Pork Ribs & Trout

I took my first stab at doing full racks of pork ribs and decided to do a repeat of trout fillets with different rubs and glazes.

I am glad to say that both turned out spectacularly. The trout fillets were brined in soy sauce overnight and then rubbed liberally with dry dill prior to smoking. I also topped it with sliced lemons - be sure to take the peel off the lemons. Otherwise, they will leave a bitter taste wherever they make contact with the fish.

Trout fillets ready to head into the smoker

I smoked the fish at 225F for 2 hours. The first 1.5 hours with cherry smoke and the last 30 minutes without. I glazed it very simply with maple syrup for the last half hour of cooking to give it just a hint of sweetness.

Fillets fresh out of the smoker

The fish was still incredibly moist inside. I tried to get a picture of the juices in the photo below. It turned out a little blurry as someone turned the turn-table just as I snapped the photo.

Very juicy interior

 

I followed my usual procedure for the pork ribs. First and foremost - remove that nasty membrane on the back!!! If you don't do this, you will NEVER get them to fall off the bone as that membrane is like a sheet of rubber and will hold the meat to the bones. Once that is out of there, brine the ribs overnight in a simple salt and sugar solution followed by a smearing of mustard and liberal application of my sugarless pork butt dry rub. I then left the ribs to sit for a second night in the fridge. I pulled them out a few hours prior to smoking to allow them to come up to room temperature.

Ribs ready to hit the smoke

The first 2 hours of cooking were done using cherry smoke at 225F. After 1 hour, I basted the ribs with my pork butt dry rub mop. After the second hour of cooking, I basted the ribs again and then foiled them. I also added about a 1/4" of apple juice to each rib foil package. The juice not only helps to keep the ribs moist as them gently steam inside the packets but it adds a little sweetness to the meat. Cook inside the foil for another 2 hours.

Then, open up the foil packages and apply your glaze. I used my Asian 3S finishing glaze and actually did a double coat. I applied the original coat and allowed it to bake in for 30 minutes and then applied a second coat and baked for another 30 minutes. The result was a nice thick crust that was still sticky and tacky when held and munched on.

The ribs were absolutely fantastic. I had my cousin's family over for supper and they were raving about them. The meat was extremely tender but still held on to enough of its structure that it wasn't like eating baby food. There was no need to use a knife on them as the meat just slid right off the bones. They honestly could not have turned out any better.

A paragon of porkiness