best way to get fall off the bone spare ribs & smoking store bought hotlinks


 
S

SMalki

TVWBB Member
I just bought 2 chickens and 3 racks of st louis style spare ribs im planning on cooking on saturday. Whats the best way to get super smokey flavor on the ribs without drying them out, and having them fall off the bone? Is the secret wrapping your ribs? Ive never done thay but im thinking now that it is. Usually the ribs from my wsm are reaaallly good, just a little dry, when i do them in the oven they seem to fall off the bone better and are more moist. Is that because im drying my ribs out by not wrapping them? Im still somewhat new to smoking even though ive had my smoker for almost 2 years. Ive only done maybe around 10-20 cooks on it.

2nd question, im thinking of buying hotlinks and smoking them on the wsm. I normally just grill them on my bbq grill. Does smoking store bought (pre smoked / fully cooked) hotlinks work? Or does it defeat the purpose?

Last, how do i make hotlinks because thats one of my favorite things to eat when i go to bbq joints. Hotlinks cut up and smothered in sauce or in a sandwich like at dickeys bbq pit.

Thanks for any help
 
Hey fellow Bay Area'r

In regards to fall off the bone ribs, wrapping them does create a "braise" and braise does do fall off the bone. There is a method called 3-2-1, and basically you cook your ribs for 3 hours unwrapped, then 2 hours wrapped in foil, and then the last hour unwrapped. This is best when you cook at 250 or below. Now mind you, you can get fall off the bone ribs and not wrap them. This is typically done at 200 degrees max, and can take quite a while.

I'll let others answer your hot links question, gotta get back to the game. Go Giants
 
ChuckO said:
Hey fellow Bay Area'r

In regards to fall off the bone ribs, wrapping them does create a "braise" and braise does do fall off the bone. There is a method called 3-2-1, and basically you cook your ribs for 3 hours unwrapped, then 2 hours wrapped in foil, and then the last hour unwrapped. This is best when you cook at 250 or below. Now mind you, you can get fall off the bone ribs and not wrap them. This is typically done at 200 degrees max, and can take quite a while.

I'll let others answer your hot links question, gotta get back to the game. Go Giants
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thanks for the answer I will try the 3/2/1 method this weekend. I have made a really nice rub that isnt too sweet, based on the sugarless texas rub from this site http://virtualweberbullet.com/rib2.htm I did, however mix in a store bought seasoning with this (I felt this rub was too strong with cumin and chili powder) and the store bought seasoning used some brown sugar. Seemed like it balanced out the smell from the cumin / chili powder. I am saying that because I am not sure if i want to go too sweet on the ribs, the recipie calls for basting with apple juice, Im not sure how that would taste, and a lot of times when I see people wrap their ribs they add things like brown sugar / apple juice / honey or butter. Not sure if I would like it. I do like the flavor of brown sugar though. Do you think I should do something like this, or just wrap them plain?

Thanks for any answers you may have. Thanks
 
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If you foil you can either put the ribs in dry or wet. We like sweet so I use the honey and brown sugar with 1/4 C apple juice (warmed to about 150F). At the end of the smoke (I go to 198-200 for my ribs before taking them out of the foil) pour the juices into a pot and add a little rub and BBQ sauce to it. Bring to a boil and use as a baste during the last 1 hour (I do it for 1/2 hour).
 
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I use ti smoke Hot Links all the time. Just put in the smoker with something and have a little snack in a couple of hours. Always thought they turned out hotter when smoked.
 
If I may ask on this thread, do most aim for fall-off-the-bone ribs as opposed to a little bite?
 
BFletcher said:
If I may ask on this thread, do most aim for fall-off-the-bone ribs as opposed to a little bite?
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I think you may find the older you are the less bite you want. With that said, if the bone actually pulls out while trying to lift a rib it's still good even though it takes you back to when your popsicle fell off its stick.
 
Bob Correll said:
I'll go out on a limb and say the majority of us here like some bite.
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Totally. I like my ribs to be crusty. When you bite them, they should pull from the bone clean, but there should be some bite to them. Crusty ribs look almost burnt, at least mine do :)
 
BFletcher said:
If I may ask on this thread, do most aim for fall-off-the-bone ribs as opposed to a little bite?
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On one judging occasion, while picking up a pork rib from a team's turn-in box to put on my judging plate, the meat just fell off. That team received a Below Average score from me.

Rib meat that falls off the bone is generally found to be overcooked to the point of being mushy.

Personally, I love pork ribs with the texture attributes as found in the KCBS guidelines (audio file). Even at home, after taking a bite I quickly glance at the rib bone. :)
 
Bob Correll said:
I'll go out on a limb and say the majority of us here like some bite.
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Make that two of us. You can get fall of the bone ribs with or without foiling. I know because the first time I tried ribs, they were fall off the bone and I did not foil. I now monitor more closely as they get near the finish line. I look for rib meat pulling slightly away at the ends and a flex in the middle. I go by feel rather than temperature or looks..
 
You can definitely smoke store bought sausage. I usually prefer to do it with uncooked sausage, but there is no reason you can warm up cooked sausages on the smoker. It's only going to enhance the flavor. "Fall off the bone" is just one of those phrases that sticks around and won't die. I'd say most around here prefer some bite. Certainly competition ribs have their own standard. However, it's your ribs, and your cooker. If you want them that way, wrapping is definitely the way to go. My wife prefers baby backs, super tender like that, so I cook them that way from time to time. I much prefer spares.
 
