Sweet, juicy ribs and charred corn are BBQ classics that are always a crowd pleaser. Cooking the perfect BBQ ribs is about coating them with lots of BBQ rub and sauce so they’re bursting with sweet, smoky flavours and slowly taking them up to temperature so that the meat easily falls off the bone.

You can use your own pre-purchased rub and sauce for this or you can make your own using our recipe below. Corn perfectly compliments the flavours of the ribs, but this sweetcorn elote recipe is really special as it is coated in a creamy sauce and topped with tangy feta and crunchy tortilla chips.

Temperatures

We used the DOT Digital Thermometer to monitor the temperature of the ribs throughout the cook, alerting us when they reached 71°C so we could wrap them and turn up the heat, before setting another alert for 92°C where we unwrapped them for the final stage of the cook and then removed them once they reached 100°C. As always, we also double checked the meat with the Thermapen ONE to ensure they had come to temperature throughout.

Ingredients

Serves 2

For the ribs

• 2 racks of pork loin ribs
• 1 bottle American mustard
• 150g butter
• Roughly 100g brown sugar
• BBQ Rub – your favourite or follow our recipe below
• BBQ Sauce – your favourite or follow our recipe below
• Aluminium foil

For the BBQ rub

• 100g brown sugar (plus extra for the wrap)
• 100g smoked paprika
• 35g fine ground sea salt
• 50g ground black pepper
• 50g ground cumin
• 20g fennel seeds
• 50g all purpose seasoning
• 50g ancho chilli powder
• Mix together and use with pork and chicken

For the BBQ sauce

• 1 litre tomato sauce
• 300g brown sauce
• 100g dark soy sauce
• 200g strong black coffee
• 200g bourbon
• 200g brown sugar
• 100g red wine vinegar
• 50g ground black pepper
• 50g smoked paprika
• 50g Worcestershire sauce
• 50g Worcestershire sauce
• Mix all together and reduce in a pan on a low heat until the sauce is sticky. Season with salt and cool down.

For the sweetcorn elote

• 100g brown sugar (plus extra for the wrap)
• 100g smoked paprika
• 35g fine ground sea salt
• 50g ground black pepper
• 50g ground cumin
• 20g fennel seeds
• 50g all purpose seasoning
• 50g ancho chilli powder
• Mix together and use with pork and chicken

Directions

• Preheat your smoker to 100°C.
• While your smoker is preheating prep the ribs.
• Peel the membrane off the back of the ribs. Do this by turning the ribs around so the bone side is facing up. Gently bend the ribs back between the 5th and 6th bone. With clean hands, use your finger to get under the membrane. Once you have released the membrane a bit use a paper kitchen towel to grip and peel the membrane off. Alternatively, ask your butcher to remove the membrane for you.
• Slather both sides of the ribs in American mustard, this helps the rub stick to the ribs.
• Liberally apply a BBQ rub to the ribs, making sure to cover all sides including the edges.

• Place your ribs on your hot smoker bone side down, insert your DOT probe into the thickest part of the meat and set the temperature on the DOT to 71°C.
• Pour yourself a drink and chill until the DOT alarm goes off.
• Once the ribs hit 71 °C, remove from the smoker. At this point turn your smoker up to 120°C.
• Using 3 sheets of aluminium foil per rack of ribs, sprinkle half the brown sugar across the middle, roughly break half the butter and add to the sprinkled sugar. Place the ribs meat side down and wrap the ribs. Repeat this for the second rack of ribs.
• Place the ribs back on the smoker, this time meat side down. Reinsert the DOT probe and set to 92°C.

Make your elote sauce

• At this point, make your elote sauce by mixing the mayo, crème fraîche and sour cream together with the chilli powder, salt and the lime juice. Carefully split the boiled sweetcorn in half down the core. Set both aside until later.
• When the DOT alarm sounds, carefully unwrap your ribs. Be careful when doing this as the butter will have melted and will be hot. Discard the tin foil once the butter has cooled down.

Brush the ribs

• Put your ribs back on the smoker and brush them with BBQ sauce. Reinsert the DOT probe and set the temperature to 100°C. Place the sweetcorn halves on the grill corn side down, turning every time you check the ribs.
• Every 10 mins baste the ribs in BBQ sauce until the internal temperature reaches 100°C. Use your Thermapen to make sure all of the ribs are cooked through to the correct temperature.
• Take the ribs off the grill and split between the bones. You should be able to pull the bones off the ribs clean. Plate up the sweetcorn by rolling the corn in the sauce and garnishing with crumbled feta, pickled onions, crispy tortilla crumb and fresh coriander.

Dan Cotton

Chef, The Coal Shed

@thecoalshed

"Working in a fast paced kitchen I need something I can rely on every time to give me fast and accurate temperatures. Thermapen gives me the confidence to make sure my food is not just safe but consistent every time."