Apple Mash Smoked St Louis Spareribs

I prefer my ribs naked but SWMBO likes hers sauced. So in order to compromise, I smoked three racks of St Louis style Spareribs using CookinPellets Apple Mash Pellets and sauced one with Sweet Baby Ray's for her while keeping the other two au naturel ... I think that 2 racks to 1 is a good compromise - don't you?

Ever wonder why ribs come in packages of 3? Anyway, started with 3 racks of St Louis Spareribs from Costco. If you have a Costco near you I highly recommend buying your meat and poultry from them. Their quality is excellent. If you haven't yet, you should pick up one or more rotisserie chickens ... Not only are the chickens huge and delicious but you can't beat the price ... I think it's a loss leader for them. But I digress!

Begin by pulling the membrane on the back of the ribs. I like to pry a spoon handle under the first rib bone, grab the membrane with a paper towel, and pull it off. A little practice and it'll become second nature to you. Rubbed all sides of the ribs with Roasted Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and seasoned them lightly with my Pork Dry Rub (page 169 of my cookbook, The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook).

Preheated my MAK 2 Star to 180ºF using CookinPellets Apple Mash pellets. Smoked the racks of St Louis Spareribs for an hour at 180ºF before bumping the pit temperature to 250ºF. Continued to smoke the ribs for 3 hours. At this point, the internal temperature of the ribs approached 190ºF. Sauced one rack and returned the ribs to the MAK 2 Star.  Smoked the ribs at 250ºF for 30 minutes. Pulled the ribs and rested them loosely under a foil tent before serving.

Pork and Apple are an unbelievable combination and the Apple Mash pellets really make a difference.