tried qfan's cider brine on ribs

char buddy

Over the weekend I tried BBQFan's cider brine on a couple of baby backs.[p]Very tasty. will try them again.[p]Here's the brine recipe re-posted.[p][p]-4 cups apple juice or cider
(0r maybe 3 cups apple juice/cider, 1 cup white grape juice)
- 1/4 cup coarse or kosher salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion quartered
Boil for 10 minutes to dissolve salt and sugar and get flavours out of onion and garlic, then cool and refrigerate to 40°F.[p]This is enough for two racks.[p]I used real apple cider, then I cooked them at 225º with a number two smoke ring and a litle cherry smoke. I covered the ribs in mustard and rub I got from Bobbie McWright when we met at the New Holland, PA competition. (MCWright runs Music City Catering out of Nashville). [p]I took the internal temp up to 200º just to see if the brine would keep them moist and tender even at that final temp. [p]The results were terrific. A nice, tart apple tang to go along with McWright's bright and spicy rub.[p]I'll have to try this one again. [p]CB[p]

BBQfan1

char buddy,
Took me a second to place that recipe, but if I'm not mistaken that was a top-of-the-head recommendation to someone who'd tried brining ribs and found no flavour enhancement. The idea of replacing water with cider/juice sounds like it did add another overall element of flavour; I'm gonna have to try this myself!
Thanks for the report,
Qfan