Chef Eric's Best of Both Worlds Sous Vide Baby Back Ribs!
I love barbecue! Low and slow in the classic style of our southern half, true barbecue is America. My ribs can take anywhere up to 6-8 hours depending on my rig, the weather and of course the amount of pig I’m preparing! Even though I have been smoking ribs for well over two decades with all those variances I never seem to get a consistent rack. As much as i love the idea of hanging out outside all day nursing my fire and watching over my porcine project I just don’t always have the time. And that's where VacMaster's complete “Sous Vide” solution comes to the rescue!
By slowly cooking the ribs “Sous Vide” style first you get a perfectly cooked rack that is perfectly piggy in flavor as well as offering an incredibly moist flesh. That being said I know what your saying, “Where’s the smoke?!?” That's the beauty of this BOB (best of both worlds) recipe. Half of the cooking time is spent slowly cooking away in the SV1 which then can be chilled and used at a much later date and when your ready, finished in the barbecue rig of your choice. Whether you prefer the classic log cooker, electric chip or puck variety or even the newer pellet smokers you just need to keep the temperature under 180 degrees so as not to overcook your ribs. When you’re done eat as is or have your favorite barbecue sauce available, fer dippin!
Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients:
- 1 3-4 pounds baby back ribs, full rack
- 1/4 cup barbecue rib rub, favorite brand or recipe
- as needed kosher salt, Weigh the ribs and use 1/2 a teaspoon of salt per pound of ribs
- 1/4 cup ball park mustard
- as needed barbecue sauce, favorite brand or recipe
Directions:
Heat the water bath of the SV1 to 167 °F / 75 °C
Place the ribs on a stable work surface, bone side up, and peel away the sinew and fat from the back of the rib rack. This allows more of the rub and smoked to permeate and flavor the pork. Some ‘cuers debate this technique as it does increase the flavor but some feel that it can season too much as well as makes the ribs difficult to work with as they can fall apart easier - the choice is yours!
Weigh the raw ribs and plan on about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt per pound of meat, season the ribs with the appropriate amount of salt based on your rib weight.
Carefully place the ribs (whole or cut into smaller portions) in an appropriately sized bag and package using a VacMaster chamber machine or suction machine.
Carefully add the ribs to the SV1 and cook for 4 or 5hours at 167 °F / 75 °C.
Carefully remove the bags from the SV1 and remove the cooked ribs from their packaging. Using a pastry brush thoroughly coat both sides of the ribs with the ball park mustard and follow by a dusting of the rub on all sides.
Prepare your smoker according to your manufactures directions and smoke the cooked and seasoned ribs for 3-4 hours at 180 °F / 82 °C180 degrees or lower.At this point in the process the ribs are thoroughly cooked and just need a bit of heat and lots of smoke we need to prevent over cooking and drying out the ribs.
Remove the ribs from the smoker and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce on the side - fer diippen!