PECAN SMOKED SPARE RIBS
Recommended Wine: 2003 CK MONDAVI CABERNET SAUVIGNON

This recipe covers spareribs, country style ribs, pork chops and pork loins. The key process involves (1) searing the meat to a brown texture, (2 ) removing the meat from direct heat and smoking it with pecan wood to penetrate the surface, (3) applying sauce during the last part of cooking to seal in juices and flavor the meat.

14 oz. Bottle ketchup
Pre-cooking rub-Tony Chacere's or any other
Vinegar (white) similar barbeque spice
Vegetable oil
4 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
6 cloves fresh garlic - minced

Empty ketchup into blender. Fill bottle ¾ way with vinegar, worchestershire and finish filling with salad oil. Empty into blender with all spices. Mix and allow to sit for 1 hour - minimum for spices to infuse sauce completely. (for a more elegant sauce you can use fresh ancho peppers instead of the chili powder. Take 4 ancho peppers, remove stems and split open to remove seeds. Place in hot water in a container for 2 hours and they will turn a bright red color. Place in a blender and puree with sauce instead of chili powder)

Cooking process

Charcoal fire preferred. Start with hot coals and quickly sear meat on all sides. For pork loins only 10-15 minutes per side is required. Same for ribs. Be sure and don't blacken the meat. Remove from the direct heat and apply pecan chunks to coals and close top to maintain approx. 250-300 degrees during cooking.

Pork Loin - 20 minutes smoke time, then apply sauce 3 times at 10 minute intervals. Meat should not be dried out, but still moist and pink in center.

Spareribs and country style ribs - Sear over not so hot a fire for 20 minutes per side. Then remove from heat and smoke for 30-45 minutes before applying sauce as above. Spareribs are perfect when meat has pulled back approx. ½ inch from end of rib bones and top part of ribs flexes easily.

ENJOY!