Confused on Harry Soo Ribs


 
Brian M.

Brian M.

TVWBB Fan
Today I was going to make ribs with recipe of Harry Soo and I'm a little confused.

In his post on 275 ribs he writes "After two hours and when a crust has formed, remove from smoker and place meat side up on a sheet of aluminum foil". I read that at two hours and then foil.

In a lower paragraph he writes "If you're doing competitions, I wouldn't let the top ribs drip on the bottom ribs as that will mar the perfect bark finish you're striving for your bottom racks. Instead I would only load the bottom rack with meat (any kind) once bark forms on my top grate ribs (usually about 3 hours @ 275 degrees)

Anyone ever try these and can they add to confirmation of two or three hours before foiling?

This is the link

Thanks for the input.

Brian
 
Brian, I believe what Harry is saying is between 2 to 3 hours the bark will form. After the bark has formed, it is safe to foil your ribs. I am by no means a foil expert, that is just how I interpret his statements. I'm sure others with more experience in foiling will chime in.

Tommy
 
Hi Brian,

What's most important in Harry's statement is "and when crust has formed". Around 2 hours into the cook, check that the bark has set using your fingernail. If it's not fully set, check again in 15 or so minutes. Once it's set, then it's ok to foil.
Hope that helps.

Bob
 
Thanks Tommy and Bob. That makes me feel better and I just lit the fire after reading your posts..... Ribs Ahoy!

Brian
 
I did the Harry Soo method and have to say that they were fine and I didn't notice any difference from cooking them at 225.

I don't think I would leave them in the foil for 90 minutes because I thought they were a little over done. Learning as I go.
 
Brian,

As in fall-off-the-bone over done ? If you look at all of Harry's published works, his cooks are done in stages. At each stage, when you reach that stage's 'milepost', you do something and move to the next stage. Take the pre-foiling stage for instance. You cook until the bark has fully formed, then you foil. During the next stage, you are cooking to and looking for tenderness. When using the foiling method, it's very easy to miss 'that' point and cook to over-done. One item Harry makes note of in his published works, specifically in cooking brisket, is that when your cook is done, and the brisket is removed from the heat, you need to stop the cooking process else you will end up with it overdone. You stop the cooking process by venting the foiled brisket until the brisket's temperature is below the cooking temperature. It would be safe to say the same to be true of ribs, butts, etc...
 
Bob Bass said:
If you look at all of Harry's published works, his cooks are done in stages. At each stage, when you reach that stage's 'milepost', you do something and move to the next stage. Take the pre-foiling stage for instance. You cook until the bark has fully formed, then you foil. During the next stage, you are cooking to and looking for tenderness. When using the foiling method, it's very easy to miss 'that' point and cook to over-done. One item Harry makes note of in his published works, specifically in cooking brisket, is that when your cook is done, and the brisket is removed from the heat, you need to stop the cooking process else you will end up with it overdone. You stop the cooking process by venting the foiled brisket until the brisket's temperature is below the cooking temperature. It would be safe to say the same to be true of ribs, butts, etc...
Click to expand...

And the thing is, knowing how to properly hold meat is very important to Harry if he wants to win competitions. He cooks everything on one 18.5" wsm, so holding is a necessity. Even then, he doesn't consider it part of the cook.
 
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Agree 100% !

The point I was trying to make (if one is using Harry's methods) is that when in a particular stage of the cook, you look for it's milepost. As in, once foiled, do you cook for a specified time. No. Tenderness is the milepost, not time. You cook only to whatever tenderness you wish to achieve. And then, if your next goal is to maintain that exact tenderness, you must stop the cooking process.
 
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