Et Tu Que?

Barbeque, BBQ, que or simply Q; it all means the same thing. Cuts of meat cooked at a comparatively low temperature for long periods of time. The most common targets are beef brisket, chickens (whole or quartered) pork shoulder and of course ribs.

I picked up a rack of spare ribs at the store and made a dry rub

The rub has brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper and white pepper. It provides a ton of flavor and just a bit of sweetness.

After trimming the membrane off the back side of the ribs, I rubbed them generously with the dry rub.

Notice there's no mention of sauce here. Since we're cooking for a very long time, any sauce we put on now would either burn or cook right off of the ribs. There will be sauce, just not right now.

The meat is rubbed, the grill is set up, there's only one thing left to do. Add some wood. Every wood has a different flavor in its smoke. Hardwoods are the only choice for smoking unless you happen to enjoy turpentine. For the ribs I used hickory.

I added about 4 ounces to the smoker, and then on went the meat. A rack and a half of ribs and half a chicken.

I put the lid on the grill, adjusted the vents and placed the thermometer, then went into the kitchen to make some sides.

First some barbecue sauce for later.

And some cornbread.

After a long time in the smoker (and eventually wrapped in foil) I had this

Notice how the meat has pulled away from the bone. There's a nice bark on the outside of the ribs as well. I served them with the corn bread and honey butter, mom's cole slaw, and the bourbon barbecue sauce.

They were also good for breakfast the next morning:

And for dinner the following night