McDonald's McRib is the rarely available pork-and-barbecue-sauce sandwich with a cultlike following. My goal? Take everything we love about the McRib and turn it up to 11, by starting from scratch with a few high-quality ingredients and a lot of good technique.

This is not a simple weeknight recipe. This is a project. It's gonna take you a full Sunday to pull it off. You're going to be cooking indoors and out. You're probably going to dust off a few pieces of equipment from your closet. But I promise you, that Sunday will be a fun one, and your family is going to love you forever.