Championship Style Spare Ribs

Directions

• Step 1 You will need to prepare Angela’s Pulled Pork Dry Rub Big Batch before you start.
• Step 2 Rinse the ribs thoroughly. Trim the ribs on the ends to get a nice rectangle.  Remove any stray bones.
• Step 3 Remove the membrane from the back side of the ribs. I use a meat hook to get under the membrane to start it. Then I use a paper towel to grip the membrane and pull it across the back of the rib to remove it.
• Step 4 Place the ribs in a tinfoil pan. Place 1 cup of Apple Butter and 1 1/2 cups of apple juice together in a medium size bowl and mix thoroughly.  Marinate the ribs with apple juice and apple butter mixture overnight. Rotate the ribs every few hours to keep them in the liquid.
• Step 5 Prepare your grill. I have a Weber Gas Grill. Place the smoker chips inside of the smoker box. Turn your gas on 1-2 burners, but I leave the last burner off. Put the smoker box on the side with the heat so the smoke will roll over the ribs when the cover is closed.
• Step 6 Remove the spareribs from the apple juice/apple butter mixture. Spread a very light coat of mustard on each side of the spareribs so the rub will adhere. Then apply Angela’s Pulled Pork Rub to both sides of each rib rack. Pat the rub into the ribs.  Let the ribs sit with the rub on for 1 hour.
• Step 7 Place the spareribs on the side of the grill where there is no heat. Meat side down. I couldn’t get the temperature below 350 degrees F with the cover closed, so I only cooked the ribs with the cover closed for 1 hour.  Then I cooked the ribs with the cover open for another hour, misting the ribs with a sprayer bottle filled with apple juice/mixed with apple cider vinegar each hour.  I turned the ribs right side up after the first hour. The ribs were cooking at too high of a temperature, so I brought the ribs inside to finish in the oven.
• Step 8 Preheat your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a large roasting pan with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and a layer of saran wrap on top (saran wrap is optional, some pitmasters use it, others do not).  Lay down a couple of rows of squeeze Parkay. Use Parkay, butter will burn. Sprinkle brown sugar over the Parkay in the center of the saran wrap/foil where the ribs will be placed. Squeeze a little honey evenly over the brown sugar and finally a few drops of Louisiana Hot Sauce. Mix all together so it will all evenly coat the ribs.
• Step 9 Place the ribs meat side down on top of the brown sugar mix and repeat the parkay, brown sugar, honey and hot sauce mix on top of the ribs. Mix together so there is an even coat of everything on both side of the ribs.
• Step 10 Wrap the ribs tightly with the saran wrap/foil. Place the foil-wrapped ribs in the oven on 275 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours misting with the apple juice/apple cider vinegar mixture every hour.
• Step 11 A good measure of doneness is when the rib rack starts to bend but doesn’t break in half.
• Step 12 Remove the ribs from the oven and unwrap them. Place the ribs without the foil back on the grill or in the oven in the roasting pan.  I used the roasting pan.  I removed one layer of saran wrap and foil with the juices and placed the ribs back in the roasting pan on just one layer of foil.  Remember there were two layers of foil to begin with.  Mop the ribs with a nice even coat of your favorite BBQ Sauce. Cook for another 15-20 minutes to set the BBQ sauce.
• Step 13 Serve immediately.