Mop Your Ribs the Carolina Way

Why Little Coyote's Jonathan Ferguson uses a tiny mop when smoking his meat

Mop those ribs Photo courtesy of Little Coyote

Summer is the time for long days, sultry nights, and enjoying outdoor cooking.

When it comes to warm-weather meals, there’s nothing as inviting as a rack of ribs. If you want your ribs flavorful and cooked to perfection, Jonathan Ferguson, culinary director of Chattanooga Tennessee’s Little Coyote suggests bringing out the mop.

If you’re not familiar, Ferguson is talking about grill basting mops, a tool considered far superior to brushes for applying sauces to your proteins.

The tool allows you to “mop” the sauce onto your meat, ensuring a generous slathering of sauce is applied during your grilling or smoking process. The process, considered the Carolina BBQ way, ensures that your meat is so juicy, that there’s no need for any additional sauce when you’re ready to eat.

Ferguson likes to use a mezcal and citrus sauce on his ribs. “The mezcal brings surprisingly tropical undertones to the ribs, which balances perfectly with the smoke. The continual mopping during the cooking process gives the ribs a pleasantly fruity glaze. While these ribs are great all year, they work especially well on a hot sticky day —with an ice cold Lone Star and your feet in the creek."

If you’re new to smoking, Ferguson says it’s not an exact science due to the numerous variables that can affect cooking times, including the kind of smoker you have, the wood you use, and the protein you use.

Ferguson advises setting up your smoker according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. If smoking on a grill, it is very important to make sure you are smoking over indirect heat.

Ferguson uses a blend of Red Oak, White Oak, and Hickory. Hickory has a very strong smoke flavor, so balancing it with the two milder oaks allows the flavor of your meat to stand out, according to the chef.

Finally, don’t skimp on your meat. Ferguson uses heritage-breed pork. “We prefer to use St. Louis ribs because they cook evenly and have a nice fat content which protects the meat during the cooking process,” he says.

Ferguson shared his sauce recipe with Broken Palate, along with tips on smoking the perfect ribs. Happy Eating!

Ribs with Mezcal Citrus Sauce

Mezcal Mop Sauce
1000g distilled white vinegar
500g mezcal
3 lemons (sliced on mandolin)
2 tbsp cayenne
2 tbsp chile flakes
2 tbsp black pepper
600g sugar

In a small stock pot combine vinegar and sugar, and bring to a simmer. Add cayenne, chile flakes, and black pepper and whisk to combine. Add lemon slices to the vinegar mixture and return to a simmer. Once simmering, remove from heat and add the mezcal.

To Smoke The Ribs

First, remove the membrane from the bottom side of the ribs by making a small incision and removing by hand. If you feel uncertain, there are plenty of YouTube videos that can point you in the right direction.

Season the ribs with equal parts salt and pepper at least four hours before smoking them, and allow them to come up to room temperature. While the ribs are resting, set the temperature in the smoker to 250F (that gives you wiggle room on temperature loss when opening the smoker to mop the ribs).

Once ribs are ready, load them into the hot smoker and leave them alone for the first hour.

Then using a BBQ mop (Amazon has plenty), mop the ribs every 45 minutes for 3 hours.

If you are seeing a quarter inch of bone poking out, mop once more and then wrap the ribs with butcher paper or aluminum foil and place them back in the smoker for another hour or so.

Remove the ribs once the internal temperature against the bone reaches 205F and the ribs have some decent wiggle on them.

The result is not to fall off the bone. A properly cooked rib has bite, without the fight.