Baby Backs a little too smokey

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Well I thought I was on my way to my best rib cook. Family said too smokey. Cooked 3-2-1 with one hickory, one oak and two pecan. From the BRITU photo, I would guess I used 1/2 as much wood. The 6 hour cook averaged 220* maybe less.

Could it be my very slow ramp up to temp left the meat in the zone most 'suceptable' to smoke?
Would I be better off cooking at a higher temp?
 
Keep it low and slow and use less wood. Smoke taste is a preference. If you and or your family thought it was too smokey, then it was. Cut back to two lumps and make sure they're going well before you put on the meat. Also, oak and hickory (not sure about the pecan) are strong flavor woods. Try just two pieces of apple.
 
You might also want to think about changing the 3-2-1 ratio for baby backs. I did 8 racks at the NKC BBQ competition this last weekend, but they ended up being 2.5-1.5-.5 (2 and a half, 1 and a half, half hour), and only smoked that first 2 and a half hours. They turned out great - got our first ribbon for ribs - and were perfectly smoked, as far as my taste goes. I'd also lose the hickory and go with either oak, pecan, or a mix of the two, or maybe just straight apple. Just some thoughts. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
Hi Steve,
One thing I did way back when, was that I would add wood through the cook. When Q ing anything It is pretty much done accepting smoke to the meat at 140. When wood is added after that (as I did when I didn't know any better) it just makes it tate bitter. One other thing is the size of the wood chunk. I have seen some 3 inches cubed and some 5 inches cubed. 3x3x3= 27. 5x5x5=125
 
Thanks for your thoughts...I will lose the hickory and cut back on the total amount of wood.

Today I finished the last two ribs. It confirmed what I thought, that the ribs were not quite done-a real shock to me since they went 6 hours. You could not easily pull the bone and they were a little tough.

I am not complaining, just shows I have a lot to learn. Ribs are not as forgiving as butt.
 
Took the day off and did my second cook: spares. First cook was chicken. Like the author of this topic, I'm definitely discovering the learning curve on technique(s). The neighbor peeked on my ribs so I let him try a couple after taking them out and letting them rest ten minutes or so in foil. Dry and chewy. 1/2 hour later, still resting in foil, the meat was far, far better--moist and tender. I had to give him another rib with an explanation (my reputation and good name at stake, you know). He agreed the "fully rested" rib was far superior.
 
I've heard of resting meat like a steak, but do you let ribs rest? Is this only because the ribs were in foil or would resting improve a rib without the foil?
 
I believe that resting the ribs in foil probably had the effect of steaming them from their own moisture and, of course, actually cooking them some more. I doubt that resting without foil, as you would do with a steak, would have that much effect. With a steak, you're letting the juices redistribute from the surace of the meat. While there might be some of this effect, the ribs are a much thinner cut of meat, and probably not effected that much by simply resting.

Paul
 
Steve
Hickory and pecan are very good woods for pork.
I feel oak is better with beef. In this case the long period of time with a oak and hickory combo was the reason.
Cooks like Fast Eddie cook their ribs at 275?, more common would be pit temps under 250? at the lid, figure 4 hours for the cook.
Ribs are a lot of surface and little mass, you don't need to use as much rub or time to get the results you are looking for.
Dave
By wrapping the ribs and letting them rest they continued to cook. The point where you said you tried the ribs and they were dry and tough, it is because the connective tissue had not broken down. The connective tissue becomes part of the moisture in the finished meat. More time on the pit would have done the same thing.
Jim
 
Steve,
Definately experiment with different woods and the amounts. Hickory really needs to be cut unless you enjoy a very strong and pronounced smoke flavor. Try some cherry wood. While not as mild as apple, it certainly isn't as overpowering as hickory.
Also make certain your wood is seasoned (dried) for at least six months. Unseasoned wood tends to give off creosote - an extremely foul and unpleasant taste!
And lastly, do you burn your wood prior to placing the meat on the smoker? If not you might want to try putting the wood on the coals and letting them become completely engulfed in flames before assembling the WSM and putting your meat on. You won't see smoke billowing out the top vent, but trust me it's there and doing what it's supposed to do.
 
Jim, if I may pick your brain a bit you may want to dispell more of my newby misconceptions:

I did poke a toothpick through the meat midway between bones after waking up from an hour nap during my second ever WSM cook. Although the cooker temps hardly fluctuated at all in the barely seasoned cooker (compared to the first cook), half-awake I jumped into my pants like a fireman hoping I hadn't created pork jerky. This WSM is new stuff for me.

Well, fully awake now it was only four and 1/4 hours into my cook at estimated, fairly consistent, 250* grate temps (adjusted estimate from top vent thermometer).

I poked a toothpick through. Easy. Ribs must be done. The ribs were kind of dry on the outside despite two prior apple juice mists (newby thinking).

Ribs overdone? Oh the horror!!! (I did take the day off, after all--but not to make jerky!!!).

The ribs seemed tender to this unexperienced newby's toothpick, but perhaps tender just in the middle, between the outer surface barks??

The info here says spares take significantly longer than my 4 1/4 hours at 250* that I cooked at and I'm fully aware of the time-reducing foiling info. Still, the toothpick went through so easy when I took the ribs out and put them in foil. But they were dry and chewy.

Perhaps in the future maybe I need to try to flake the outer bark with the toothpick to determine real done-ness, kind of like flaking a Kettle mesquite-grilled salmon filet to the core for its done-ness.

Anyway, I'm rambling again. My (apparent)misperception was that after a mere 4 1/4 hours in the WSM then resting in foil for 1/2 hour more the bark had resorbed moisture from the core meat during the rest, not that the whole thing needed more cooking time.

It appears I'm confusing resting time with enough time on the fire? It's a bit confusing for this newby.

In one of his articles somewhere Chris does speak of inadequately rested meat as "dry and chewy" and I thought inadequate rest was my major problem this time, not inadequate cook time and temp remedied by the foil at the end of the cook. Analysis, anyone?

Dave
 
Russ-you may have hit the nail on the head. I cut some oak for this cook and I do not know how 'old' it is. It came from a downed limb I assumed was 'old'. Maybe not-maybe that creosote thing was at work. Beware wood that you find in the wild may or may not be appropriately aged.

Jim-the finer points do separate the newbys like me from folks who KNOW what they are doing. That is what makes this fun.
 
Dave T
The toothpick test is a feel thing you will get use to. One of the reasons for the methods like 3,2,1 cooking spares is keep the outside of the ribs from being tough. The method is 3 hours with no foil, two hours in foil (does not allow the tough exterior) and one hour out side of the foil again.
Understand that anytime you place a piece of meat in foil at the end of the cook it will continue to cook so pulling it off before the finish temp is reached keeps it from over cooking.
Jim
 
Thanks, Jim. Will try foiling the spares next time and see what results. It keeps amazing me how much finesse is required to produce real Q. Here in Vegas we have the cooking school at the community college, financed by a grant from mega-mony casino grossero Steve Wynn. As you can imagine, before that all chefs here came from elsewhere. We also have a couple private cooking schools, one with the name of Cordon Bleu that I suppose is associated with the famous school in Paris. Every "Station" casino (that cater to locals) have a J&R, restaurant style smoker, but none of them do it anywhere near properly. Basically, they produce jerky. Maybe someday real Q will take it's deserved place among serious cuisine. It's way harder to produce than a good souffle, if you know what I'm getting at.

Dave
 
Dave,
Four and a quarter hours may work for baby back ribs, but it's definately not enough time for spares to be done. I take nearly five hours for baby backs and six and a half to nine hours for spares.
 
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