FoodieWest.com

There are so many web sites about BBQ, you will even find the term referred to differently depending on who or where they are from. Some examples are:

Bar-be-cue

Barbecue

Barbeque

(there are more)

As much as I would love to go on about the history of the word, I think I will utilize my resources as best I can since others have seemingly done a good job at defining.

amazingribs.com

Barbecue on Wikipedia

barbecue on Websters

I tend to be of the school that BBQ is basically meat cooked over heat. You can go to whatever school you want to.
That ought to be enough for the word. This post is actually more about smoking on the BBQ.

Now then, what I really wanted to write about was the cooking of ribs, pork to be specific, St. Louis cut to be more exact. Personally, I love to smoke (meats), and I like to eat smoked meats. Smoking takes time, knowledge and patience. As my backyard neighbor just told me as he has been smelling the waft of smoldering applewood all day, “to smoke ribs is an art”. I took that as a compliment, but unfortunately he isn't getting any samples tonight.

Those of us who like the ribs know, at least in the pork world, there are spare ribs, St. Louis cut and baby backs. The latter being the most tender and lean, but they are also smaller and much more expensive. The spare ribs are the butchers way of saying “here, these are ribs” with the large knuckle like top (breastbone),  skirt and excess fat still in tact. The St. Louis is the inbetweener, rather, the groomed spare ribs.

Here is a great video on how to trim your affordable spare ribs into the more presentable St. Louis style ribs:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_MGM_RRTUQ 400x300]
If you watched that video, you noticed that the trimmed meat parts were kept aside, just the fat thrown out. Yes? Good!

There are things you can do with that meat, just because it's no longer attached to the ribs doesn't mean it's not good. I suggest slow cooking them, you will need to as the skirt is tough and the bone section would be very hard to get the meat off otherwise. I like to make a small batch or carnitas or add the cooked meat to a soup, if you slow cook it in the oven it gets a nice roasted flavor that will enhance many dishes.

Back to the ribs!

I currently use a gas grill, which doubles as a smoker. Yes, I think it does a pretty good job. There are some great instructions found on amazingribs.com.
I like to use a mix of oak and applewood for pork and chicken (hickory and mesquite seems better for beef). The ribs were trimmed and rubbed yesterday, wrapped in plastic wrap, and refrigerated overnight.
In the morning I set up the smoker. I use a small, aluminum baking pan for water, and roll the wood chips up in a big aluminum stogy with holes in it. I rest both the water pan and stogy on top of the fire element of the grill. After the fire was “ignited” and the grill gets an even temperature of 200-250 f, I set meat on a large metal cooling rack (made for a restaurant ½ sheet pan) and place the cooling rack on top of the BBQ's grill. This helps the meat stay off direct contact from the hot grill. Now just kick back and relax (or work like my neighbor was doing, yeah ok, he did get a sample), but make sure to monitor the heat and smoke! The last thing you want is partially cooked meat lingering in a 100 degree temperature zone!

These ribs were on the smoke for just over 4 hours. They are now getting the “Texas crutch”, then to be finished off with Vermont Pig Candy! So, to map it out, St. Louis style ribs with a Memphis rub, smoked in California Applewood the a Texas Crutch followed by Vermont Pig Candy.

That's a lot of mileage for some ribs, but well worth it!