Well it’s that time of year again, and I’m no referring to the holidays.  It the return of the McRib and the plethora of faux barbecue sandwiches.  Recently I saw that Burger King has been pimping a “rib” sandwich thats just a pork patty with some barbecue sauce.  Don’t even get me started on the pull pork abomination at subway.  I could rant all day about this culinary injustice but I have a better idea. I going to make make my own rib sandwich, perfectly season with a sweet version of my BBQ Rub, smoked over real hardwood charcoal, basted with my Duke City Sweet sauce all on top of a homemade hoagie roll.  Doesn’t that sound a whole lot better than me listening to me bitch and ranting?? 

The AlbuKirky Ribwich

I started with a boneless loin back rib.  I picked these up at Sam’s Club for $15 for a pack of two.  Why cook one, when you can cook two and have left overs, right?  This is the first time I have tried this cut of meat.  It does come from the rib area but it is a little leaner and does not have a bone, so it’s not going to be as flavorful as a rib but for my purposes it will be fine.

Boneless Loin Back Ribs

I decided to go sweet with my ribwich, so I mixed up a sweeter version of my BBQ Rub,  2 parts AlbuKirky BBQ Rub to 1 part turbinado sugar.  I gave the meat a good coating of canola oil and then followed with a heavy seasoning of the sweet rub mixture. Then covered and placed it back in the fridge to marinate for a few hours.

Bonless Ribs Seasoned and ready for the smoker

I wanted to impart as much smoke as I could to this slab o’pork, so I slow cooked them at 225º for about 2 1/2 hours.  This is not very thick piece of pork, so any hotter it would have cooked too fast. I used a mix of Royal Oak Charcoal and a couple of chunks of apple wood for sweet, mild smoke. During the last 1/2 hour of the cook I basted the meat with my Duke City Sweet BBQ sauce every few minutes and really let the sauce cook into the pork.  Then flipped the meat and repeated. 

Smokey & Saucy!!

Now the the best part, sandwich assembly. Every great sandwich starts with a fresh bread and it doesn’t get any fresher than Cheryl’s homemade hoagies rolls hot from the oven.  I cut two thick pieces of the boneless ribs laid them down on the bottom bun. Next came a generous pour of Duke City Sweet BBQ Sauce, followed by fresh sliced onion, dill pickles and a few pickled jalapeños for a little kick.  When all was said and done, the AlbuKirky Ribwich was absolutely spectacular, it tasted just like a BBQ rib is supposed to taste.  This one is definitely going into rotation.

Ribwich!!

Hot Fesh Hoagie Buns by Mrs AlbuKirky