Sunday Grill Night

My father began the tradition in our family of grilling on Sunday to give my mother the night off from cooking. He loved a good rare steak cooked over a charcoal fire, a hard thing to argue with. We've continued the Sunday grill tradition, but seldom hold ourselves to beef or to grilling. It's always fun to try new things, and when one of our ideas works out, it's even better. This week, our shopping expedition to the meat counter brought home some baby back ribs as loot. We decided to try our brisket rub and smoke them just to see how that combination worked out. The result? This is something too good to keep to ourselves.

Since this is neither a particularly thick or tough cut, we applied the rub in the morning and allowed the ribs to sit in the refrigerator until an hour before they went into the smoker. Zio smoked them for a little over two hours. They were slightly sweet and mildly spicy.

Dry Rib Rub (adapted from Texas on the Plate)

Makes enough for 4 rib racks

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
4 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons granulated garlic
4 teaspoons granulated onion
4 teaspoons celery salt
3 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon medium-hot chili powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried ground chipotle chile