This week I did the first of what is going to be a series of my version of fast food favorites. I decided to tackle the McDonald’s McRib sandwich.
The traditional McRib is always controversial among most, but is still always a big talking point whenever it makes an appearance. I can honestly say that I have never had one, but I have always appreciated the concept of it. We all hear the hype that nobody knows what’s in it, it’s not very good, etc., but I decided to make my own version of it, that I knew what would be in it, actual pork rib meat. I cannot say what is in the original or not as I don’t have any experience, but I can certainly control what goes in mine. For the most part, the way I cooked the ribs was about the same as I did in my Ribs! Ribs! Ribs! recipe, but with some small changes. The first change was the base layer of rub that I used.
I am sponsored this year by Weekend Bum BBQ, and I received my batch of his Rubs last week, so I decided to start using them right away. I used his Perfect Perfect All Purpose Rub as the base layer, and then used my Lovely Jubbly BBQ And Then Some BBQ rub as the primary. I had tried the Perfect Perfect on its own, so I knew it would be good, but man, these 2 rubs combined are a fantastic combination. I ended up doing 2 racks of ribs, and I did this for a couple of reasons. The first reason is I used my offset for this cook, and it wasn’t worth firing up the offset and the work associated with it for just one rack of ribs, and 2, my daughter loves ribs and didn’t want the sandwich, so I essentially made a rack of ribs just for her. Dad of the year, I know.
As I mentioned, I used the Old Country BBQ Pits G2 insulated offset smoker for this cook. I have it sitting in the backyard, and every time I look at it, I think to myself that I need to use it again. I started with a bed of Royal Oak lump charcoal and used hickory splits to maintain the fire. Because of the insulated fire box, it really holds temp like a champ and is able to maintain that temp with less wood, so it is very fuel efficient as well. I was able to get it up to 275 degrees, and it held perfectly with very minor adjustments throughout the entire cook. Even opening the lid to work on the ribs, it recovered nicely. Lately, I have had a revelation that pulling the ribs off the smoker around 195-198 internal makes for a much more solid bite and not falling off the bone. For this recipe, I wanted it to fall off the bone because it made it easier to pull the bones out for the sandwich.
After an hour in the smoke, I spritzed with Apple juice and again 30 minutes after that. At that point, it was 2 hours in, and I pulled them off to wrap. I didn’t do the full wrap that I do for competitions, but I used brown sugar, apple juice, butter, and a sprinkle of the And Then Some again, all on both sides of the ribs. They were then put back on meat side down and left for an hour before I checked them again. As you can tell from the pictures, they are slightly different-sized racks, so they did cook at different times. That being said, they both cooked until they hit about 205-208 degrees, and I pulled them off to rest. It took about 3.5 hours to cook in total.
To build the sandwich, I used a big $1 loaf of Italian bread from Walmart and sliced it open. Because these loaves can be pretty bready, I took the top portion of the bread and took out the interior of it to hollow it out. I then buttered each side of the bread with a solid layer and added a light amount of Garlic Salt to each side just to add some more flavor. I then put the bread halves and butter side up in the oven on the broil setting to toast the bread. I pulled the top out a little early, put a few slices of Muenster cheese in the bread, and then put that back in to melt the cheese. Being from Wisconsin, I had to add some cheese, so I went with my favorite. Once they were done, I pulled the rack of ribs like I would for pulled pork, tossed it in some Blues Hog Champions Blend BBQ sauce, placed it on the bread, and boom, the MitchRib sandwich was born.
Flavor-wise, it was fantastic. You got the hickory smoke, both rubs were singing in harmony, and you even got a little bit of the garlic salt flavor that really pulled it all together. I definitely will be doing this recipe again, and the only thing I would change is that the Muenster, while creamy, didn’t stand on its own with all of the other flavors going on, so I would change it to a sharp cheddar, or swiss, but other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 rack of pork spare ribs
- Weekend Bum BBQ’s Perfect Perfect All Purpose Rub
- Lovely Jubbly BBQ’s And Then Some BBQ Rub
- Loaf of Italian Bread
- Blues Hog BBQ Champions Blend BBQ Sauce
- Sliced cheese of your choice
- Garlic salt, for seasoning the bread- optional
Recipe:
- Trim the rack of ribs up to fit the size of the loaf of bread
- Apply the Weekend Bum BBQ Perfect Perfect Rub to both sides, evenly.
- After 15 Minutes, Apply the Lovely Jubbly BBQ And Then Some Rub as the primary to all sides evenly.
- Set up your smoker of choice for indirect cooking, and set it to 275 degrees
- Place ribs on the smoker and let cook for 1 hour
- After 1 hour, spritz with apple juice, and again 30 minutes later
- Pull the ribs off and wrap in foil with brown sugar, Apple juice, butter, more of the And Then Some rub and apply to both sides of the ribs
- Place back on the smoker until they are between 205-208 degrees internally
- Pull off and rest the ribs when done.
- Slice the loaf of bread in half, hollow out the top half, and butter both sides.
- Add the garlic salt, if desired, and toast the bread halves under the broiler in the oven
- Melt the cheese to the inside the upper half of the bread
- Pull the rib rack apart, careful to remove the bones and any cartilage
- Place on the bottom portion of the bread and make the sandwich
- Enjoy!
Don’t forget to check out http://www.lovelyjubblybbq.com for our signature rubs and even more great BBQ products and accessories! Our rubs are also exclusively in store at Ava’s a posh boutique in Watertown, WI if you just can’t wait for shipping!
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As always, keep cookin’ and Lovely Jubbly!
Lovely Jubbly BBQ 