Smoked Baby Back Ribs

• 2 racks baby back pork ribs
• 1/3 cup yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup apple juice, divided
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Pork rub (or your preferred BBQ rub), to taste
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey, warmed
• 1 cup BBQ sauce

Method

1. 1
   Remove the membrane

   Remove the silverskin from the bone side: work a knife tip under the membrane over a middle bone, grip with a paper towel, and tear it off.

2. 2
   Season

   Mix the mustard, 1/4 cup apple juice (reserve the rest), and Worcestershire. Spread thinly on both sides of the ribs and season with rub.

3. 3
   Smoke to set the bark

   Smoke meat-side up at 180°F until the bark sets and internal temp reaches ~160°F. This is a checkpoint, not doneness — it means the bark's ready to wrap. Wrap too early and you steam off the bark you just built.

4. 4
   Wrap

   Move to a baking sheet and raise the cooker to 225°F. Lay each rack on heavy-duty foil, sprinkle with half the brown sugar, half the honey, and half the remaining apple juice. Seal tightly in a second sheet, crimping the edges so nothing leaks.

5. 5
   Cook to tender

   Return to the cooker and cook until tender. Set a probe alarm around 200°F — that's your signal to start checking, not necessarily to pull. Confirm with a quick poke in a couple of spots: the probe should meet almost no resistance. Racks finish anywhere from ~200–206°F depending on thickness, so trust the resistance over the readout.

6. 6
   Sauce and set

   Unwrap, brush both sides with BBQ sauce, and return directly to the grate until the glaze sets.

7. 7
   Rest

   Rest a few minutes before slicing.