If you really think about it, cooking is a scientific study.

Or, as I like to think about it, a mathematical modeling problem. I am always trying to produce an optimized output (taste) given a set of fixed inputs (food) and an unknown series of variables (temperature, time, seasoning, etc.)

I suppose it is either my meticulous mathematical nature, or my absolute love of smoked meats, that makes barbecuing a serious hobby of mine. I thought I would share with Steemit today one of my favorite barbecue dishes of all time:

Smoked Spare Ribs

Spare ribs can be extremely intimidating because they are not necessarily butchered when you pick them up from your local grocery. If you are lucky enough to have a butcher to help you out, you can save tons of time getting started. Me? I like doing the butchering myself.

Preparation

First, and most important, trim the "chain", or long strip of muscle on the back of the rack of ribs, using a sharp knife. Just as in other steps of the process, make an initial cut, then pull the meat away and let the knife do the work for you.
DON'T THROW THIS AWAY! It is a nice tasty snack when in the middle of the smoking process. More on this later.
Once the chain is trimmed, draw an invisible line down the rack and separate the ribs from the rib tips. Most stores that sell what are called "St. Louis style" ribs are just giving you this part of the spare ribs.

The next, and probably most important step is to peel away the membrane on the back of the rack. This will never taste great no matter what recipe you have for cooking ribs.
A great tip - Use the handle of a spoon to separate the membrane from the rack, then use a paper towel to get a good grip and peel away!

Onto the last step of butchering - cutting each rack in half and trimming off the excess fat. This is probably my least favorite step because it feels too much like busy work. But, it is always worth it in the end.

Now the fun part - Seasoning!

Every passionate barbecue master has their own recipe. My favorite I have settled on over the years first involves using mustard. It is not only something that will help the dry rub seasoning stick to the ribs, but also helps tenderize the meat.
My dry rub is standard. Equal parts paprika, brown sugar, white sugar, and 1/4 parts garlic salt, onion powder, cumin, and ancho chili powder. Okay, maybe an extra thing or two besides those too. Have to keep some things a secret ;)

A lot of people rub in their dry rub like they are aggressively massaging the meat. This is so wrong, in my opinion. What I like to do instead is let all the meat rest, at least for an hour, and let the pores of the meat naturally soak up all the mustard and dry rub.

Time to go on the smoker!

Pictured above is the St. Louis style cut rack, bottom are the rib tips on each side of the trimmed chain I told you not to throw away.

This is my smoker setup. It is an electric smoker called a Bradley. Basically, there is a hopper with wooden disks that drop down in front of the electric heating element every 15 minutes. Then once finished, they drop into a water reservoir so as to not set the whole thing on fire.
This reservoir is another chance to add flavor! I like to fill it with a mix of water and apple cider vinegar.

For this cook, I am using what is known in the barbecue community as the 3-2-1 method of cooking ribs. Three hours on the smoker, Two hours of continued indirect heat but wrapped in foil, and about an hour on the grill under direct heat to caramelize and add flavor.
Many barbecue masters argue about the correct temperature for the cook, and I have tried it all. I've settled on a cooking temperature around 225 degrees.
It is MOST important to keep an eye on the internal temperature of the meat, more so than the temperature of your smoker. After five hours, you should be pulling if the internal temperature is around 190 degrees.

For the wrap, I like to add butter and more apple cider vinegar to the foil pouch. This will add to the barbecue sauce I put on later.

This is also a great time to snack on the reserved chain meat you cut earlier. YUM!

That and a great beer...barbecue is hard work!

Its 190 Degrees...Time to Eat!

First, the glaze. Today, I used a commercial honey barbecue sauce as my base. I will add my dry rub to this and my reserved juices from the foil pouches.
When pulled from the pouch, add to the grill and baste in the sauce! They say this takes about an hour, but I've rarely ever taken this long.

I like cutting the ribs in serving sizes of one bone per person and the tips into individual bite sized portions. No particular reason why, just people that come over and eat seem to like it in this type of portion size.
I also have gotten in the habit of cooking chicken as well, as my kiddos really like that better. Oh well, more ribs for me!