Year of the Pig

Question: Other than remembering all of our brave military folks of past and present, what is better to do on Memorial Day than barbecue?
Answer: Nothing.

It was going to be my first day home all day for a couple weeks, so it seemed like a good idea to smoke some ribs. That morning, I got out the electric smoker while Alissa prepared the ribs and pulled off the boneside membrane.

She is getting good at that! We again used the mustard slather I had saved from a couple weeks ago (see the Barons Special Sauce from The Ribulator, Entry #17) and coated the ribs liberally with it using a brush. Then I sprinkled the ribs generously on both sides with the spicy Baron’s Cajun Rub (see the recipe in The Ribulator, Entry#18) since last time I made ribs, we all thought the rub could use a little more kick. The smoker was going and I dropped the ribs into the rib rack, again over a bowlful of beans–Pinto and black beans mixed with onion, the rest of the mustard slather, some ketchup and BBQ sauce. I pretty much left them alone for 3 hours, and then took a look, flipped the ribs over in the rack and let them go for another couple hours.

After about 5 hours, they looked pretty done, but I basted them a couple times with some leftover Memphis Basting Sauce (see recipe in The Ribulator, Entry #17) and let them go for another hour. Then, at the end I gave the ribs a light brushing with some left over BBQ sauce, and let that set up for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then, I took the ribs off the smoker and let them rest on the cutting board for about 10 or 15 minutes before slicing them up and taking them in the back yard for dinner.

These ribs were damn good. They were not as smokey as I would ultimately like, but were full of flavor and the rub added a nice assertive kick. I didn’t think that they were that spicy, but by neighbor Pete, who tried a couple, thought they were quite hot. I liked the light BBQ sauce that was only barely present but added a juicy outside and a little sweetness to combat the cajun spice. Overall, very good, I was happy. I had 4. And 2 more for lunch the next day, making my count 80 for the Year of the Pig. Thank you pigs, one and all.