My Father-in-law smokes...

...ribs and chicken! :)  Okay men...are there any men who read my blog? 

Anyway if you have a man you should make him read this post because it is all about meat and fire and smoke - manly man things.  Or...if you don't have a man and are craving a yummy smoked meal, you fire up that smoker yourself girl! A great guide for all things smoking is this book, Smoke and Spice which Ryan and his dad use on a regular basis - this would make a great Father's Day gift ;) 

So here is our step-by-step guide for making that perfect southern smoked ribs and chicken.

Step 1:  Pull off the fibrous membrane
on the back of the ribs. 

If you skip this step, you risk making tough ribs.  Nobody wants to eat tough ribs.

Step 2:  Season the meat.  

My father-in-law uses this rub for the ribs, that he buys here

and this rub for the chicken which can be purchased here.

Step 3:  Prepare the smoker.  He has this propane smoker, which starts the fire super fast, but if you have a traditional smoker (like my husband uses) you will have to light the charcoals using lighter fluid, or for the purist, use a chimney starter and wait for them to turn white.

Place the wood chips in the tray of the gas smoker or directly on the charcoal in a traditional smoker.  My father-in-law uses a combination of a wood chips blend and wood chunks.

 

Instead of pouring water into the pan to create the smoke, he pours Coca-Cola. 

It produces a lovely flavor. 

Step 4:  Put the ribs in a rib rack and chicken directly on the wire rack and into the smoker.  The ideal temperature is 180-220 (on a charcoal smoker the temp needs to stay in the ideal range).  Wood chips and chunks need to be added every 45-60 minutes to keep the smoke going (the more wood you use, the smokier it will taste).  You want to maintain that temperature for 4-4.5 hours for chicken, and about 7 hours for ribs. 

Step 5:  When they are done, he pulls them out and lightly covers half of them in Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce (only half because some people like the dry rub by itself).

Step 6:  Serve 'em up along with some fried pickles (Ryan uses this recipe), fruit, and pasta- oh boy!