Matt J. (Mattski)
New member
Hey all,
Quick question about smoking ribs. I've done several racks of ribs on my WSM, and they are far superior to ribs done with other methods in my opinion. However, as my own worst critic, I'm trying to nail down an issue that has bothered me this whole time.
I've used both spare and back ribs, with spare ribs giving me the best results. My method has been modified each time. First batch was a quick dry rub, 4.5 hours 250 degrees. Pretty good, but not amazing. Second batch, I soaked them in apple/lemon mix for 2 hours, and used sand instead of water as my heat sink. Same 4.5 hours at 250. This batch was completely smoked. I mean every single speck of meat was pink smoked meat. Incredible flavor, incredible tenderness and moistness. Third batch was done the same as the second but with back ribs. Better than the first batch, but not smoked completely and a touch dry in some places. It's also worth noting that on the first and second batch I used mesquite chunks (which I hear is normally too intense for pork).
So the first question - is the objective to get smoked, pink meat throughout the entire rib rack? That's been my objective, but only because the best batch by far was completely thoroughly smoked. If that's the objective, what made difference between my first and second? As Kevin and others have pointed out (and per experts like McGee), soaking meat in liquid doesn't achieve much other than some surface flavor. The outside temp was different with each one (winter/spring in ohio!), but the smoker read 250 for basically the whole time. I spiked at 350 for about 5 mins after adding more charcoal, but that couldn't have killed it since people on this forum actually do ribs at 350 the entire time.
If you guys have any thoughts, I'd welcome them. I'm just struggling with whether to equate 100% smoked with tender/moist.
Quick question about smoking ribs. I've done several racks of ribs on my WSM, and they are far superior to ribs done with other methods in my opinion. However, as my own worst critic, I'm trying to nail down an issue that has bothered me this whole time.
I've used both spare and back ribs, with spare ribs giving me the best results. My method has been modified each time. First batch was a quick dry rub, 4.5 hours 250 degrees. Pretty good, but not amazing. Second batch, I soaked them in apple/lemon mix for 2 hours, and used sand instead of water as my heat sink. Same 4.5 hours at 250. This batch was completely smoked. I mean every single speck of meat was pink smoked meat. Incredible flavor, incredible tenderness and moistness. Third batch was done the same as the second but with back ribs. Better than the first batch, but not smoked completely and a touch dry in some places. It's also worth noting that on the first and second batch I used mesquite chunks (which I hear is normally too intense for pork).
So the first question - is the objective to get smoked, pink meat throughout the entire rib rack? That's been my objective, but only because the best batch by far was completely thoroughly smoked. If that's the objective, what made difference between my first and second? As Kevin and others have pointed out (and per experts like McGee), soaking meat in liquid doesn't achieve much other than some surface flavor. The outside temp was different with each one (winter/spring in ohio!), but the smoker read 250 for basically the whole time. I spiked at 350 for about 5 mins after adding more charcoal, but that couldn't have killed it since people on this forum actually do ribs at 350 the entire time.
If you guys have any thoughts, I'd welcome them. I'm just struggling with whether to equate 100% smoked with tender/moist.
