This was my second cook and first round of Ribs on the Pit Barrel Cooker. The Pit Barrel Cooker is designed to hang ribs vertically in the barrel. I didn’t have complete confidence that the ribs wouldn’t come apart and fall into the fire but I smoked them on the rack anyway. I had two slabs about three pounds each of Hormel Pork Spare Ribs.
My least favorite part of the whole process is pulling the membrane from the back of the ribs. Getting just an edge of the membrane up enough to pull was hard. I had watched numerous videos of pitmasters using a butter knife to slide between the membrane and the bone to get it started. Then using a paper towel to grip the membrane slowly pulling it off in one piece. Well, mine came off in about three pieces. I guess it’s just one of those things that takes a lot of practice.
Rib Prep
Many pitmasters will slather their racks with mustard as a binder for the dry rub. I used Texana Olive Oil for my binder. I use olive oil in most of my marinades so it seemed like a solid choice for me. I applied a liberal portion of Stubbs Pork Rub after the olive oil and I sat the ribs aside to start my fire. Once the coals were ready I put a handful of hickory chips and a handful of oak chips in the coals and closed the lid for a couple of minutes before I hung my ribs in the barrel.
I didn’t cook the ribs by temperature, instead I watched for the end of the bones to start showing. I prefer a wet rib so the plan was to pull the ribs and glaze them with sauce at the end just enough to set the glaze. The racks were pretty long so the bottoms were kind of close to the fire basket. I ended up over cooking the last three bones in both racks but the other seven bones were fantastic.
My bark was really amazing. Great taste with the caramelized Sweet Baby Rays sauce. It was lip smacking, finger licking good. The family really enjoyed them and said if they would have known I could cook ribs like this they would have gotten me a smoker years ago.
I have now smoked two meats in my life all in my new Pit Barrel Cooker and both meals getting nice comments from the family. I’m so glad I got started with this simple to use smoker. I don’t have to monitor and coax the fire during the cook which works great for a Rookie smoker like me.
Things I Learned
Check the length of the racks to make sure they are not too close to the fire when hanging. When selecting racks at the market I’ll be ahead of the game if I choose the shorter racks. If I just can’t find shorter racks consider cutting the racks in half before hanging. It is a pain in the rear to pull those membranes but it is definitely worth the effort in the end.
Pork Rib Cook Stats
- 2-Racks Hormel Pork Spare Ribs
- Stubbs Pork Rub
- Texana Olive Oil
- 1 Handful Hickory Chips
- 1 Handful Oak Chips
- Sweet Baby Rays Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce
- Ribs on at 8:30 AM Glazed at 11:15 AM Ribs off at 11:50 AM
