Louis style ribs... W/ Q view

[queandbrew]

I've been craving good ribs for a while now. Finally got some time yesterday to fire up the pit and test out a new trick I learned. I picked up a couple of slabs of St. Louis style ribs and got my rub on them. I wish I knew what was in the rub to share with you guys but about 4 years ago I had a standard mix I used and then one day, while at work, my wife started tinkering with it and made a believer out of us all. Still don't know exactly how she does it. So these days she whips up a batch here and there and I'm left in the dark.

At this point I tried the tip I had been given. After getting my rub applied I packed on handfuls of brown sugar. Nothing but plain brown sugar. After leaving them out at room temperature for about 30 minutes the brown sugar melted back down into its molasses base. It created one amazing sealant and glaze all over these beautiful slabs.

I fired up the smoker and was running her at 275 on a 2/1 ratio of apple/hickory. I was afraid using straight apple wood would be way too sweet with the glaze.

Here they are at around 2 hours in...

I let them sit in their smoke bath for around 3 hours total before pulling to foil.

Right before the wrap...

Got them all wrapped up and back on for about another hour and a half at 225, just until they passed the bend test.

Let me just say, these are up there with some of the best I've done. They were tender but not fall off the bone. Bite through was clean. The brown sugar glaze really gave me a nice cherry color and the flavor was out of this world. No sauce needed on these bad boys.

Here's the finished goods...

Has anyone else ever tried this brown sugar trick? Interested to hear about the results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chef jimmyj]

Looks great. I never tried the Brown Sugar deal, but I can see where it would be tasty...JJ

 

[yotzee]

My rub is a brown sugar base and has similar results. Its not so much that it converts to molasses as it is the salt in the rubs have a dry brine effect. The salt pulls the moisture in the meat to the surface. The brown sugar then mixes in with the meats juices to become liquified. This is the reason many people will wrap them overnight after rubbing, to allow osmosis to pull that flavor back into the meat

 

[rstr hunter]

I've done this and like a spicier rub prior to putting on the brown sugar.  It creates a better balance.  Amazing to watch the brown sugar "melt".  Looks great.  Good job.

 

[morningwood]

Some good looking ribs there! Love the color your getting from that rub..