Description
Grill Smoked Pork Shoulder Ribs. "Ribs" of pork, cut from the pork shoulder, smoked on the grill until they are fall-apart tender. (This is how you get boneless pork “ribs”. You can also use country-style pork ribs if they are cut from the shoulder.)
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups wood chips (gas grill) or 2 fist-sized chunks of wood (charcoal grill) - hickory chips or chunks are traditional, but any smoking wood will do
- 3- to 4 pounds Pork Shoulder Ribs (Pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch by 2-inch thick strips)
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt (If your rub is salt free, like my homemade rub)
- 2 tablespoons barbecue rub (My homemade BBQ rub recipe is here or substitute your favorite rub)
- 1 cup barbecue sauce (My homemade BBQ Sauce recipe is here or substitute your favorite sauce)
Instructions
- Soak the wood: One hour before cooking, submerge the smoking wood in water. Use wood chips with a gas grill, or wood chunks with a charcoal grill.
- Gas Grill - set up for indirect low heat (250°F to 300°F): Preheat the grill, and set it up for indirect low heat (250°F). On my Weber Summit, I preheat the grill with all burners set to high for 15 minutes, brush the grill grate clean, then I turn burner #4 down to medium, turn all the other burners off, and turn on my smoker burner. (If I didn't have the smoker burner, I'd leave another burner on medium.)
- OR Charcoal Grill - set up for indirect low heat (250°F to 300°F): Set your grill up for indirect low heat, 250°F to 300°F, with the heat on one side of the grill, and a drip pan on the other side. On my Weber kettle I light 40 coals (⅓ of a Weber charcoal chimney, or one full Weber charcoal basket), wait for them to be mostly covered with gray ash, then pile the coals on one side of the charcoal grate. (I do this in the charcoal basket; it holds the coals in a tight pile.) Finally, I put a drip pan on the charcoal grate opposite the coals, then put the grill grate back in the grill.
- Season the ribs and add the wood to the grill: While the grill is heating up, sprinkle the ribs evenly with the salt and the barbecue rub. (If your barbecue rub already has salt in it, skip the salt. My homemade rub is salt free.) Drain the wood chips or wood chunks. In a gas grill, if you don't have a smoker box on your grill, wrap the chips in an envelope of aluminum foil and poke a few holes in it for the smoke to escape, then set it directly over the lit burner. (If you have a smoker box, use it instead). In a charcoal grill, add the wood chunks to the coals
- Cook the ribs for 3 hours, then wrap in foil and cook for 1 more hour: Put the ribs on the grill over indirect heat - not directly over one of the lit burners. Close the lid and cook on medium-low (250°F to 300°F) for 3 hours. If you are using a charcoal grill, add 12 unlit briquettes to the lit charcoal every hour to keep the fire going. After three hours, brush the ribs with the barbecue sauce, wrap them in aluminum foil, and seal the foil. Put them back over indirect heat, close the lid, and cook for another hour.
- Serve: Remove the foil pack of ribs to a carving board. Let them rest for fifteen minutes, or up to an hour. Open the foil and remove the ribs to a platter. Carefully pour the liquid from the foil into a bowl and whisk in the rest of the barbecue sauce. Brush the ribs with this sauce, then serve, passing the rest of the sauce at the table.
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Grill Smoking
- Cuisine: American