RIBS!! Slow Cooked, Smoky Ribs.

[friscofrankie]

Pork Ribs, I've never seen Baby Back ribs, Back ribs anywhere in Thailand. But the ribs you can get here are succulent & juicy. Untrimmed with plenty of meat and enough fat to make them ideal for cooking over (or near) a slow smoldering fire and have 'em come out juicy and tender.

Cookin ribs like this a flurry of activity followed by a slow boring process where plenty of conversation and maybe a beer of ten come in mighty handy. BlackGang recently moved to CM with his smoker and little else. after a week of traking down wheels, furniture window screens and a myriad other houshold items it was time to celebrate with some of Friscofrankies All-American Slow Smoked Ribs.

Last Sunday we let 'em cook all day and had a late meal with corn on the cob, Ribs, coleslaw and some of BG's chili. The chili takes a few hours of cookin, the sauce too. Cole slaw was all prepared teh day before and if you ain;t seen the recipe it's here: https://teakdoor.com/famous-food-thre...-coleslaw.html (FriscoFrankie's All-American Coleslaw)

We headed for the stoer the day before and selected our rack of ribs these were thick with meat and full sized ribs that the butcher sawed in half length-wise giving them the general appearance of what ya might call "Baby Back" ribs. They ain't, but they are good material for a BBQ.

We got the over to BG's House with a bucket and some salt, with about a cup of salt to two gallons of water or so, the ribs were set into the fridge to brine over night and we got started on the sauce.

Some of the ingredients involved:

one finely chopped onion, a couple globes of mashed and finely chopped garlic, Cumin seeds (ground after the pic was taken), Yellow mustard seeds, brown sugar, Apple cider vinegar and tomato paste.
Combined the vinegar, sugar, onion garlic cumin and mustard seeds ni a pan and set that to low boil for about a half hour or so.


Did I forget to mention dried chili flakes? I added some of those in there too but not much because of the unnamed secret ingedient:


Chipotle Peppers or Smokes Jalapenos in adobo. THe brand I usually buy in the states is a brand canned in Mexico and it is smokier, and the peppers spicier than these Ozzie Imports, That's right Australian Mexican food... Now I got nothin against Australians in general, But they're hardly Right fuckin Next door to Mexico are they? What the fuck they know about adobo? or jalapenos for that matter? This tiny can of less than spicy chilis set me back 270 baht.

Man I was tickled pink to find these things even though I didn't recognize the brand, wasn't til I got 'em home I found out they were canned in Oz. No matter, I would have bought them any way. The sauce was a little sharp flavored with some added vinegar and peppers were tad under smoked and with out real punch.

They did have a good smoked flavor though, The amount of sauce I was making would have taken about two of the beauties:


As it was I ended up using all but two from the whole can. this worked out to about the same smoky/spicy flavor I would have got from the usual two back home. Funny thing is they had the mexican brand I usually use of canned regular jalapenos right next to them on the shelf. Now why would you import Chilies from mexico then go to the trouble of importing the same chilis smoked from OZ?


Back to the sauce. After cooking the vinegar mix until the onions were clear and the sauce a viscous syrup I added one smal can of tomato paste. and about a shot and a half of worchester sauce. I added water ground cumin, and let that simmer for about two hours eventually adding a pinch of salt, one more can of tomato paste and some fresh cracked pepper. eventually the onions just disappeared the mustard seds became soft yellow globs and it looked like this:


I rested. the next day was ribs day.

[friscofrankie]

Early the next morning, (13:00 or so) we went over to get teh ribs going We bought alot of that market charcoal that still looks like wood and some Mesquite chips.
We got teh ribs out of the brine rinsed and then rubbed the fatty side with some Coarse black Pepper:


These guys fit nicely on the 69 baht rack I luckily remembered to pick up.


Normally I would opt for the larger chunks of wood; fruit wood, Mesquite, Hickory; these are available here as well as the "smoking chips." I would then have mixed that with the local charcoal and set a decent fire stopping it down by limiting the air inlet beneath the fire. This is BarBeQue. The nature of BG's smoker is not like a BBQ It is set up more for slow preservative type smoke you would do for sausages, salamis hams, Pastrami??? .


We were going to need to regulate the fire without the luxury of draft control so I thought it best to use the charcoal and add a handful of dampened chips from time to time during the cooking process this worked out fine.

This bag got burned up completely I dumped it the bucket of water and it still flared up when I tossed a handful on the fire but by the judicious applilcation of fixed amounts and sparse intervals we were able to maintain a pretty constant 170 degF with occasional spike to maybe has high as 240. This is BBQ remember we ARE cooking the meat and eventually want it to reach an internal temperature of about 170 and have nice browned outer "skin".

Fire flaring mesquite chips and all:


About four or five hours later:


As you can see the ribs are just starting to take on a bit of color the meat inside is pink due to the smoke and brining. We let thes go a couple more hours total time over teh fire was 6 hours, This proved to be inadequate and the wood having run out we were having trouble getting the fire to raise the temp to the 250 degrees we wante to finish them off. into the over for 10 minutes at about 450 and they were perfect AND pretty.

