Expert: John Langenfelder - 7/25/2008

Question
WHY DO MY SMOKED RIBS LOOK AND TASTE LIKE HAM AFTER SMOKING 4 TO 5HRS MEAT IS VERY PINK

Answer
Tom,

The pink look is from smoking.  What type of rub did you use?  Did you put the rub on immediately or did you leave it on for a few hours or overnight?  Did you marinate the ribs? Did you parboil the ribs? What kind of fire? Type of wood and how much?  What kind of smoker?  It is not unusual to have ribs taste like ham, after all they come from the same animal. I occasionally have had the same problem. What type of ribs? Spare, back, country?  Country ribs are nothing but shoulder meat

Here is what I would suggest.  Use back or spare ribs. Put the rub on an hour prior to cooking.  If using a charcoal smoker, only a few pieces of wood is needed. Meat only takes so much smoke and you don't want to oversmoke.  If using an electric or gas smoke, again just a few pieces of wood.  It is not necessary to soak the wood.  If possible use a small aluminum foil tray and put apple juice in it and place that between the fire and the meat. If you don't have the tray, baste or spray with apple juice after two hours and every hour after.

Here is a good rub recipe
  Ingredients
¼ cup + 2 tbl    Paprika
2 tbl   Ground black pepper
2 tbl   Sugar
2 tbl   kosher salt
1 tbl   Chili powder
1 tbl   Garlic powder
1 tbl   Onion powder
1 tsp   Cayenne pepper