I lucked into some St. Louis-style ribs (also called spare ribs) and wanted to try out this recipe by Billy Parisi. Since his version calls for almost double what I have (4 lbs. instead of 2 3-lb. racks), I wanted to adjust the amounts here.

Estimate about 8 hours total cooking time, including prep, smoking, and resting the meat after cooking. Note that if you are smoking outdoors in warm/hot weather, the meat may reach an optimal temperature much sooner, but it won’t be as tender as if you leave it a bit longer. If it’s cold outside, you’ll likely need more time to cook.

In some ways, this recipe is a “do what I say, not what I do” set of instructions because I struggled a bit. First, I didn’t read the original recipe correctly and added all the spritzer and sauce ingredients together (they were combined there). Once I realized my mistake, I should have thrown it out and started over, but I thought it would work. But this turned out to be too thick for the spray bottle, so I wasn’t able to spritz the meat. The sauce was really runny, so I tried to cook it down to thicken it. I put too much in the butcher paper, and the meat became rather crusted with it, and not in a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth kind of way.

You know what, maybe next time I should look up alternative recipes by other people who have more (ahem) focus on barbecue and see if I can’t do better. (That’s probably a good tip for anyone reading this recipe here, come to think of it! Go away; you can find a better recipe somewhere else!)

Meat:
3.5-4 lbs. spare ribs, trimmed
2 tbsp. yellow or Dijon mustard

Rub:
1 tbsp. coarse salt
1 tbsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. paprika

Spritzer:
3/4 cup apple juice (or beer)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup water

Sauce:
3/4 cup your favorite BBQ sauce (try this Mustard BBQ Sauce or my Whiskey Tango Fun! BBQ sauce)
6 tbsp. melted unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

Preheat the smoker to 240-250F.

If you haven’t already, trim the fat on the ribs to 1/4 inch and try to remove as much silverskin as you can.

Combine all of the rub ingredients and set aside.

Combine the apple juice/beer, cider vinegar, and water to a spray bottle for the spritzer mix. Set aside.

In a small saucepot, add the BBQ sauce, butter, and 3/4 cup of the spitzer mix. (Try cooking it down a bit as it will be runny and Billy Parisi thinks you should be able to smear it onto a flat surface later without making a big-ol’ mess.) Keep warm.

Rub the mustard all over both sides of the ribs. Then, season the ribs on both sides with the rub.

Add the ribs to the smoker and cook for 1 hour, then spray the ribs with 8-10 sprays of the spritzer. Push the ribs together on the smoker to make them more compact. This will help seal in juices similar to that of trussing.

Repeat this process for the next 90 minutes, then cook for 30 more minutes.

After 3 hours total of smoking time, remove the ribs. Pour about ½ cup of the mixed sauce over the ribs and rub it in on all sides.

Add about ¼ cup of the mixed BBQ sauce onto the center of a large sheet of heavy-duty foil or peach butcher paper where the ribs are going to go. (If your sauce is still runny, the foil will do a better job of keeping it all sealed in.) Place the ribs bone-side-up to the top of the sauce on the foil and wrap them extremely tightly by folding over and covering up the ribs.

Place the ribs back on the smoker bone-side-up and cook for 3 hours or until they are done. They are done at 190-203F, but it’s not easy to get a good reading because the meat is so close to the bones. If you pick them up in the center, they should droop down into a U shape and slightly start to split. The meat pulls away from the bone on the back of the ribs. When gently moving the ribs, the top skin should slightly crack.

Remove the ribs from the smoker and let rest in the foil/paper for 30-45 minutes before slicing and serving.

Serve ribs with BBQ sauce on the side.