Aaron Franklin is a Texas BBQ pitmaster and owner of Franklin BBQ in Austin, Texas. He's most known for his Texas-style brisket, fall off the bone ribs, and all-around delicious barbeque, and his BBQ restaurant was even named number one in Texas Monthly's Top 50 Best Barbecue Joints. People travel from all over to try Franklin's barbecue meats and his restaurant has sold out every day since it has been open. Lucky for us BBQ lovers, we just unearthed a video Aaron Franklin made back in 2013 with KLRU, showing the ins and outs of making pork spare ribs.
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Opened in 2009 on the side of an Austin, Texas interstate, Franklin Barbecue was the love-child of Aaron and Stacey Franklin after they fell in love with preparing backyard cookouts.
A la Julia Child, BBQ with Franklin, was produced by KLRU (Austin's PBS station) just a short time after Franklin Barbecue was moved to a brick-and-mortar location. Before the show aired Anthony Bourdain had already visited it for an episode of No Reservations. Aaron was well on his way up in the BBQ world and it's hard not to get enamored with his love of BBQ in the following episode:
How To Make BBQ Ribs According to Aaron Franklin
Getting a private class with Aaron Franklin is pretty unheard of, which makes this Youtube video so special! Franklin also hosts informative classes on BBQ over at Masterclass, diving deep into smoking pork, the basics of smoking brisket, and he even talks about his career as a pitmaster.
When it comes to barbeque, it's about technique. The ingredients for his rib dry rub are simple: Kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. He mixes all the dry ingredients together and pours them into a shaker. To make the rub stick, he slathers the rack of ribs with olive oil. Starting with the meat side up, he sprinkles on the dry rub.
Once the ribs are seasoned, Aaron places them in the smoker. You can use a pellet grill or whatever smoker you have. After 2 hours of cook time, he checks the ribs for a golden color. With the grill open, he spritzes the ribs with some apple cider vinegar or apple juice to moisten them. But it's not finished yet; in order to make these BBQ ribs, he adds a barbecue sauce.
If you want to make these taste like the real deal you get in Austin, grab a bottle of Franklin Barbecue Sauce off of Amazon. I bought a bottle when I was in the Austin airport to bring back to my husband and we were shocked and how tasty it was on ribs and pulled pork!
Franklin Barbecue Sauce
Once he sauces the ribs, he closes the smoker lid and lets them cook for about 15 minutes before transferring them to aluminum foil and covering them with more sauce. The ribs are wrapped tightly and placed back on the smoker for 2 hours and then rest on the cutting board for about 20 minutes before slicing. To serve, he suggests slicing in line with bones.
