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Perhaps it's the closely guarded techniques, sauces and rubs that make rib enthusiasts, whether they're eating or cooking them, so devout. It could be the way smoke and heat transform tough slabs of bone and connective tissue into tender sweet magic. The fact that they're handheld, and supposed to be messy might also have something to do with it.

Miami by geography is a southern city, yet no one we know would say Miami is "in The South." Nonetheless there's no shortage of racks being smoked, cooked and slathered in sauce. Here are a few who do it best.