Smoked spare ribs: here was my method

I started with 3 racks of spare ribs from Costco. I removed silverskin and cut them all into half-racks so they could fit in my container.

I salted them all with kosher and lightly covered with plastic wrap for an overnight "dry brine" to add deeper flavor.

Next day I seasoned them with pepper and garlic and put them on the smoker with a smoke tube filled with pellets. It's winter here, so I had no concern of the "danger zone". I normally wouldn't use a smoke tube, but I didn't want to cook them before sous vide, so this was my "cold smoke".

My smoke tube runs about 6 hours. Afterwards I removed them and sealed them in my vacuum bags. I put 2 halves (a full rack) per bag. I set the sous vide to 160 and let them go 7.5 hours. This was the fullest I've ever had it.

I then removed them and put them in an ice bath and then to fridge. This stops the cooking and prevents the danger zone, as I wasn't ready to cook them yet (this was around 1pm, dinner wasn't until 630). I also used this as a test to see if I could do this method for parties and larger groups of people (cool and reheat).

Lastly, I put them back in sous vide an hour before dinner to warm up, then seared over grill with my sauce.

End result: very good. I've been smoking ribs for many years and these came very very close to traditional.

Was it easier? Yes and no. I don't use a pellet grill. I use wood splits or charcoal/wood mix, depending on which cooker I use. So with this method, there is perfect temp control, which is easier. But it didn't really take any less time, as I can smoke amazing ribs traditionally in 6 hours.

Flavor? Very comparable to traditional. Good smoke flavor. Pull of the bone.

Would I do it again? Yes! Absolutely.

Pictured is before and after the sear.