One of my favorite ways to eat ribs is to smoke them with pimento wood using authentic Jamaican spices and herbs for the meats! The end result of these ribs is by far my favorite rib I have ever tasted in my life!
Serving size: 2-3 full racks ribs (we prefer Swift Premium brand if you can find em)
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Marinade time: 18-24 hours
Smoking time: 3-3.5 hours at 225 degrees
Grill time: 8 minutes
For the best way to make authentic ribs I am going to be using a smoker and some pimento wood chunks from Pimento Wood Products. If you need to purchase authentic pimento wood from Jamaica you can do so simply by clicking the following link, Click here to purchase pimento wood
Step 1: The Marinade
In a blender or food processor combine all of the following ingredients
4 tbsp low sodium Soy sauce
1/2 cup of Meyers Jamaican rum
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 teaspoons fresh thyme
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
2 bunches green onions (green parts only)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6-10 scotch bonnet or habanero peppers (cut in half and de-seeded)
8-10 cloves garlic
3-inch piece of ginger finely chopped
Step 2: Blend the marinade
Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth textured.
Step 3: Prepare the ribs
Take 2-3 racks of ribs and salt and pepper both sides of ribs. Once you have salt and peppered both sides of the meat get brown sugar and with your hands generously rub brown sugar onto both sides of the meat. Once you have salt and peppered and rubbed both sides of the meat generously with brown sugar you are now ready to marinade the meat.
Step 4: Marinading the ribs
When I make Jamaican jerk ribs I like to use long baking sheets/pans to marinade on. As you can see from the picture above I used a decent length cookie sheet. I rub the marinade on the bone side first and then put them meat side up on the pan and then marinade the top of the ribs second. I found that using a butter knife or spatula allows you to evenly spread the marinade over the meat. As you can see from the above photo I marinade with the meat side facing up. Be careful when you cover up your ribs before refrigerating as you don’t want to rub off all that delicious marinade at the top of the meat. Cover well and refrigerate for 18-24 hours.
Step 5: Preparing your smoker
For my cook I am using a Smokin-It Model #2 smoker. I find these smokers to be much more reliable and better built than the common Masterbuilt models I found at Home Depot and Lowes. You can check out Smokin-It smokers website out simply by clicking here
For my set up I have my smoker box with some pimento wood chunks in the middle (how the smoker is designed) and in the bottom back corner I have a small tin filled with water and pimento leaves for moisture and aroma and of course I have covered the majority of the inside of my smoker with tin foil for easy clean up.
Step 6: Lock your smoker temperature in
For smoking ribs I recommend dialing in your smokers temperature at 225 degrees and smoke for exactly 3-3.5 hours max depending on how thick the rib cuts are. It is important that once you close the door to your smoker you do NOT open it during the smoking/cooking process. No peeking!! Once you approach the 3 hour mark you can open the smoker door and take a look at the ribs. If you see the bone starting to shrink back a little from the meat that is a good sign. You want the ribs to be about 85% done before you take them out of your smoker. Once you reach the 3 to 3.5 hour mark of your smoke session usually you are almost done, take the ribs out of the smoker and make sure that you have your grill already pre-heated and ready to go at 350 degrees. Take the ribs out of the smoker and then put directly over heat on the grill for about 3-4 minutes on each side just to put a nice char on each side. Be careful not to burn up the ribs during this step. You know the ribs are done and perfect because the meat will shrink back from the bone about 1/4 of an inch. Your end results will look quite similar to the picture below, true Jamaican perfection… Irie Mon!
