FabFood: Smoked Ribs and Beer-can Chicken

Whether you have a serious BBQ pit or a lowly Weber the rules for smoking are the same: use a good rub/marinade overnight, keep the temperature low and smoke going and most importantly, take your time :) When meat is done, wrap tightly in foil and keep warm until serving time.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

3lb pork spare ribs
1 large (5lb) Organic Chicken
1 can beer (for best results, use a Texan beer such as Shiner)

Rib marinade

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp hot sauce
salt & pepper

Chicken rub

1 tbs whole peppercorns
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs whole sea-salt
4 whole allspice
1/2 tbs whole cumin
1/2 tbs dried oregano
1/2 tbs dried thyme
a little olive oil (before adding rub to chicken)

BBQ sauce

knob of butter
1/2 cup Worcester sauce
1/2 cup apple vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1 tbs molasses
juice from 1 lemon
1 tbs mustard

Spinach and almond salad

bunch of fresh spinach leaves
1 tomato chopped
crushed almonds
olive oil & jerez vinegar & salt for dressing

For smoking
Charcoal briquettes
Plenty of smoking wood chunks (hickory, mesquite, apple, etc)

The Day Before

Marinade the ribs
1. Prepare rib marinade ingredients in a bowl.

2. Rinse ribs in cold water pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut in half if necessary (to fit in your grill). Put ribs into a plastic bag and add the marinade. Seal and shake well. Put in the fridge overnight, turning occasionally.

Rub the chicken
1. Prepare the dry rub ingredients in a mortar. Then grind until ground.

2. Rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Pour about 1 tbs of olive oil over the chicken, especially the breast portion. Sprinkle the rub over the chicken, saving about 1 tsp to add to the beer can tomorrow.

3. Carefully wrap chicken in cling-film and put in the fridge overnight.

4. Set your alarm clock for early the next day!!

Day of Smoking
1. Get up early, you've got 8hrs+ of smoking ahead of you. Prepare the grill for smoking, here I used charcoal briquettes in a Weber. Put wood chunks into a bucket of water to soak. I left the charcoal for about 1 hour before starting to cook (at about 300 F - with temp decreasing to about 200 F).

2. While the charcoal heats up, remove ribs and chicken from the fridge. We want to start cooking from room temperature.

3. Prepare chicken. Open a can of beer, take a (small) swig, then carefully put some holes near the top of the can. Add the saved rub to the can.

4. Gently position the chicken over the beer can so it's standing upright. Ouch!

5. Remove ribs from marinade and drain. Discard the marinade.

6. When grill temp reaches about 300F (about 1 hour after starting), add the wood chunks and arrange the ribs and chicken on the grill. Put a drip-an with water under the meat.

7. Cover and start smoking. Adjust the flow of air into the grill to reach desired cooking temp -- around 200-220 F is the target.

8. Leave for 8 hours... checking every hour to add more wood chunks and see how the meat is cooking. If the meat is cooking too fast, just wrap with foil for a bit.

9. About 1 hour from when you think the meat will be ready prepare the BBQ sauce. Add all ingredients to a sauce-pan, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Then cover and leave until serving time. Sometimes I baste the meat with the sauce in the last 20 mins of cooking, but this time it was served on the side.

10. When it's ready the rib meat should easily come off the bone and the chicken joins (thigh, leg) should pull apart easily.

11. Prepare the spinach salad. Crush the almonds, add to spinach and chopped tomatoes in a bowl. A dash of olive oil, jerez (sherry) vinegar and salt - mix well and ready to serve.