Country Style Pork Ribs on the Big Green Egg

I have fond memories of going to my parents house to swim while my dad grilled some country style ribs on his barrel smoker. They tasted so good and were so flavorful. Little did I know they weren't actually ribs at all, but strips of pork shoulder. You know pork shoulder, right? Boston butt, picnic roast, or whatever you call it turns out great when cooked low and slow. This is what ends up being pulled pork. Anyway, theses country style ribs had bones and were cooked in about two-three hours. I would have liked to go a bit longer, but the thermometer said they were ready. Here is what I did:

1. Place the ribs on a large sheet pan. Coat completely with rub (recipe to follow). Allow to come up to room temperature while the egg heats.

2. Light the egg and maintain a temperature of 250-300 degrees. The egg should be set up for indirect grilling. I use a plate setter inverted with a drip pan and the grill on top. If you want a smoky flavor, place some hickory chunks in with the lump charcoal.

3. Insert your probe thermometer inside one of the ribs. I use a dual probe thermometer with wireless receiver.

4. Place the ribs on the grill and shut the cover. Since I use a wireless thermometer i just set a high temperature alarm and watched some football (Go Saints!). 

5. When the internal temperature reached around 175, I opened the grill and brushed the ribs with BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ, but you can use whatever you like). After basting, I let the ribs cook another 15 minutes and shut down the grill.

The grill hovered in the 275 degree range, and the ribs were 175 degrees internal temperature after around 2-2.5 hours. I would have preferred to cook them longer and at a lower temperature, but we needed to eat. 

The ribs turned out great. They were juicy, flavorful and had the consistency of a pork chop. One problem with these was the bones. Because they were cut from the shoulder, the bones were not consistent. Some had no bones where as others were mostly bone. Even with this mior imperfection, I loved it. I cant wait to try this recipe again.

Here is the recipe for the dry rub:

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne (eliminate if you don't want it spicy)

2 teaspoons dry mustard

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Combine all of the ingredients in a glass or plastic jar. Shake to combine. If there are any lumps from the sugar, break them up prior to using. This is my standard rub. I use it on ribs, pork shoulder and brisket.

 Lighting the grill with a paraffin starter.

 I open the bottom vent all the way while starting the fire.

 The coals are started, now it is time to set up, and close the cover.

 Plate setter upside down, with drip pan and grill on top.

 I left the daisy wheel opened while getting to temperature.

 Once at temperature, i slid the bottom vent closed this much to maintain 250-300 degrees.

 When I shut the grill this was the internal grill temperature.

 Sometimes you need to adjust the vents if the temperature gets too high.

 The hickory smoke smelled great.

 The perfect temperature is achived.

The ribs placed on the grill. Notice the internal probe and grill probe.

 Maintaining temperature

 I had to close the vent a bit more to maintain temperature.

 It started to drizzle so I need a method of waterproofing my thermometer. Redneck engineering at its finest.

 The ribs, post sauce and right before they were removed. Very tasty.