Smoker Reviews

Perfect Kansas City Barbecue With Horizon Smokers

As a novice cook, watching food television shows can be daunting. Witnessing the pros effortlessly preparing and cooking beautiful, delicious food can make one feel less than adequate around the kitchen or barbecue grill. But with a little know-how and the right tools, anyone can learn to cook like the professionals. Kansas City barbecue ribs are a popular choice for outdoor parties of all kinds, and by choosing one of many Horizon smokers and following some simple instructions, you too can make perfectly smoked barbecue ribs.

The first thing you'll need is a 16" Classic Backyard Smoker from Horizon Smokers. This is a basic, easy-to-use smoker that has a 16 by 32 cooking chamber and a 16 by 16 firebox. You'll want your smoker to keep a temperature of about 225 degrees for approximately six hours. Make sure to have enough charcoal to keep this temperature, and also have wood chips or chunks available to add at the beginning and end of cooking to get a good smoke flavor to your ribs.

Next you'll need to prepare your ribs. They'll need a good rub, which you can make using chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, paprika, black pepper, salt, and cayenne powder. This will give you a good sweet rub with strong flavors. You'll also want to make a sauce to brush on at the end of cooking, which can be made with ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and the spices used to make the rub.

Cover the ribs with the rub and rub it into the meat, and then put the ribs on the smoker to smoke for three hours, then wrap the ribs with heavy duty tin foil to smoke for two hours, which will allow the ribs to cook in their own juices, and then uncover them again for the final hour of smoking. Keep the temperature as even as you can at 225 degrees, which will be easier since Horizon smokers have a double damper system that will help you regulate your temperature.

Once your ribs have reached an internal temperature of 170 degrees, which you'll know by using a meat thermometer, you'll be ready to apply the barbecue sauce and remove them from the heat. Mop the sauce liberally onto the ribs and promptly remove them from the smoker so that the sugar in the sauce doesn't burn. The ribs made on Horizon smokers will be moist, tender, and delicious, and you won't have worked too hard!