Smoking ribs indoors

[Duer 157099]

So I need to make some ribs, and not ready to deal with the outdoor stuff yet, so I'm going to do the Cook's Illustrated version, with slight modifications.

Basically, you rub the ribs and let them go overnight in the fridge, and then freeze for about an hour (because it starts with a high-heat process and you don't want to cook the ribs yet).

Now, for the smoke, they found that Lapsang Souchong tea, ground to a powder, works for this purpose. And for the most part I agree, but I really wanted to get some hickory flavor going on too, so I was thinking: why not add some hickory sawdust?

Fine, except I don't have any. But I do have some hickory chips. Only, don't use your coffee grinder and think you'll get sawdust (you'll get a broken coffee grinder). Hmmmmm... if only I had some way to... oh wait, I have a rasp! You know, for grating nutmeg and hard cheeses, and zesting citrus! Hah so here I am in the kitchen, using a rasp to grate wood! Talk about coming full circle. There was a certain satisfaction in using the tool for it's original intended purpose, although one usually runs the rasp against the wood, not the wood against the rasp.

After working too hard for too long, I managed to produce about a teaspoon of hickory dust (LOL). But at least no scraped fingers or knuckles or other injuries.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 500, with your pizza stone on the bottom rack, and let it get good and hot.

Spread the wood/tea powder on a sheet pan and then put a rack on top. Place the semi-frozen ribs (spareribs in this case) on the rack, cover tightly with foil, crimped all around -- you want to seal the smoke in.

Place the pan on the hot baking stone, bake for 30 minutes with temp still at 500. After half an hour, turn the temp down to 250, and pour some liquid into the pan (their recipe used apple juice which I don't have, so I'm going to use Pepsi :D ). Keep the door open for a minute to let some heat escape, cuz you really want to cook these at low temp (the high temp was to just get the tea smoking).

Then, cook for another 1.5-2 hours at 250.

Finish under the broiler (after removing the foil), a few minutes on each side to brown.

Finally, wrap the cooked ribs back up in foil and put in a brown paper grocery bag and fold closed -- they found that letting it rest for an hour like this really helps the juices to redistribute very well, and I agree (even if it is very hard to wait!)

So I'm curious to see if the little bit of hickory dust is going to make any difference.

And in the meantime, I'm going to find some already-made hickory sawdust and save my rasp for more important kitchen uses!

[Warpy]

1. A chisel and hammer might have allowed you to get those chips

into smaller pieces, but you probably didn't need to do even that. You could have used them whole.

The only thing I'd suggest is lining the pan containing the smoking material with heavy duty foil, makes the cleanup a lot easier. It will reek when you remove the ribs and you'll want to wad it up and get it outside fast.

I would also not suggest doing this unless you've got a good range hood that vents outdoors, otherwise you'll be running around disconnecting smoke alarms.

I've used a wok for stovetop smoking, using black tea, rice, and spices for the smoking mixture.

[flamin lib]

2. You might try this stuff. It's like liquid smoke but dry and a LOT better.

http://www.butcher-packer.com/pages-main/category-31_134/smoking-powdered-hickory-smoke.html

Use it as a dry rub or mix with salt and use it at the table.

[Duer 157099]

3. Thanks for that link - it sent me down a whole new direction

I ended up getting some hickory dust for now, but that website has some other interesting things (beer buds??? beer powder???? I might just have to order some because of curiousity -- I bet it is a good addition when making bread)