A good day Saturday

Saturday I fired up my trusty-n-rusty Brinkmann Smoke-N-Grill to do some baby back ribs. I started getting it going just after 9:30 am, but it was almost 11 o'clock before the temp got high enough to put the baby backs on the grill. The night before I'd removed the membrane and applied the rub, and the ribs and the rub had almost 12 hours to get familiar with one another before hitting the grill.

The last ribs I'd smoked had turned out a bit less than perfect, so I'd been checking BBQ websites for better techniques to try. I settled on the "3-2-1" method, which meant the rubbed ribs got 3 hours on the smoker unaided by anything else; then 2 hours in foil with a couple of tablespoons of apple juice; then one more hour on the smoker with the BBQ sauce applied.

After I got the ribs on the smoker, I realized we didn't have any apple juice in the house. So I drove down to the c-store and picked up a 16oz bottle of apple juice...and while I was there I got a $1 quick pick for the Powerball lottery drawing.

The ribs went according to plan, and they were the best ribs I've ever cooked. My wife said they were some of the best ribs she'd ever eaten. And the Powerball ticket managed to win us $7.

All in all, not a bad Saturday.

Rather than apple sauce, I thin slice some fresh apples and put them in with the ribs. You can also add some brown sugar, that really sweetens things up nicely.

Ooops, I meant apple juice, not sauce. Anyway, I use the thin slices of apples and they cook to nothing, mighty tasty that way.

Might have to try that next time. Thanx.

Actually I bet apple SAUCE would work nicely as well.....Hmmm!

But----you didnt mention 1 single tractor in the whole conversation!!! Hoss

What kind of wood chips in the smoker ? When you put in smoker for last 1 hr. with BBQ sauce, are ribs in or out of foil ?

Last hour, ribs were out of foil.

To each his own; my system......full ribs rather than baby backs; light coating of prepared mustard; sprinkle with paprika and creole/cajun seasoning; grill for 2 hours at about 325 degrees; put into (homemade) steamer for 2 hours.........with 2 (46 oz) cans pineapple juice; fight the neighbors off.

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...about the "wood chips"...last September, when the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through, Ike managed to take the top out of one side of a twin hickory tree next to my driveway. So I'm using pieces of hickory limbs that were sawn up when we cleaned up the damages.

Saves on using the pre-packaged hickory chips I bought a couple of years ago.

Looks nice...I'm just using what I have, which is the cheap Brinkmann charcoal smoker. Sorry if I did it all wrong in your view. I wasn't looking to get into a pizzin' contest over how to cook ribs, I was just telling what I did.

Sorry I even brought it up now.

Hey, I wasn't being critical; I've no problem with your system; just making conversation on a Sunday afternoon. Sorry if I offended you; wasn't my intention........

Sorry, Thurlow...I've just had so many people ripping me a new one these days, I just figured you were too. After awhile that response gets to be a habit.