Feb 19 2016
When I saw this recipe at Bon Appetit, I knew I had to try it. I love pastrami but never thought of trying it with pork ribs. I was waiting on a nice day to come along to try these. It was about 60 deg. today but sure was windy, gusts to 44 mph. I think the wind finally settled down some at 12:00 AM.
I changed the rub and the cooking method; if you want to check out the original recipe it is at bonappetit.com courtesy of Vine Street Cafe, NY.
Most all the meat I get comes from my butcher and is from local beef and pork. His spare ribs are just that, spare, he does not leave much meat on them. I wanted some more meat on these so bought some St. Louis Cut spare ribs by Tyson from Walmart. They had a 7% salt and water solution added so they are really brined. The rack was 4.5 pounds.
Late Thursday afternoon I rinsed the ribs and dried well. I cut the flap meat off and pulled the membrane. I cut a couple of ribs off to square them up. I added the rub to both sides; a little lighter on the bone side. I had them on a sheet pan and covered well with plastic wrap and in the fridge overnight.
I was having some twice baked potatoes and slaw for my sides. I was afraid the wife and daughter would think the ribs were too hot with the pepper so I did some bone in country style ribs. I used Penzey's Galena St. rub and some sweet BBQ sauce on them. The Schlafly was a sample from Sandman!
I made up my slaw at noon so it had time to meld the flavors. It was kind of a cross between Billy Merril's recipe with my touch.
I got my Traeger fired up at 195 deg. And got the ribs and flap meat on at 1:00 PM. Grill level was at 210 deg.
2:00 added the Country style ribs and went to 225 deg. grill level.
3:00 double wrapped the St. Louis ribs in foil and went to 250 to 260 deg. grill level.
4:30 unwrapped the ribs and went to 275 deg. grill level
5:00 sauced the St. Louis and the country ribs.
5:20 Sauced the St. Louis ribs and flipped and sauced the country ribs. Went to 300 deg. grill level.
6:00 all was done so pulled and took inside to serve.
While the ribs were cooking I baked six potatoes with potato rods in my induction oven at 350 deg. for one hour. I cut off the tops and scooped out the potato, added about 6 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of sour cream, mashed and added back to the skins. At 5:30 I added some shredded 4 state cheddar to all and bacon to 3 of them. They went into a 320 deg. oven until I brought the ribs in.
It was good, the wife and daughter didn't think the pastrami ribs were too hot but only ate one and had one of the country ribs. I thought the pastrami ribs were good, something different, I would do them again maybe not real soon; but it was a new adventure in having something different!
Smokin Don
Recipe:
Pastrami St Louis cut ribs
adapted from a recipe from Bon Appitit
1 rack of St. Louis Cut pork spare ribs
Rub:
2 Tbs. Fresk ground black pepper
1 Tbs. Ground corriander seeds
1 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Ground yellow mustard
1 tsp. Brown sugar
1 tsp. Onion powder
1 tsp. Garlic powder, I used Penzey's Roasted
This is just enough for 1 rack of ribs
Sauce:
¼ cup white vinegar
1 Tbs. Kosher salt
¼ cup Dijon mustard
3 Tbs. Apple cider vinegar
3 Tbs. Honey
2 Tbs. Worcestershire
A half recipe would have been plenty.
Trim any flap meat and the membrane from the ribs. Coat both sides with the rub. I do the bone side a little lighter than the meat side. Wrap in plastic wrap and in the fridge 3-4 hours or overnight. I like to do overnight.
The original recipe was done in a pan with a little water covered in foil in the oven for 3 hours at 325 deg. Then it was uncovered, sauced and browned under a broiler.
I did mine in my Traeger 1 hour at 200 deg., 1 hour at 225 deg., 1 ½ hour double wrapped in foil at 250-260 deg., unwrapped and 1 hour at 275 deg. sauced twice and the last ½ hour went to 300 deg.
Temps were all measured at grill level. That was a total of 5 hours cook time.
