As for most people, the past year has offered a plethora of work-from-home opportunities for me. Now, I’m one who doesn’t necessarily enjoy that arrangement – mostly because I don’t have a real office space in my house, but also because I like having that purpose of going to an office every day. Too much time in my house and I start to see what needs to be cleaned or fixed, and then I have a hard time concentrating on work.
The point of all this is that when I do work from home, I consider it an opportunity to smoke some meat. And that was the case on this past Thursday (Friday Eve) with outstanding barbecue weather abound!
The Rib Rack That Was Hanging Around
I had a smaller-sized rack of spare ribs in my freezer that I probably bought around the beginning of the pandemic. I went on a few weeks of a buying-meat spree when meat-processing-plant employees started testing positive and staying home en masse. Not the news a meat lover like me wants to hear.
Regardless, it was just me and the fiancée, and these ribs were the perfect size for two people.
I didn’t want to get too complicated since I did have to do some actual work during the day. No competition-style ribs (honestly, I probably won’t be doing that too often in the next six months because I have to watch my girlish figure in anticipation of the wedding).
So I did these ribs Texas style. I applied a conservative salt-and-pepper rub – very simple but gives the meat some flavor. I also prepared a 50/50 spritz mixture of apple cider vinegar and water.
I applied the rub and let it “sweat” on the counter for about 30 minutes as I prepared the smoker. I used pecan wood and brought the temperature up to 275 degrees.
Once the ribs were placed on the smoker, I set a timer and spritzed them every 45 minutes. Actually, with such a small rack, I only needed to spritz after 45 minutes, then after 30 minutes. I’m trying to gauge preparedness based on color rather than temperature, particularly when it comes to pork ribs. After about 90 minutes, these ribs were a beautiful deep bronze/maroon color.
So I knew it was time to wrap. I put some of the spritz on the bottom of the foil, put the ribs meat side down, and poured some more of the mixture on the backside before wrapping.
Back on the smoker.
After an hour, I checked the rack. The bones weren’t quite separating from the meat, so I let it go another 45 minutes. Not the separation I was looking for after all that time, but I felt it was time to take them off.
After letting them rest, loosely covered in foil, for 20 minutes, I revealed a beautiful and tender rack of ribs that cut like they were warm butter. Honestly, they were probably a tad too tender. There was very little give when I bit into them, but still delicious. The apple vinegar spritz gave them a slight tangy sweetness that helped balance out the salt-pepper rub.
The WIne: Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris
I’ve been a big fan of wines from Willamette Valley for years now, particularly their pinot noirs. Great quality at prices that won’t make you flinch.
One of the wines I’ve come to love is the pinot gris from Willamette Valley Vineyards. I thought this would be an ideal choice for that night’s main course.
This was a Texas-style pork rib. So unlike a Kansas City or North Carolina pork rib, there wasn’t too much tanginess or sweetness to consider a sweeter Riesling or pinot grigio to complement the meat. This was a simple, slightly tangy rib that didn’t require an additional sweetness from the wine.
Pinot gris is a modestly fruity and more earthy wine that perfectly accompanies a lighter meat made in the Texas style – simple salt and pepper rub without additional complicated flavors.
The grape introduced into the United States from France by David Lett, who planted pinot gris in the North Willamette Valley, and it’s now Oregon’s leading white variety.
On the nose, there are hints of pear, green apple, and citrus with a touch of stone and vanilla. On the palate, you’ll find similar flavors that mirror aromas along with melon and herbal tea.
It was a pleasant and tasty way to enter the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed for more weekday, work-from-home barbecue and wine tales from yours truly… hopefully.
Cheers!