{NO PICS} The new cameram the old lady grabbed up the camer wanting to take shots of the feast. She is wonderful with composition and framing but not so hot with technology. She ran off about a half dozen shots I thought she had adjusted set the cam to auto flash suppressed, she hadn't I had been shooting manual all day the shots came out black.
it was nine PM (we should got started earlier) I had had an egg sanwich at 11:00 AM,
You're lucky I took this one out of focus shot before I dove into the greasy ribs, buttered corn on the cob Chili beans and Cole slaw.


you could grab the end of the bone twist and remove it clean do this to all the bones in your short rack and slice it like tender ham. These ribs wer so goddam good they were worth all the wait and next time I buy more wood, less charcoal and do 'em the same damn way oinly with some wood in reserve to finish 'em off.

Th difference in texture with these slow smoked ribs and those boiled or steamed is worlds apart The true smoked flavor, the wonderful pink red color and the rib-meat sandwiches with sauce and slaw on a toasted bung the next day one taste you'll never boil your fuckin ribs again.

[BobbyTits]

Big Ole Ribs you had there.


I am going to try the brining as you mentioned as this may be the point I am missing when I BBQ up some ribs.

Another good thing is I find ribs pretty cheap here as the Thai's do not fancy them that much.

[dirtydog]

You should have put the wood chips on the hot plate a bit damp, if they didn't get hot enough to start smoking maybe raise the fire, if it made the meat too hot maybe another plate of steel with holes in above the hot plate, hot plate in this picture.

[friscofrankie]

They were damp soaked all day in water. Even when damp the water gets evaporated quick they flare up a bit nothign uncontrollable. Reall worked a treat just needed more two more heaping handfuls and these would have finished nicely in the smoker. Next time? Just buy a bigger bag. It's easy enough to cool the fire down but if doesn't get hot enough?

[blackgang]

Damn fine ribs, never saw ribs with that much meat on em, 1 1/2 inches thick, I can only eat about 6 bones worth of ribs, not the usual dozen, FF sure the hell did tho.
And that "HOT PLATE" in the pic is the defuser plate that sets above the hole in the bottom over the fire.

[dirtydog]

And that "HOT PLATE" in the pic is the defuser plate that sets above the hole in the bottom over the fire.

and would have been the perfect place for those damp chips probably

[friscofrankie]

and would have been the perfect place for those damp chips probably

wouldn't have burned man. The only thing to change here would be to have more firewood on hand the charcoal just wouldn't heat the smoker up enough allthat was needed was MORE FIRE! The smoky flavor is strong enough wonderful stuff, last night I pulled two bones worth of ribs off a rack just twisted and opulled the bones out, sliced thing tossed in a fry pan with enough sauce to cost on a toasted burger bun with a spoonful of slaw. Fantastic late night snack:

[blackgang]

BBQ is a slow process anyway, should have started early in the day and by suppertime would have been finished.
BBQ is a darkys trade and they are good at it, do not hurry and it done when it is done.
My first time doing it in the deep south at Brazoria Texas, we fired up the BBQ at midnight and started cooking for a supper that was served night at 1800.

[peterpan]

GREAT stuff guys, now dribbling all over the keyboard.
I'm gunna draw up a smoker and get one made.

[chitown]

Anyone thinking "Teak Door party at Frisco Frankie's" ????????

[kingwilly]

looks damn good FF

[Norton]

Fantastic grub guys and looks like you both enjoyed it.

[Rascal]

Trade!
What a comment there!

Rascal

BBQ is a slow process anyway, should have started early in the day and by suppertime would have been finished.
BBQ is a darkys trade and they are good at it, do not hurry and it done when it is done.
My first time doing it in the deep south at Brazoria Texas, we fired up the BBQ at midnight and started cooking for a supper that was served night at 1800.

[Timber]

Frankie, I'm almost in tears after seeing that bbq. Damn fine job. We did it up like that in Missouri growing up. I need to go find some ribs now.

[November Rain]

Very interesting thread, FF & the food looks wonderful! Yum!

[Marmite the Dog]

Very interesting thread, FF & the food looks wonderful! Yum!

And we're expecting the same to be organised for us in Hua Hin.

[Topper]

Incredible!!!!! Man, wish I could have tasted those ribs! My next project...grill/smoker, even if I have to buy a fooking weber.

[Jet Gorgon]

How did you build that smokehouse?
I was supposed to be invited. Now I'm hungry.
Thanks for the recipe/advice, FF.

[blackgang]

here is a nice one,

That one we used I had built at a shop in Phetchabun, all stainless. But it was built for a smoker for sausage.

[kingwilly]

And we're expecting the same to be organised for us in Hua Hin.

Damn, I might make the effort to get there, then.

[Riatsalawhit]

Looks real nice man,but I'm not a meat eater so can't really comment on taste I suppose it went down well with those guys and dolls.