Saturday Spare Ribs & Pool Time

This past weekend was one of our first Saturdays in town in months where we had no plans other than to enjoy ourselves.  On top of that, it was our 6 year anniversary weekend, and we enjoyed an excellent dinner at Little Alley on Friday night.  Together with our good friends the Rackley's, we decided to spend the day by the pool while cooking ribs for dinner that evening.  There was no better way to do this than to fire up the green egg, set the DigiQ, and let it ride.

 

The Prep: 3 racks of spares prepared the same way as any others.  The membrane is pulled off the back, and I used some Green Egg seasoning that turned out well.

 

 

The Cook: 3-2-1 method with the egg set at 225 degrees.  The beauty of the DigiQ is that I can set it and forget about it.  I fired up the egg at noon and let it come up to temp until around 1pm.  At 1pm I set the DigiQ for 225 and left for the pool.  Jeff and I came back at 2pm to put the ribs on.  The BGE was at 275 when I came back to put the ribs on which was a cause for concern, but I closed all dampers as much as I could without extinguishing the coals.  We put these on and went back to the pool.  About two hours later I walked back to check on it, and the thing was holding steady right at 225.  Perfect!

 



 

The 2 & 1: For those who don't know the 3-2-1 method, it is 3 hours unwrapped to absorb smoke, 2 hours wrapped in foil, and the last hour unwrapped to finish the ribs.   I don't have a picture of the 2, but the 1 is pictured above along with some corn wrapped in foil with basil butter.  I made three different flavor profiles for the three racks: Hawaiian Teriyaki, Tiger Sauce, and BBQ.  Of the three, the Teriyaki turned out the best.

 

Our sides included fresh fried okra and corn with basil butter.  Basil butter consists of 2 sticks of butter, one teaspoon of chopped garlic, and finely chopped basil leaves.  Mix this all together in a bowl and then reform and wrap in saran wrap.  Place back in the refrigerator and allow the butter to re-harden.  

 

 

Our finished product along with a tasty Mojito!