One of the four standard meat categories in competitions sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society is Pork Ribs.  We'll walk through a sample run of competition pork ribs, and the tools and techniques that make them happen.

Evening before cooking: apply the rub and marinate.

Rubs are blended seasonings that can be store-bought preparations or recipes tailor-made by the chef.  They typically consist of paprika, white pepper, black pepper, powdered or granulated onion, sugar, lemon pepper, and other ingredients that chefs are free to experiment with.  Try a little hickory smoked salt, brown sugar, or even garam masala.

This is my custom rub:

If the baby back ribs have silverskin, a shiny skin on the concave side, it can be removed by prying one end up with a spoon handle, gripping the loosened end with a paper towel, and peeling it off.

Apply the rub, less or more depending on your taste, to both sides of the ribs.  Work the rub into the surface of the ribs.  I prefer a moderate coat of rub -- too heavy a coat may prevent the delicious wood smoke from penetrating and flavoring the pork.

Now, here's a little secret.  I almost hate to let this secret go, but it is very effective without being messy.

It works best with a vacuum food sealer like the ones sold at Costco, Sam's Club, or Linens & Things.  Otherwise, use polyethylene food wrap.

Prepare a spray bottle with a few fluid ounces of acidic water solution and a small amount of salt.  Vinegar is popular as a source of acidity because of its ease of use, but I prefer better-tasting edible acids.  Here's a secret: try dissolving one or two Vitamin C tablets.

Spray the seasoned ribs gently but thoroughly on both sides until thoroughly dampened.  Place ribs in a vacuum seal bag cut to length or wrap in plastic wrap.  If using a vacuum sealer, seal now.  This creates a marinating environment that moistens the pork, tenderizes it, and helps the rub flavor distribute and penetrate into the meat.

I like this method because it is easily done on site at a contest with little mess.

Place in refrigerator (or ice chest, at a competition) overnight.

Day of cooking:

Smoke for approximately six hours at 250 degrees average.  I like to begin smoking at about 230 degrees and slowly push it up to about 275 in the last hour.  Among smoking woods that are easily found in stores, mesquite is good.  See Barbecue Basics 1 for information on woods and smokers.

During the long cooking process, you will need a way to keep the ribs from drying out.

A popular and easy method is, again, a spray bottle preparation, typically made from apple juice and vinegar (about four parts apple juice to one part vinegar).  Feel free to experiment with other liquid flavorings.

Another method, one that allows for more recipe creativity, is a mop sauce.  A mop sauce is a strongly flavored liquid, flavored with ingredients like white, red, and black pepper, vinegar or other acidity, onion and/or shallots, garlic.  Mop sauces get their name from the way that they are usually applied -- barbecue stores sell absorbent brushes that really do look like miniature janitor's mops.

In the last 45 minutes or so of cooking, when the ribs start to become quite flexible and appear juicy, I like to wrap them in aluminum foil.  Add a couple ounces of lemon juice on to a spread-out boat of aluminum foil, place the ribs in it, and -- if you wish -- apply barbecue sauce, honey, glaze, or a blend of each.  Close the foil wrapping over the ribs and finish cooking.

The ribs are done when they are extremely flexible.  They will have that ideal fall-off-the-bone tenderness.

Unwrap, and if you wish, apply more barbecue sauce and glaze.  A sugar component helps create that delicious glassy look:

There you have it -- contest-grade pork ribs.

There were, of course, a few secrets that I had to keep.  If I told you, I'd have to kill you, and it's hard to do competition barbecue from prison.

But, worry not -- this is more than enough information to really impress your friends.