Racked

Today was the first absolute success with cooking sous vide, as I brewed up a rack of ribs with the master recipe that Paul posted.

I created a spice rub with garlic powder, sea salt, Indonesian white pepper, onion powder, smoked paprika, and chipotle.  (The latter two intended not only to add flavor to the rub but to add smoked flavor as well.)

I added no sugar, molasses, or honey.  I live amid a cooking tradition that favors picante over sweet.

I split the rack in two, applied the rub, and then (again experimenting with smoky flavor) added a few drops of liquid smoke to one bag and not the other. (It turned out not to be necessary.)

In they went to a water bath of 165F for 12 hours.  I took them out, slathered them with a commercial BBQ sauce (Mr. Stubbs’ extra spicy), and tossed them on the grille.  When the sauce cooked down, I reapplied the sauce, cooked some more, then brought the ribs to the table.

Ohmigod!  So tender!  So loaded with flavor!

Next time I’ll use cayenne instead of chipotle, because the chipotle added a slight bitter taste that I didn’t absolutely love.  But otherwise I totally swooned.

Score!  And I still have three racks of ribs in the freezer!