Herb Rubbed Baby Back Ribs

[fuzzydaddy]

Inspired by an Herb Crusted Pork Loin recipe from Adrenaline BBQ, this is my first all herb, no sugar rub for pork ribs. I used dried spices that I had on hand, ground them almost to a powder, coated the ribs with a little water, added the rub and let them sit in the fridge for a few hours. Using water for dry herbs and sitting in the fridge after rubbing is from Meathead’s Simon and Garfunkel rub page. I sprinkled some salt (1/4 tsp kosher) and coarse grind black pepper (1/2 tsp) on them when I placed them on the cooking grate.

Rub using dried herbs (herbs & quantities credit to the recipe linked below)
2 tbs Rosemary
2 tbs Thyme
2 tbs Chopped Basil
2 tbs Garlic powder
Made 4 tbs after grinding.
1 tbs + 1 tsp used (light on the bottom side of the ribs; heavy on the top).

I used 8 ounces of cherry wood, had an average pit temp of 235 and they passed the bend test at 4.5 hours.

This rack is Compart Family Farms Duroc baby backs which were $9.99 lb and weighed 2.43 lb. I like that there is not such a thick layer of loin meat on them like most ribs in my stores and the smaller rack cooks a bit faster too. Are the Duroc enough better to justify ~2 to 3 times the price of typical store baby backs? Maybe.

I shared this rack with a neighbor tonight and we loved loved the rub. The only thing I might change would be to grind the dry herbs completely to a powder and see how that compares. This is a winner.

Links:
Herb Crusted Pork Loin recipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOK2PJf_AW0
Simon & Garfunkel rub https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...d-baste-recipe

Starting the cook


The finished rack


A cut of the rack after an hour long dinner so they had cooled a bit.

[smokenoob]

Looks great! Let me know if you need another opinion neighbor!

[jgreen]

Looks great. Always fun to experiment and hope for good results.

[Nate]

Fuzzy! This is awesome. Thank you for the share and info!

[Troutman]

Interesting, Simon and Garfunkel Ribs. I've done the herb encrusted loins where the herbs don't overpower the meat. In this case I would be afraid that would happen in a smaller profile of meat, but it sounds like it was a winner !!! I may give that a try on a rack next time around. I've been cooking them sweeter and sweeter lately, my family says they are getting tired of the same old, same old.

Thanks for the heads up cook !!!

[fuzzydaddy]

I think a lighter coating of the herbs, maybe 2 teaspoons would still be tasty.

[EdF]

Have you done those Chinatown ribs that are on the site? My wifey loves them. And I've always had a taste for stuff using 5 spice. Though I generally do my ribs plain-ish.

[Spinaker]

Great write up, FD. I really like this idea. Although this rub is a bit different from S&G, I would agree with you in that you should make it all into a powder. I find when I do that for S&G for chicken, beef and sprouts, it works very well. And you avoid those pockets of unground herbs that can punch your flavor profile in the mouth.

Thanks for the write up FD.

[FireMan]

Dry cool FD. Nothing like experopimenting with wibs.

Accidentally spelled the word & it overroad spellcheck so I ran with it, cuz it sorta sounds like what you did.

[DWCowles]

Looks beautiful to me!