MISSISSIPPI PECAN WOOD SMOKED RIBS

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Mississippi Pecan Wood Smoked Ribs are rubbed with sweet and spicy seasonings then smoked low and slow. These baby back ribs are delicious, juicy, and tender.

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Mississippi Pecan Wood Smoked Ribs

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MISSISSIPPI PECAN WOOD SMOKED RIBS

There are two basic pork ribs you can buy for smoking

  • Baby Back – They come from where the rib meets the spine  The ribs are less meaty than spare ribs and donโ€™t require as much time to cook.
  • Spare Ribs – Spare ribs continue from the back ribs and run along the side of the pig. They are meaty and take longer to cook than baby back ribs.

If you’re interested in learning how to smoke chicken, check out this post and recipe for Smoked Whole Chicken and Salmon on the smoker.

HOW TO BUY RIBS

When buying baby back ribs, fresh ribs should be pink in color and have marbling throughout. As well, make sure they have an even layer of meat across the rack. You do not want one end to be thick with meat and no meat on the other. Also look for no bone showing through, when cooked theyโ€™ll fall apart. The bones should be covered with meat.

Mississippi Pecan Wood Smoked Ribs

HOW TO PREP MISSISSIPPI PECAN WOOD SMOKED RIBS

  1. After opening the package of ribs, dry them with paper towels.
  2. With the meat side up, trim any dangling meat and excessive fat.
  3. Turn the ribs over and remove the tough membrane, called silver skin, connecting the ribs. You can run the tip of your knife under the membrane then pull it off holding it with a paper towel. Discard the membrane.
  4. Finally, inspect the ribs for any bone fragments and remove them.

Now youโ€™re ready to season the ribs. Season both sides, ends, and edges.

WHAT WOOD DO I USE FOR SMOKING RIBS

  1. Fruit woods like apple and cherry are good.
  2. Oak is another alternative and will have a slightly meatier flavor.
  3. Pecan wood is what I used. It gives a mild flavor without being like a campfire.

HOW LONG TO COOK MISSISSIPPI PECAN WOOD SMOKED RIBS

This is a general guideline. However, when smoking you want to cook with a thermometer, not the clock.

  • At 225 degrees F plan on 5 hours of cook time.
  • At 250 degrees F plan on 4 hours of cook time.
grill getting hot

This is my “traditional fire” smoker on a trailer. It has a punched steel cooking grate with an access door to the firebox.

smoker with charcoal

I start with about 5 lbs of traditional charcoal briquettes set right in the middle of the smoker. I let them come up to temp and turn completely white before putting the meat on.

rib prep

While the smoker is coming up to temp, I prepare the meat. Here I have three slabs of baby back pork ribs, that have had the membrane removed from the back of the slabs.

rib seasoning

I rub the slabs with this Homemade Barbecue Seasoning Rub.

ribs on the grill

DO I FLIP THE RIBS?

Smoking low and slow is an indirect cooking method. This means the heat source is not a direct flame. Flipping the ribs means you’re opening up your grill or smoker and that is not advised.

For this reason, I use a standing rib rack. I recommended this Rib Rack.

I place the ribs on the smoker with as much space between them as possible to allow the smoke to circulate freely. Because we had so much to cook on this day, I used a roasting rack placed upside down and placed the racks in like playing cards.

wood chip prep

Here, I use a bucket of water to soak pecan wood “chunks” in water. This ensures the wood smolders when you add it to the briquettes vs. burning too fast if they are completely dry.

wood and charcoal starting

I add the wood chunks as soon as I have the meat on the grate and the temperature up to 225 degrees.

maintain a steady temp

It’s best to maintain a temp between 225 and 250 at all times.

wood and charcoal

You can maintain the temperature by adding charcoal briquettes as needed to keep the temperature up for the 6-8 hour cooking time. I add the wood chips for the first 4 hours of cooking while the meat is raw.

ribs and Boston butts on smoker

The meat is about halfway through the cooking process at this point. You can see here, we also cooked some pork shoulders as well as the baby back ribs.

standing ribs almost cooked

Another tasty recipe for you to try is Smoked Rack of Pork.

So how do you tell when ribs are done? 

Properly cooked ribs will pull off the bones when bitten! Like a properly cooked steak, they will have some chew, however, properly cooked ribs will not be tough.

Properly smoked ribs will have an internal temperature of 180 to 190 degrees. They will take 7 to 8 hours of consistent 225-degree heat. Testing for doneness takes experience. You can cut into them or taste test a rib on the end. The best way to test doneness is by temperature. It really takes practice to accurately determine doneness, but well worth it.

Homemade Barbecue Recipes

slab of baby back ribs

Gather your friends and start practicing!

I updated this post from an earlier version dated August 21, 2012. I made new photos and simplified the recipe instructions.

โญโญโญโญโญHave you tried this recipe? Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and comment.

Mississippi Pecan Wood Smoked Ribs

MISSISSIPPI PECAN WOOD SMOKED RIBS

Tips for cooking the best ribs on a smoker using pecan wood.
Author: Paula
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat smoker to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare wood chips by soaking them in water.
  • Pat ribes dry with a paper towel. Remove the silver skin from the bone side of the ribs. Trim off any excess fat, etc.
  • Coat the ribs generously with seasoning.
  • Place ribs on the smoker for two hours. After two hours the bones should be poking out about a 1/4 of an inch. This is just a reference, remember the more you open the lid and check on the longre they will take because you're letting the heat out.
  • After another 2 hours (4 hours total), you can use an instant read thermometer to probe the ribs between the bones. It should probe easily like inserting into room temperature butter. The ribs should be tender, and the bones should be slightly loose but not come out completely.
  • If they're done, brush sauce onto the top of the ribs and smoke for an additional 30 minutes. Or, allow to cook longer before adding sauce if they are not at temperature.
  • The sauce will get thick and 'tacky' as it heats. After 30 minutes with the sauce on the ribs, remove from the smoker and then let rest 15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 359kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 368mg | Potassium: 405mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 85IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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10 Comments

  1. Never heard of this recipe before, looks delicious! Looking forward to following it. Thanks! by the way, that’s a huge BBQ. whoa!

    1. lol, thank you! He’s had this grill for years, it’s on a trailer base so he pulls it to friends and cooks (he doesn’t do competitions) I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for stopping by!

  2. These look so wonderful! Yummy! Thanks for sharing at the All Star Block Party.

    Holly

  3. Thanks for following. I wish we had gotten a good up close picture of the ribs… but, we started eating them before I thought about it! yikes!

  4. Paula – these look amazing! We don't do much smoking here in Canada. But this is one I'm going to pass on to my BIL as he does quite a bit of it.

    Thanks for visiting my little blog project – am following yours now and can't wait to see all your yummy recipes.

5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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