Applying Rub on SpareRibs the Night Before or Right before they go on the smoker?


 
M

Michael Spurling

TVWBB Member
Hey everyone,

I'm going to smoke a couple of St. Louis Style Spareribs tomorrow.

I was planning on using a yellow mustard slather on the ribs tonight, and then adding my rub to the ribs, covering them completely. Then I was going to wrap the ribs in Saran Wrap and let them sit in my fridge until I got them out tomorrow morning to smoke them.

The other option is to just prep/clean the ribs tonight, and add the rub tomorrow morning( with or without the mustard slather ) an hour or so before I put them on the smoker.

What's everyone's opinion on this? I know by adding the rub the night before, the rub seeps a bit into the meat, helping with the flavor.

Sometimes I like to take the meat I am smoking that day out of the frige early in the morning, and let it "warm" up to room temperature - and then add the rub right before it goes on the smoker.

Just cking to see what people like to do with spareribs - getting some more tips and opinions.

thanks all

Michael
 
Hey Mike,

I always rub my ribs about 2-3 hours prior to going on the smoker and about 75% of the time I use a mustard slather. I will let them sit out for about an hour prior to putting them on.

Rubbing the night before, IF your rub has a lot of salt can tend to give the ribs a "cured" taste, almost hammy flavor.
 
I have some St. Louis cut spares on the wsm right now. Clean/prepped/rubbed them when i started my chimney. The mustard wont really help you with any flavour and i can get all rub i need on without it.

When i started smoking i tryed it all,but now i just do it the easy way and cant say they are "worse"
icon_rolleyes.gif
then my former "Do-it-the-night-before" routine.

I put cold meat on a cold smoker and work from there.

I still mist with AJ in the summer. Now its to cold to be outside more then i need to
icon_smile.gif
 
IMO, there isn't enough meat on the ribs to benefit from the overnight application.
Depending on the rub, I do like to apply a bit of oil before I rub, just to help the spices dissolve and stick where I put them. I do this just as I start the fire.
 
And I salt the ribs (or any meat I'm smoking) then trot outside to set up the cooker for a Minion start. When I return I make the rub. During this time the salt has drawn moisture to the meat's surface so the rub sticks without issue. The meat gets brought to the cooker, the lit gets poured on, the cooker assembled, and the meat immediately loaded in.
 
Brisket and Butt are the only meats I rub overnight.

For Ribs, no more than 2 hours before going on.

I prep the ribs and apply rub. Then prep any sides and clean up. Then start the chimney and bring WSM up to temp. Then ribs go on.
 
I du as K. Kruger. If the meat is very thick, i like to salt the meat the day before, to get a more even salt- taste. I can't buy your type of ribs here, but the rib part of the ig is sold, complete with skin. I remove the skin and hot smoke the rest.

I make my own rubs usually, simply because there are no rubs to buy, and if I once in a while find one, there are tiny bags at very high prices.
I never mix salt in the rub.
 
Hey - thanks guys, great info and methods.

I think I am leaning on applying my rub 1-2 hours before I put them on my smoker ( for my spareribs )

Any more opinions are greatly welcomed.

Michael
 
I do mine a bit different than some others but it works for me, however there are a few "ifs" in it.

If I am trimming a whole rack of spare ribs into St. Louis ribs, I trim them the night before and the rub them down with mustard then a small amount of rub IF there is not much salt in the rub. Then the next day I bring them out of the fridge about an hour before i put them on the smoker and reapply the rub.

If I use baby backs or already trimmed spare ribs I spray them with Olive oil Pam spray and then put on my rub about an hour before putting them on the smoker.
 
I've done a few comps the people that seem to win NEBS events. Lay them out for an hour, rub'm and smoke them. I have done both, no salt is key to overnight rubbing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top