Country Ribs, cheesy potatoes, & corn

Yesterday was an extra warm December day, 55 deg. It was windy and most of the time it was howling. I am glad I have 3 sides of my Smoke Shack covered; it keeps the wind off my smoker, and me! It was a nice afternoon to do a slow cook on the Traeger.

Wednesday we made a trip to see my Mother & take her some of my leftovers. When we got home I cooked up a batch of peach BBQ sauce. I had found a recipe at Food.com that sounded good. I just made a half batch so if I didn’t like it would not have as much to throw out. For the heat I used Chipotles in adobe sauce, 1 pepper & about ½ tsp. of the sauce.

I had 4 nice country ribs from my butcher, two were bone in & the other two were boneless, about 3 lbs. My wife tasted my sauce & said too hot for her so I would use my old standby BBQ sauce from Kah Meats for hers. It had been awhile since I did country ribs so looked up cooking methods on pelletheads.com and a couple of other sites. Only one did them hot & fast, all the rest were low & slow. I decided to do mine 2-2-1 at 225 deg. That’s 2 hours at 225 & then foil wrap for two hours, and one hour with sauce. I like the low & slow cooking best anyways; it gives me time to just sit there, relax & sip on my favorite brew!

For sides I was having cheesy scalloped potatoes and some fresh corn I had vacuum packed & froze. I usually use Campbells cheddar cheese soup but this time I had a can of La Preferida aged cheddar I wanted to try. I think I like the Campbells better. I used Yukon Gold potatoes, two layers sliced in an oiled pan, poured half the cheddar cheese I had mixed in a 1/4 cup of milk on the first layer & then another layer of potatoes & cheese.

I splashed some red wine vinegar on the ribs & my favorite Penzey’s Galena Street Rub & in the fridge for about 9 hours. I added the second shelf to my Traeger so I had plenty of room. I got the ribs on the Smoker at 1:00 225 deg. I prepared the cheesy potatoes, covered with foil & added them to the top shelf at 2:00 & turned the ribs over. At 3:00 I foiled the ribs in a foil pan I had added about 1/8 cup of water & a splash of red wine vinegar & a splash of Worcestershire sauce. The foil pan was easy but I think wrapping them tight would have been better. At 5:00 I removed the ribs from the pan, added the peach sauce to two & Kah’s sauce to the other two. I also placed a small skillet with the corn & 3 pats of butter, salt & pepper, to the top shelf. At 5:30 I turned the ribs & sauced the other side. I pulled all at 6:00 a total of 5 hours for the ribs. Tented the ribs & fixed some Texas garlic bread to serve with it.

A very tasty supper, the potatoes were plenty done but prefer them in the oven at 350 to get the top browned up some. I usually fix them the same way & in the oven covered for one hour then uncover, add some shredded cheese for another half hour. I liked the peach BBQ sauce. A little sweet with a mild heat but think it could have used more spice like chili powder & a little cumin. I may try to doctor it up & have tomorrow night with the leftover ribs. Tonight it is my Wife’s turn to cook so we are having fish from Captain D’s!

Printable Peach BBQ Sauce Recipe

Cheese & Potatoes

Potatoes ready for the smoker

My two sauces

Ribs on the Smoker

After one hour

Two hours & in the foil pan

All done

Ready to serve

My Plate

Smokin Don