The Meat Hook butchers Ben Turley and Brent Young are often experimenting with ways to cut, dry-age, season, cook, assemble, and eat the meats that they prepare in their butcher shop, and now it’s time they try something new: rib glaze.
“We learned how to smoke from Rodney Scott, the king himself, so we have our cooking techniques down,” says Young. “Today is all about finding the best base glaze.” The two choose six different sugars to try: agave, maple syrup, table sugar, honey, Dr Pepper, and Fireball Whiskey.
All of the ribs get seasoned with a salt, pepper, and paprika dry-rub, then cooked in the smoker for two hours with hickory, cherry, and apple wood chips. They begin by simmering their ingredients separately, in order to reduce them without cooking out the sugar. When the ribs are done, they brush each set with their different glazes, and have a taste test to determine which glazes are the best..and which they would definitely not try again.
