Got some ribs going on.....with pics...updated, now finished

I just put some ribs on a few minutes ago. I have one rack of spares and one of baby backs. I had intended to cook some spare ribs for the 4th, so I stopped by my favorite meat market on the way home after work on the 3rd. I was talking with one of the butchers a bit and then said I wanted a couple racks of spare ribs. He asked, "mean baby backs, don't you?" I said no, I wanted spare ribs. He told me they didn't carry them I said I was kind of surprised and he explained that there just wasn't enough demand for them, but that I could order some if I wanted, but I would have to buy a whole box (about 30-35 lbs or so). Well, I settled for a rack of baby backs and a rack of beef ribs and they were very good.

I went on-line to see if anyone carried spare ribs locally and there is a meat market about a mile or so from where I work that supposedly carried them. On the way home on Friday, I stopped by. I told the the guy I wanted some spare ribs and he asked, "you want spare ribs or baby backs?" I told him spare ribs and he said the only ones we have are frozen, they didn't carry fresh spare ribs except for holidays when there was a demand. Spare ribs are just not that popular out here....oh well. Anyway, I picked up one rack of spare ribs and one of baby backs while I was there. The baby backs are not as meaty as I'm used to, but .....anyway, here they are prior to going on the pit.

I'm going to use my regular EVOO plus fresh ground pepper and coarse kosher salt on all but one half of the spares. I have some bbq sauce that I took out of the freezer and will use that for one half of the spares. I'll post some more pics later on.





Like I said, I put them on a few minutes ago and will be using some apple chunks for smoke. I'll also spray them with some apple juice every hour or so. I'm going to use the 3-2-1 method.

The ribs have been on for about 5 hours now and I just pulled them from the foil. For the baby backs and 1/2 of the spares, they will get another dose of apple juice along with some more kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. The other 1/2 of the spares get a good coating of homemade bbq sauce.

Here is the corn going on to get a little smoke before I wrap in foil with butter, salt and pepper:



Here are the baby backs after apple juice, salt and pepper: (that is a glass of a good California Zin from the Paso Robles area in the background)



Here are the spares already on the pit along with the baby backs:



And finally, here is the whole set with the 1/2 rack of spares with bbq sauce on therm:



I'll do my best to remember to take some more pics when everything is ready.....

Just finished eating and they sure were good. Here are a couple of pics of the finished product:





The ribs turned out well, but I think I like sauce on the spare ribs better than just the EVOO, coarse salt and fresh ground pepper. My wife liked them as well, so I guess we'll be having them again

Nice start. Can't wait to see the finished product. That stinks that it's hard to get spares out your way. I also like the fact spares cost at least half the price where I live.

jsperk wrote:

Nice start. Can't wait to see the finished product. That stinks that it's hard to get spares out your way. I also like the fact spares cost at least half the price where I live.

I did look at the meat counter in Costco yesterday and they do have some good looking spare ribs, so I think I know where I'm going in the future.......at least for spare ribs.

Nice smoke ring!

Jimmy, do people out your way tend to do more grilling than smoking? Since back ribs can be cooked at a higher heat and in less time than spares I wonder if that might help explain why spares aren't as easy to find.

spares... loin back... they look good to me. Nice job.

ScreamingChicken wrote:

Nice smoke ring!

Jimmy, do people out your way tend to do more grilling than smoking? Since back ribs can be cooked at a higher heat and in less time than spares I wonder if that might help explain why spares aren't as easy to find.

Brad,

There are definitely more people who grill than smoke out here and that may have something to do with it. It could also be a "regional thing" such as Tri-tip is popular out here, but hard to find elsewhere. It just means I'll have to poke around a bit more to find good spares......

They sure do look good. While I enjoy pulled pork and brisket cooked occasionally with just salt and pepper I just can't get that to work with ribs. Ribs just have to have a good, flavorful rub on them.

Those ribs look just about perfect... sux that you can't readily get spare ribs... Spares are more popular than baby backs around here.