Two For 66: Baby Back Ribs and Mac and Cheese

Trying a few new things today. New rub; new cooking method and new side.

First, I'm changing the rub. I'm giving Jan's Dry Rub a shot. I first heard about it on the pellet smoking forum I participate in. Lots of great folks sharing successes (and warnings). KyNoLa is a regular poster; his wife (I think) developed a rub that you can read about by clicking the link on the rub name above, Someone said on the blog this rub and some BBQ smoke would make a brick taste good.

Here are the ingredients; first in the class picture;

Into the bowl

All mixed up

I halved the recipe and it made plenty for this cook and a couple others.

My second change is the method of cooking. I'm still using the MAK; but thought I'd try with a water pan. When I cooked on my gas grill and with the "Smokenator" on the weber kettle I used water. I figured I'd try it here. I've got a full upper rack on the smoker; so I put the water pan on the bottom and the ribs on the rack over them.

It's a little risky but we'll see. The grill is set for 250 and I' added boiling water.

I rubbed the ribs the night before and wrapped in plastic wrap. Let them come to room temperature and then onto the grill.

A little later (well a few hours later) I decided I wasn't a huge fan of the water pan; it seemed to be slowing things down. So, I removed it and moved the ribs down to the bottom rack for the last hour

The third new challenge for the day is a Mac and Cheese side dish; this recipe is from the Amazing Ribs website and is called "Crack 'n Cheese". Mine didn't look as good as Meathead's but it was plenty tasty.

The line up:

Cook the bacon and then saute the onion, red pepper, and jalapeño in a couple of tablespoons of the bacon fat. Meanwhile. melt the butter for the roux, which will become a béchamel sauce when the milk is added which will become a cheese sauce when the grated cheese is added.

Ready for the oven

30 minutes later; looks like I could have rescued it maybe 2 minutes earlier.

I coated the ribs with sauce and grilled them the last 20 minutes while the mac was in the oven. Then dinner is served. Linda came over for dinner and brought a salad.