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[ED (Seth): We're off today for the holiday. You too deserve a day to think about food instead of Michigan football. To that end, we give you the recipe that Joe Pichey from MMMGoBluBBQ has been saving all year for this. As before, we can bring it to you because Stubb's offered to sponsor it. This is one of those things where the BBQ sauce people really liked our blog and the bloggers really liked the BBQ sauce, and nine of ten doctors agree that any level of cholesterol is less damaging than being invested in a losing team. Happy Thanksgiving!]

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Finally, the biggest game of the season is here and my BBQ Man Cave is ready. After everyone leaves and takes all the leftover turkey with them, I usually turn to something fun and easy for the game on Saturday. These "Brady" Back Ribs are my all time favorite and about the easiest thing to BBQ. I love a good rack of spares, but couldn't pass on a rack of extra meaty baby backs.  These can be smoked in about 4 hours and will leave you with a few rib bones to throw at the TV if things don't go our way. (Is the line still 20 + points?) Anyways, here goes. You will notice an odd ingredient in here, but give it a try. I did and liked the end result.

Ingredients:

• Baby Back Ribs
• Real Mayonaise or Mustard
• Apple Juice or Apple Cider
• BBQ Rub

[After the jump: how to get a good bark.]

Directions:

Set up the smoker or grill for indirect heat at 250 degrees. I always use pecan wood for my ribs, but any good fruit wood goes well with pork and can be substituted. Make sure and add a few wood chunks every hour. This cook will go for about 4 to 5 hours overall, depending on the meatiness of your rack. Select a meaty rack with some fat. FAT IS FLAVOR!!!!

Remove the membrane from the backside of the ribs. The rub will not penetrate this membrane, so let's get rid of it. Use a butter knife to pry loose an edge and then grab some paper towel to help peel it back. This little thing is slippery, so the paper towel really helps.

Once the membrane is removed, I like to apply a little binder. Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce or mustard are usually my "go to" for this. Chipotle Tabasco sauce adds a nice layer of spice and is my all time favorite. This time, I went with real mayo. I've heard from some BBQ friends that the mayo adds some moisture and big time flavor, so I gave it a try.  Use about 1 TBS of mayo per side.  Once applied, add 2-3 TBS of your favorite rub on each side of the rack.

Don't forget to sprinkle some rub on the sides. Cover every inch!  Once the smoker is up to temp, toss on your rack and relax. We are about 3 hours from the "spritzing" stage. Have a few barley pops and a stogie while you ignore that "Honey Do" list.

Don't even peek for the first 2 hours. We want to keep the heat and smoke inside. Every time you lift that lid, you add about 20 minutes to your overall cook time. I'm sure you've hear it before, but I can't resist: "If you're lookin', you ain't cookin". It should look like this after about 120 minutes. You can see a nice bark starting to form. I love a good bark on my ribs.

woof.

Once we get to the 3 hour mark, let's start adding some moisture back in. I spritz with some apple juice or cider. If you want to use some other kind of sweet juice, go ahead. I'm sure i've used beer at some point and don't remember being arrested by the BBQ police, so that would also work. Sweet juices help form a sweet exterior, so these are preferred.

After about 4 hours, they start to get a nice shiny glaze because of the sugars from the rub and juice combining.  The crust has firmed up and has a bit of a crunch to it.  Depending on the temperature you were cooking at, they might be done.  I've had baby backs finish in as little as 4 hours and as many as 6. BBQ is done when it's done.  Simple as that. I added some ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds or Stuffed Jalapeno's) to the mix just in case friends showed up.

The best way to tell if the ribs are done is with "The Bend Test". Pick the ribs up with your tongs (about 5 ribs in) and see how much they bend.  I like my ribs to have a little chew to them, so I don't go until they bend in half. If you like "fall off the bone" or "mushy" ribs, you want to let them go a little longer.
The pic below shows them just before getting to "fall off the bone" done. You will notice that the meat has pulled back on the bones a little. This is another sign that they are done. If you still aren't sure, you can always use an instant read thermometer. Once it hits 190 degrees, they are good to go.

If you would like to add some BBQ sauce before removing from the smoker, go ahead. I love my ribs just like this without any sauce, but that's just me. The rub and apple juice formed a nice crust that had plenty of flavor. The mayo also added some nice kick and helped keep things moist. I will definitely try these again. When slicing, it helps if you turn the ribs over so you can see where the bones are.

As you can see, the ribs had a nice smoke ring and were extremely moist. Maybe it was the mayo???  Either way, they were super tasty, tender and extremely flavorful. These will be an nice break from the leftover turkey sandwiches you've been shoving down your throat and can be chased with a few more slices of pumpkin pie.

Let me know if you give it a try and how they turn out. Thanks again to everyone sending pics and emails of their backyard BBQ success.  Keep em coming. GO BLUE!!!