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2 cups apple cider

2 tablespoons red alder smoked salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, cracked

2 racks (about 4 pounds total) St. Louis-cut spare ribs or baby back ribs

ROOT OF EVIL BARBECUE SAUCE

¼ cup tomato paste

¼ cup root beer

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce

1 three-finger pinch red alder smoked salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

To make a brine for the ribs, mix the cider, salt, and pepper in a large (two-gallon) zipper-lock bag until the salt dissolves. Cut the racks of ribs in half and add to the brine. Seal the zipper, leaving about an inch open; push on the bag to release any trapped air through the opening, and close the zipper completely. Massage the liquid gently into the meat and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours. If you brine the ribs overnight and won’t be cooking them until evening, remove the ribs from the brine in the morning to keep them from overbrining; store them, wrapped in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them.

Preheat a grill for indirect medium heat (about 325°F). If you are using a charcoal grill, this means banking your coal bed to one side or at opposite ends of the fire box, leaving open an area large enough to hold the racks of ribs. If you have a two-burner gas grill, turn one side on to medium and leave the other side off. If you have a three-or more-burner grill turn the outside burners on to medium and leave the center burner(s) off.

Brush the grill grate thoroughly with a wire brush to clean it and coat it lightly with oil. Remove the ribs from the brine, discard the brine, and pat the ribs dry with a clean cloth or paper towel. Put the ribs on the grill, bone side down, away from the heat. Cover the grill and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ribs registers about 155°F, about 1 hour.

While the ribs are cooking, bring the ingredients for the barbecue sauce to a simmer in a small saucepan, stirring as needed. Reserve one-third of the sauce for dipping at the table. Set the remaining sauce aside.

When the ribs are almost cooked, brush them with half of the remaining sauce, turn them sauce side down, cover the grill, and cook for 3 minutes. Brush the unglazed surfaces with the remaining sauce, turn the ribs sauce side down, cover, and cook for another 3 minutes.

Remove the ribs to a cutting board and cut into one-or two-rib sections. Place the ribs on a large serving platter and serve with the reserved sauce poured over the top or in a bowl for dipping.

PLUMP CHICKEN MEETS PLUMPED CHICKEN

Plumping is, theoretically, the poultry industry’s attempt to brine meat, using sodium-chloride solution, chicken broth, and/or carrageenan (a derivative of seaweed). On paper, it seems like a good idea: let the bird tenderize and moisten while it’s sitting in the supermarket cooler, saving you the time and effort of brining it yourself, and guaranteeing you get the best possible results by letting the experts at the chicken processing plant handle the whole process.

In practice, it doesn’t work out so well.

During plumping, brine is injected into the meat instead of being allowed to soak in. The result is that moisture from the surface of the meat can be pulled toward the center where there is less water proportional to the sodium chloride of the brine; this makes the outside dry, rubbery, and easily burned while the inside is watery. The lag time between the plumping at the factory and table is also just way too long. In effect, the meat sits steeped in brine in the supermarket cooler or freezer for days longer than it should (see Brining Guide).

The benefits to the industry, though, are clear and easily quantifiable. Brining increases the weight of the meat by adding water. Up to 15 percent of the bird’s weight can legally be added salt water, so long as the package is labeled with a warning that the bird has been plumped. According to the USDA, most major plumped brands contain 7 to 8 percent salt water, adding up to about $1.50