cowgirl said...

Hey Ryan!
Sounds like you are addicted to smoking and grilling just like me! lol
One can never have too many smokers or grills. :)

Your traeger sounds handy...just set it and forget it. That would be nice. No fire to tend.

Also like the rib-o-lator idea. The chain system you describe would be great... sure could smoke several items at a time with 12 trays... Nice!

Keep me posted on how that goes. I'll bookmark your rib-o-lator site for now.

Hope you have a great week! Good to hear from you again. :)

J

Smoke Eater said...

Yeah the Traeger is so easy it really is like cheating. Only problem is that it uses a small amount to electricity to drive the pellet auger that feeds the fire. I still take it camping/to the lake/tailgating... I just use an inverter that connects to my car battery to run it.

Take care!

~Ry

cowgirl said...

Nice! Sounds like a great way to use it while camping. :)

Man, I'm ready for camping. lol

Svetlana said...

Would this recipoe work just as well with loin backribs?

cowgirl said...

Hi Svetlana! Back ribs should work fine too. Good luck with them! :)