Oven-Smoked Ribs

Properly made barbecue is one of the tastiest things you can do with tough cuts of meat, however when you live in an apartment some concessions have to be made. Luckily Mark Bittman has a method for cooking ribs in the oven while achieving a smoky flavor. I like to think of this as ghetto-smoked ribs.

Smoked Ribs:

1 slab of pork loin ribs (about 14” long)

Wood chips (I used hickory)

Mustard Rub (recipe follows)

Spice Rub (recipe follows)

Mustard Rub:

¼ cup Dijon mustard

Splash of vermouth

Dash of Frank’s hot sauce

Salt

Pepper

Spice Rub:

1 tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tablespoon dried brown sugar

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground thyme

½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon cayenne

¼ teaspoon ground fennel seeds

¼ teaspoon ground cumin seeds

Take your slab of pork loin ribs and if the white membrane is still on the underside of the ribs, remove it by jimmying it free with a knife and pulling. Your butcher may have already done this for you. Brush the mustard on both sides of the ribs, then liberally sprinkle on the spice rub on both sides. Place in a large dish, cover, and let your ribs sit in the fridge for 24 hours. If you didn’t think that far ahead, you can skip the ‘marinating’ time and season right before you cook them.

Set your oven to 225°F. In the bottom of a roasting pan, place a layer of wood chips and fill with enough water to juuuuust cover the chips. Place the roasting rack directly on top, and put your ribs on the rack (my setup was slightly more ghetto, but the same idea).

Using tin foil, create a tent around the roasting dish. You want some headspace above the ribs for the smoke/steam to circulate, and you also want to be sure that you’ve created a sealed, closed environment so that no smoke will escape. This takes a fair amount of foil.

Once your aluminum igloo is constructed, place the pan in the oven and cook for 2.5 to 3 hours. Remove the ribs from the roasting pan, and place under a broiler for 5 minutes.