Okay, so Saturday rolled around, and I got that familiar itch to fire up the smoker. Planned on doing a couple racks of ribs, low and slow, the usual weekend ritual. But man cannot live on ribs alone, right? Gotta have some solid side dishes to round things out. Plain old potato salad from the store just wasn’t gonna cut it this time.
I started thinking about what goes good with smoke. You want something that can either stand up to the richness or maybe even spend some time in the smoker itself. That’s the best part, getting that smoky flavor into everything.
Sorting Out the Sides
First thing that came to mind was beans. Smoked beans are always a crowd-pleaser, pretty hard to mess up. Grabbed a couple of big cans of pork and beans from the pantry – nothing fancy, just the regular stuff. Also pulled out some bacon I had leftover from breakfast.
Then I thought, need something cheesy. Mac and cheese is good, but how about smoked mac and cheese? I’ve done it before, sometimes it gets a little dry, sometimes it’s amazing. Decided to give it another shot. Pulled out the pasta, a block of sharp cheddar, some Monterey Jack, and cream cheese. Yeah, cream cheese – makes it super creamy.
Getting Things Ready
First, I got the beans going cause they can sit in the smoker longer. Got out a disposable foil pan – easy cleanup, that’s key. Diced up about half a pound of that bacon and fried it up until it was crispy. Left the bacon grease in the pan, tossed the cooked bacon bits in with the canned beans. Added a squirt of yellow mustard, a good pour of molasses, maybe half a cup of brown sugar, and a shake of my favorite BBQ rub. Stirred it all together right there in the foil pan. Simple.
Next, the mac and cheese. Boiled up a pound of elbow macaroni, but pulled it off the heat maybe 2 minutes early so it was still pretty firm. Drained it real good. While that was happening, I started shredding the cheese. Probably two cups of cheddar, one cup of Jack. Cubed up about half a block of cream cheese too.
Got another foil pan. Dumped the slightly undercooked macaroni in. Added the shredded cheeses, the cubed cream cheese, about two cups of milk, maybe half a cup of heavy cream, salt, pepper, a pinch of garlic powder. Stirred it all like crazy until it looked like a cheesy soup with macaroni floating in it. That’s kinda what you want; it’ll thicken up in the smoker.
Into the Smoker They Go
My ribs were already on and cruising along at about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Found some space on the racks. Put the pan of beans in the back corner where they could just hang out and soak up smoke. Put the mac and cheese pan towards the front where I could keep an eye on it.
Let the beans go for pretty much the rest of the rib cook, probably a good 3 hours. Stirred them once or twice when I remembered. They just bubble away and get thick and smoky. Perfect.
The mac and cheese needed maybe… an hour and a half? Two hours? I checked it after about an hour, gave it a good stir. It was starting to thicken up nicely. The last 20 minutes or so, I sprinkled some crushed up crackers mixed with melted butter on top. Just gives it a nice crust.
The Payoff
Pulled everything off around the same time. Ribs were looking great, beans were dark and sticky, mac and cheese was bubbly and golden brown on top. Let the mac and cheese sit for about 10 minutes before serving, helps it set up.
Dinner was awesome. The smoky beans were rich, sweet, and savory. The mac and cheese was super creamy this time, not dry at all, with that hint of smoke that just makes it better. Honestly, sometimes the sides are almost better than the main event. Having sides that spent time in the smoker just ties the whole meal together. Definitely worth the little bit of extra juggling.
