Dec 12 2014
Today was my last cook before I go under the knife Monday, my back operation. I was glad I could get out and cook it on my Traeger. It was a bright sunny day but the 38 deg. felt cold to me.
I had a rack of baby backs from Kah Meats, my butcher. Rather than doing my usual way I saw these Asian dry rubbed ones from Food52 I thought looked good. They were done hot and fast in the oven but thought I could do them on my smoker. I was a little leery of the ginger in the rub mix; the wife and I are not big ginger fans. It said 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons so I just used 1 Tbs. and it went well with the other spices.
I cut the ribs, seasoned with the dry rub and they went in the fridge overnight.
To go along with the ribs I had some Carolina rice I did in my rice cooker and fried some stir fry veggies for on top of the rice. I did up two frozen Taipei veggie egg rolls for us and I had some Mae Ploy’s chili sauce on mine.
The ribs were great, the wife liked them too. The blend of spices in the dry rub went well together and none stood out, tasted like one flavor. I thought they were like eating baby Back Bark!
The DIL and grandson stopped in just after we were done. The grandson sat down and ate some rice and veggies and cleaned two of the ribs to the bone! He said those were good!
Note: I showed my wife's plate, I wanted you all to know I do feed her too when I cook!
Rack of ribs
Dry rub
Ribs cut and seasoned
Half hour on smoke
After one hour
The veggies
Serving the ribs
My wife's supper
My Supper
With my beer
That was good!
Smokin Don
Recipe
Asian dry rub bbribs
Author Notes: My famiglia loves spices of all kinds, and I created this recipe using some of our most flavorful favorites. These ribs are a fast weeknight meal – by cucina di mammina
Serves 2 to 4
For the baby back rack of pork ribs:
• 1 large rack of baby back pork ribs, cut into segments
• Sea salt I used Penzey’s 4S salt
• Black pepper
• Vegetable oil I used olive oil
For the dry rub spice mix:
• 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons ground ginger, I used 1
• 2 to 3 teaspoons turmeric, I used 2
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons garlic powder, I used 2
• 2 teaspoons cardamom
• Cayenne pepper to taste, I used a teaspoon of ground ancho pepper
1. Cut the ribs into individual ribs and place them on a flat work surface covered with wax paper. Coat with a bit of olive oil (about 1 tablespoon) and season both sides with sea salt and pepper to taste. Mix all of the remaining spices together in a small bowl and rub the spice blend on all sides of the ribs until evenly covered. Place the ribs in a well-sealed plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours (overnight is best).
2. Remove the ribs from the fridge about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to roast them, and bring to room temperature. Line a metal baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the ribs on the foil.
3. Set oven to anywhere between 400 to 425° F and roast the ribs until golden brown and cooked through (the time will vary depending on the heat of your oven and the thickness of the ribs, but start checking around 40 minutes). For crispier ribs, place them under the broiler a minute or two before they're finished. Remove from oven to cool and serve.
I adapted this to cook on my Traeger pellet smoker
30 minutes on smoke mode 175 to 190 deg. grill level
Eased the temp to 350 to 370 grill level for another hour but did go to 390 deg. the last 20 minutes. Total time was 1 ½ hours.The ribs were laid on the side and never turned. They came out good.
