Tango Spice Test Kitchen: Smoked Beef Ribs

So, there I was cruising the isles of our local Restaurant Depot when I found my way to the meat locker. Some people say that you should never food shop while hungry. I will say that even on a full stomach a walk through the meat department at an RD brings on a barrage of ideas for grilling & BBQ. This is one of those time when you just look and think about how much you can fit in the truck in one trip.

I decided to be good and just selected a three pack of beef ribs. In the test kitchen I BBQ a lot of pork ribs, but for some reason I do not prepare beef ribs except on rare occasions. Time to put a stop to those long intervals.I had recently watched a video on beef ribs on an offset smoker, of which I have one, and this was a great opportunity to give these a go. Thanks to Greg over at Ballistic BBQ for that video.

Once it was time to get the ribs ready for the smoker, I did a minimum of trimming, as the racks looked real good to begin with. Of course, I pulled the membrane off the back. This is a lot easier than on pork ribs. Before adding and spice blends to the ribs you want to coat them with a binding agent. Pretty much anything goes here, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, light soy sauce. What I decided to use was the juice from a can of Ortega roasted green chilies. This juice has a nice chile aroma and I have been experimenting with it in a few things. You open up a big 32 oz can and there is a about 2 cups of this liquid, shame to waste it.

After rubbing the ribs with chile juice, it was time to pick the spices. These ribs were going to be a walk down memory lane, or dinner on memory plates. A lot of times you can find me looking for new ways to use Tango Spice blends. Seeing how they can be used in baking as well as BBQ. Today was a 'back to basics' day. Spices, Ribs & Fire!

One Rack With Midnight Espresso - a little java heat is always tasty!

One Rack With Sante Fe - that paprika heat is oh so good!

One Rack With Hot 2 Trot - time to really heat things up!

Into the Brinkman offset they went, with a temperature of around 225 degrees. Ballistic BBQ has a great video about making some modifications to the Brinkman that I REALLY need to get done. This is a pretty good smoker, for the price I paid @ Kmart. Been a nice smoker and I have had it for over 17 years. Yup, 17 years, I think it is time for an extreme makeover.

After three hours - adding a few hickory chunks along the way to bring on a little smoky flavor, I wrapped the ribs in foil. Also going intp the foil was a mixture of apple juice & apple cider vinegar. Back into the smoker they went. Checked them for tenderness after an hour, thought that they could use some more time so I added another 30 minutes. Now they were nice and tender so off came the foil.

I placed the ribs back into the smoker, slathered them with some Miss Julia's BBQ Sauce which I purchased out at North Sea Farms. Kept the temp at 225 for 30 more minutes, then slathered them with some more Miss Julia's. After 30 more minutes I took them off, cover them with foil to rest.

20 minutes later we were enjoying some super ribs! I have no idea why it had been so long between the times beef ribs had made an appearance in the Test Kitchen, but that is going to change!

Thanks for stopping by, now you can enjoy some pics!