Pastrami-Style Smoked Spare Ribs

Porkstrami ribs are a game-changing mashup of smoky BBQ ribs and the deep, spiced flavors of pastrami—brined, cured, and smoked to perfection.

What happens when you take the rich, peppery, and smoky flavors of pastrami and fuse them with juicy, fall-off-the-bone spare ribs? You get Porkstrami Ribs—an irresistible cross between BBQ and deli-style cured meats. This method involves curing the ribs with Prague Powder #1, a classic pastrami rub, and a slow smoke that infuses every bite with deep, meaty complexity.

If you love ribs and pastrami, this is the ultimate BBQ experiment you need to try. Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Prepping and Weighing the Ribs

Before you start curing, it’s important to measure everything precisely.

• Start with two racks of spare ribs and weigh them individually. This is crucial because the amount of curing salt (Prague Powder #1) must be accurately calculated to ensure both safety and flavor balance. If you don’t intend to trim the ribs then you can just weigh them when they are in the cryovac bag as the extra weight of the plastic won’t make a significant difference. 
• The curing ratio used in this recipe is 0.2% Prague Powder #1, 1.5% salt, and 1.5% sugar by weight. I keep the ratios lower than what would normally be used for pastrami to account for bone weight, which is approximately 30% of the weight of a rack of ribs. 
• Use a precision scale (not a typical kitchen scale) to measure the Prague Powder. This ensures you’re adding the correct amount—too little won’t cure properly and create the pink color we want, and too much can be unsafe.

Once everything is weighed and mixed together, it’s time to prep the ribs!

Step 2: Trimming & Applying the Cure

• Remove the silverskin on the back of the ribs. This helps the cure and seasoning penetrate better.
• Evenly coat both sides of the ribs with the curing mixture.
• Vacuum seal the ribs or place them in a sealed bag to cure in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours, flipping every 12 hours. 

Curing allows the salt and sugar to deeply penetrate the meat, giving it a rich, seasoned taste from the inside out. The Prague Powder will also interact with the myoglobin in the meat, turning it a classic pink color and giving it a cured meat flavor similar to pastrami.

Step 3: Soaking & Seasoning the Ribs

After curing, it’s time to remove excess salt:

Soak the ribs in cold water for at least an hour. This helps pull out excess salt and prevents the ribs from being overly salty. (In the video below, 10 minutes wasn’t enough—an hour is ideal.)

Pat the ribs dry with paper towels.

Apply pastrami-style seasoning—a mix of coarse black pepper, coriander, garlic powder, mustard seed, and a touch of smoked paprika, without any extra salt added because the ribs will be salty enough from the cure.

Step 4: Smoking the Ribs

Now it’s time to fire up the smoker.

• Set your smoker to 250°F using wood like hickory or oak for a balanced, smoky flavor.

• Place the ribs meat-side up on the grates and smoke for two to three hours. This allows a beautiful bark to form.

After 2-3 hours, the ribs should reach an internal temperature of 145-150°F.

Step 5: Wrapping and Holding

Now for the fun part. You could wrap your ribs in foil and take them all the way to probe tenderness (around 203 degrees internal). However, I find that I get much more consistent and juicier results using a long hold. 

When the ribs reach 150 degrees internal I remove them from the smoker, wrap them in foil with clarified butter/Ghee and then hold them at 150 f for at least 18 hours until lunch or dinner the next day. 

This may seem like an unneccesary step because it adds another day onto the cook but in my opinion it’s actually more convenient because I don’t have to spend hours taking the ribs all the way up to 200+ degrees and finishing them the same day. I just smoke them a few hours on Saturday then put them in my holding oven until lunch or dinner the next day. It saves time because the oven does the work for me!

If you don’t have a holding oven you can vac seal and sous vide the ribs or use your oven to hold them until the next day.

The next day, simply unwrap the ribs when you are ready to eat them, slice them and serve them. 

Final Thoughts & Tips

• Worried About Nitrites? While Prague Powder #1 is safe when used correctly, you can skip it if you prefer. The ribs won’t have the same cured flavor but will still taste great.

• Don’t Skip the Soak – If the ribs turn out too salty, they likely needed a longer soak.

• Experiment with Woods – Try cherry wood for a touch of sweetness or mesquite for a bolder smoke flavor.