- Soak the wood chips in cold water for at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, combine barbecue sauce, honey and mustard in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate sauce until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Set the ribs, meaty side up, in a single layer in a roasting pan. Sprinkle and rub the ribs with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Pour in the beer or apple juice. Cover the ribs and bake 2 hours, or until tender, and then remove from the oven.
- Drain water from wood chips and fold and seal inside tinfoil. Using a fork, poke holes in tinfoil to allow smoke to escape. If you have a smoker box, use instead of tinfoil.
- Heat your gas barbecue to medium-high. Set the wood chips directly above the flame on one side of the barbecue and close the lid. When the chips start to smoke, set the ribs, meaty side down, on the other side of the barbecue.
- Close the lid and turn the heat off underneath the ribs; leave the other side of the barbecue set to medium-high. Cook and smoke the ribs 10 minutes. Turn the ribs meaty side up, close the lid and cook 10 minutes more.
- Baste the ribs with barbecue sauce, let the sauce heat through a few minutes, and then serve.
Note: Wood chips are in bags at most hardware and department stores selling barbecues and related supplies.
Recipe Options: Instead of using store-bought barbecue sauce, make homemade barbecue sauce. To do so, place 1 cup water, 2 whole garlic cloves and a 1/2 lemon in a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and gently simmer 20 minutes. Mix in 1/4 cup tomato paste, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 cup ketchup, 2 Tbsp. cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp. dry mustard, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, 3 Tbsp. butter and salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste. Gently simmer the mixture until the sauce thickens, about 25-30 minutes. Remove the lemon and garlic cloves and the sauce is ready to use.