Ingredients
The meatiest baby back ribs you can find, as many slabs as you want
BBQ dry rub (make your own or use a Memphis-style (sweet) store bought rub)
mustard
apple cider vinegar
apple juice
water
Preparation
Using a damp paper towel, pull the membrane off the back side of the ribs. This is a very important step if you don’t want tough ribs. Slather a light coat of mustard on the ribs. (You won’t taste the mustard. It helps the rub adhere to the ribs and the vinegar in the mustard helps to tenderize the ribs.) Sprinkle with dry rub and refrigerate for at least an hour, no more than 8 hours.
After refrigerating, wipe off the rub and mustard with a damp towel, then reapply a light coat of mustard and more rub. Don’t be skimpy with the dry rub!
Prepare the grill to about 250 degrees. (You want to start out a little hotter because putting the plate setter and meat on will slow the air flow and bring the heat down.) The ribs should be smoked at 200-225 degrees.
IF YOU HAVE A BIG GREEN EGG: Use the plate setter, flipped legs up, with a grill grate on top of it. On the plate setter, under the grill grate, we place a disposable pan filled with 1/3 water, 1/3 apple cider vinegar, and 1/3 apple juice to keep the ribs moist. We add more water as it gets low.
IF YOU DON’T HAVE A BIG GREEN EGG or plate setter, you can also mist the ribs with the mixture in a spray bottle periodically, but don’t spray them so heavily that you wash off the rub.
We like to place our ribs face down on the grill, then flip them half way through. We have found that the texture is better and they are more moist if cooked flat on the grill, rather than using a rib rack which allows the moisture to run off. Flipping them too often will also cause them to lose moisture.
These ribs need to smoke at least 5 hours, maybe 6 hours, depending on the size. If they start to burn, you can wrap them in foil and poke a few holes in the foil to allow the smoke to penetrate the meat.
After removing the ribs from the grill, we wrap them in foil (you can use clear plastic wrap, then foil, if you prefer), and let them rest in an insulated cooler for at least 30 minutes.
