Oven Smokin’ with Peet’s Tea
The latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated includes a recipe for oven-smoked ribs, so, with a rack of Texas ribs in my freezer, I’ve decided to test if their technique is general-purpose enough to work with beef instead of pork.
The dry/wet spice rub was simple enough, but I had a bit of a snag finding the lapsang souchong tea leaves required for the oven-smoking process. Cook’s insists that Twining’s version of the tea is “widely available in supermarkets,” but both our largest (Shaw’s in Allston) and our fruitiest (Whole Foods in Brighton) didn’t have any to speak of.
Thankfully, it dawned on me that Peet’s Coffee and Tea sells (KSA-certified kosher) tea! A quick phone call confirmed they carry this odd variety, and a short drive and seven dollars later, I had a cannister of the stuff in hand. I’m not sure why anyone would want to drink tea that smells like burning tires, but it’ll sure make my ribs nice and smokey.
Stay tuned.
I eyed the recipe quickly in CI, but was concerned the smoking would smoke up my kitchen? What was your experience?
No smoke emerged from the oven, probably because the pan was tightly sealed with heavy-duty aluminum foil, but the odor permeated our apartment. While I have no problem with the smell of smokey ribs wafting through the air, my wife wasn’t too pleased.
Can you post the recipe?