Smoked Pork Ribs

So I know that it has been awhile since I have posted anything, and I can only say that there are two reasons for that.  First my wife has been tested for food sensitivities and allergies and that has made our food habits and our grocery shopping a bit crazy.  We are now on a 12 week elimination/rotation diet to reset her system.  For all you computer geeks out there (which she is one) it is like a hard reboot to the system. Second, quite honestly, I have been a little lazy.  There have been things I have wanted to post but just haven't sat down to do it.

Well, without further ado, here is a pork dish from the new diet.

Smoked Pork Ribs
The process was taken from an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they both smoked the ribs and then finished them off in the oven.

Spices:
Well this is an interesting subject since we are only allowed certain spices on certain days.  So for the ribs it was a mixture of saffron (1/2 tsp) cinnamon (1/2 Tbsp) black pepper (1/2 Tbsp) and a Tbsp of maple syrup.  This is brushed on both sides of the ribs with a basting brush and allowed to soak in.  After about 15 minutes brush the ribs with olive oil.  This will help the ribs to stay moist and also lock in the flavors.

Grill setup:
(America's Test Kitchen calls for a charcoal grill)
I only have a gas grill but I set up for indirect heating just like you would with a charcoal grill.  I have a 3 burner setup so over one of the burners I removed the grate and placed a metal pie tin filled 3/4 of the way full with water and replaced the grate.   I removed the grate for the other 2 burners and set the grill to med-high heat.  As I waited for the grill to get to temp I put a mixture of hickory wood chips in my smoker box (3/4 wet to 1/4 dry).

Grill time:
With the grill now warm I placed the ribs on the grill over the water pan bone side down and and cooked the meat for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes I placed the smoker box with the chip mixture on the flame side of the grill the farthest point from the meat.  After another 10 minutes I flipped the ribs over and rotated them 90 degrees, leaving in the smoker box for another 10 minutes.
Total Smoke time: 20 minutes
total Grill time :  50 minutes

Oven time:
While the ribs are on the grill I preheated the over to 305 degrees and set up a jelly roll pan with a cookie cooling rack inside of it.  Again we are looking for the indirect heating of the ribs and will add enough water to the pan to fill it half way.  Place the ribs on the cookie cooling rack bones side down and cook for 1 hr.  Once the hour is over you should be looking for a internal temp of the ribs between 180 - 185 degrees take the ribs out and let them rest for about 5-8 minutes.  Then enjoy.
Unbelievable fare for an elimination/rotation diet!