Thanks to the Brisbane BBQ Mafia guys for parting with their BBQ Rib recipe. We wish them the best of luck competing in the Australian BBQ Wars in Port Macquarie on March 28th.

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INGREDIENTS:

Pork Ribs*

Herbies BBQ Rub*

Blend Smoked Honey*

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce*

Butter

Brown Sugar

Apple Juice

Aluminium Foil

*available at Meat at Billy’s

 

METHOD:

Preheat smoker / oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit or 110 degrees Celsius.  If smoking, I prefer to use a sweeter wood like apple or peach. Aussie BBQ’s at Murarrie have a great supply of different smoking chips and chunks.

 

If you are feeling confident enough, it is always best to remove the thin membrane from the back of the ribs but this step is not essential.

On a clean surface, place the ribs meat side up.  Pat dry with paper towel. Gently rub a liberal amount Herbies BBQ Rub over the ribs ensuring to cover the whole surface.

 

Place ribs straight onto the smoker rack or straight on oven rack to ensure an even cook (If cooking in the oven, put a tray on the rack below to catch fat). Smoke or cook the ribs for 2 hours, spritzing with apple juice every 30 mins to help keep moist.

 

After 2 hours, remove ribs from smoker / oven and place back on bench. Pull out a sheet of aluminium foil big enough to completely encase the ribs. Sit each individual rack of ribs on its own piece of foil. Pour a little bit of apple juice over the ribs and in the foil, drizzle blend smoked honey over the racks, roughly a handful of brown sugar (yes a whole handful) and 3 tablespoons of butter (clearly about flavour and not so much health).

 

Wrap the rack of ribs tightly in the foil, and then wrap again with a second piece of foil so that nothing can escape. Place back in smoker / oven for another  1 ½ hours, if smoking you do not require any more smoke for this step.

 

Once the next hour and half is up, remove the ribs again from the smoker / oven and remove from the foil. The meat should be pulling back from the bone and very tender, if not then place back in for another half an hour or until tender.

 

Lather the ribs with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce and return to smoker / oven for another hour to let the sauce darken and become sticky.

 

Once the sauce has darkened and gone sticky after the final hour, they are ready to enjoy!