Thanks everybody for the answers. Didn't expect this many replies (read all the replies). Sorry for saying "Fall off the bone" I don't mean that literally, just more along the lines of of fall off the bone vs the somewhat dry ribs i have made on my last few cooks. In the oven I will bake ribs for maybe 4 hours at 225-275 (forgot exact temp) in a pan covered in foil. Then I will grill them over the bbq grill for about 5-10 minutes to give them some smoke and sauce them. When I do it this way, they are more tender, but the flavor isn't anything close to smoking. I am trying to get the best of both worlds.

I will try wrapping my ribs today, I don't have any apple juice but I do have honey and I might have brown sugar (have to check). On the other hand I might just smoke the ribs and not wrap them lol. Or maybe I will wrap some of them, idk. This is my first smoke of the year. Its been a really rainy winter havent been able to make any smoked bbq only grilled. Thanks everybody
 
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I didn't mean any offense; I was genuinely interested in learning if most of the experienced rib eaters here prefer bite, or no bite. I once made ribs in an Instant Pot--kept them in too long--yet my wife and mother-in-law preferred them that way, lol. I thought I was eating baby food. When I was a kid my mom made spares with sauerkraut pretty much the same way, which to me would be more tolerable than eating them from the bone in that condition.
 
So you want tender moist ribs not mushy fall off the bone ones? Cool. It takes practice, and foiling helps at the beginning but once you get the hang of it and cook till tender you'll nail it. Try the bend or toothpick test.

Tim
 
BFletcher said:
I didn't mean any offense; I was genuinely interested in learning if most of the experienced rib eaters here prefer bite, or no bite. I once made ribs in an Instant Pot--kept them in too long--yet my wife and mother-in-law preferred them that way, lol. I thought I was eating baby food. When I was a kid my mom made spares with sauerkraut pretty much the same way, which to me would be more tolerable than eating them from the bone in that condition.
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No offense taken. Thanks for your reply.

timothy said:
So you want tender moist ribs not mushy fall off the bone ones? Cool. It takes practice, and foiling helps at the beginning but once you get the hang of it and cook till tender you'll nail it. Try the bend or toothpick test.

Tim
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Yes, thanks for your reply as well!

Today I did the bbq. Ribs Chicken and store bought pre cooked links. The biggest suprise was the links. WAY BETTER on the smoker. Juicy and the casing gets nice and crisp to where it cracks when you bite into it. Wow. I see no need to make links from scratch now. Evergood Hotlinks are so good already, smoking them makes them taste pretty much bbq joint quality. I smoke them a little extra too, they start cracking and dripping juice, and get a little extra crispy on the casing. They were great.

Chicken was great. I just cut in half and smoke half chickens. Then after smoking I might break it up into thigh / leg and breast / wing servings. Thigh and leg were very tender. Breast was about as good as I've ever cooked it. Not sure how to get it super juicy dripping like competition bbq chicken (that looks complicated I've seen a few videos on that) but its good enough for me, and tastes about on par with any bbq chicken I've had.

For the ribs I did the 3-2-1 method. But i did not individually wrap the ribs. I ended up getting some apple juice, so I used apple juice, brown sugar and honey and said, might as well see how it goes. I tried to individually wrap the ribs but the juice ended up leaking out of the first rack package, before I could even get it to the smoker. I don't think my reynolds wrap is heavy duty or large enough, I need restaurant quality aluminum foil. Since I didn't have that, what I did was get a big metal pan and put all the ribs in there, slathered on the honey and sprinkled brown sugar on each. Then poured apple juice in the bottom. This seemed to work, and after 2 hours in there, it definitely added some moisture as the ribs were looking dry after the first 3 hours.

Then I put it on the smoker again for another hour (with a little more hickory, smoker seemed to have ran out). And waited an hour. Did the pull test but they still seemed a little tough so i waited another 20 minutes. They still seemed a little tough in 20 minutes but looked fully done so I took them off. They weren't fall off the bone, but they weren't dry. And they did come fully off the bone so I know I did them right. I was very happy with my ribs and couldn't stop eating them. I will now start doing the 3-2-1 method from now on. Definitely the best ribs I've ever made, but could have been a little better. I'm still learning.

I had some problems with the heat, when I first put the meat on I was running the smoker too hot for about 45 minutes. I couldn't get it down to 225 no matter what I did. Then when I finally did, I was able to stay at 225 for an hr before it just went to 250 and wouldn't let me go lower. So i settled for that but I would have preferred 225 the whole way. Then when I took the ribs off to wrap them and put the chicken back on, and the links on, I couldnt get it up past 200 without opening the door. So I would have to open the door, wait til it gets to temp. Close the door, wait til it starts going down, then open back up. Wasn't perfect but it worked. Next time I'll work on controlling my heat better I think If i would have stayed at 225 constant it would have been almost perfect ribs. I used a FULL bed of charcol which is why it was probably so hot to begin with, but it burned out fast which is why it was hard to keep temps up after a while. I also had a FULL water pan. I used about 7 chunks of hickory to start. 5 Regular size and 2 small ones. Then Added 2 more when I unwrapped the ribs. Smoke was perfect on this cook though.

this is a picture of the chicken at 3 hrs in, and just adding the hotlinks right then. Also ribs can be pictured wrapped up on bottom rack

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These were how my ribs came out (no sauce applied) pretty good. It got dark or I would have cut into them and given a picture of the inside.

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just for fun heres some chicken and veggies i grilled the other day on my weber go anywhere grill. I actually grilled veggies like this today to go with my smoked dinner

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Malki, everything looks really good, But darn that is a lot of hickory chunks to use at least for me...Wasn't it over powering on the chicken? Ever Good does make a good product and so does Alpine there the company that makes dog's - links and sausage for the SF GIANTS.
 
Everything looks good, and the ribs... Yes-sir!
Metal pans are your friend. Rib bones always find a way to poke thru foil even if your very careful.

Tim
 
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