Ribs are always a good idea and these ribs from Little Coyote in Chattanooga, TN, work perfectly for summer outdoor cooking. Little Coyote is Chef Erik Niel’s ode to smoked meats and tortillas – two things that stole his heart during his time living in Texas. Located right at the base of Lookout Mountain the vibes are a beautiful mix of Texas Barbecue, Cuban, Caribbean, and Southwestern cuisines with striking flavors and melt-in-your-mouth meats accompanied by house-made corn tortillas. Wash it all down with the nectar of gods, with over 100 varieties of agave spirits to choose from.
With an agave-driven beverage program, the team at Little Coyote thought it would be fun to create a ribs dish on the smoker with a mezcal and citrus sauce mop in the style of Carolina BBQ, the sauce is literally “mopped” onto the ribs during smoking process, and no additional sauce is required when you’re ready to dive in.
Jonathan Ferugson, the culinary director of Little Coyote, describes why he loves these ribs so much. “The thing I really like about this dish is how simple it is. Using a mop sauce on pork BBQ has long been a thing in the Carolinas, and this particular recipe is based on a mop sauce recipe from Rodney Scott, known for being one of the best at South Carolina whole hog BBQ. Since these are ribs for Little Coyote, I felt a nod to our agave spirit list was appropriate. 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.”
Mezcal Mop Sauce
This recipe can mop around 15 racks of ribs (serving 20-25 pretty easily.) It’s definitely a party version, but you can reduce it by half or even a fourth for smaller crowds.
- 4 ¼ c distilled white vinegar
- 2 1/8 c mezcal
- 3 lemons (sliced thinly on mandolin)
- 2 Tbsp cayenne
- 2 Tbsp chile flakes
- 2 Tbsp black pepper
- 2 ¾ c sugar
To create the sauce: In a small stock pot combine vinegar and sugar, bring to a simmer. Add cayenne, chile flakes and black pepper and whisk to combine. Add lemon slices to vinegar mixture and return to a simmer. Once simmering, remove from heat and add the mezcal.
Tips for smoking ribs: Smoking meats is not an exact science, there are so many variables that can affect cooking times. The first variable is the type of smoker that you are using. Make sure you set 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. The next variable is wood. At Little Coyote we use a blend of Red Oak, White Oak and Hickory. Hickory has a very strong smoke flavor, so balancing it with the two oaks (which have milder flavor) allows the flavor of our high-quality meats to stand out. Using a heritage breed pork may cost a little extra, but the payoff is definitely worth it. We prefer to use St. Louis style ribs, because they cook evenly and have nice fat content which protects the meat during the cooking process.
To smoke the ribs: First, you want to remove the membrane from the bottom side of the ribs. Simply make a small incision and remove 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. We like to set our temperature in the smoker at 250ºF, this gives us some 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 (can be found at most hardware stores or online), mop the ribs every 45 minutes for 3 hours. If you are seeing a 1/4″ of bones poking out, mop once more and then wrap the ribs with butcher paper or aluminum foil and place back in the smoker for another hour or so. Remove the ribs once the internal temperature against the bone reaches 205ºF and the ribs have some decent wiggle on them. The end result should not fall off the bone. A properly cooked rib has bite, without the fight.
