Cooking BB instead of spares - Help!


 
V

Vernon N

TVWBB Pro
The lovely bride just showed up with 20 lbs of BB instead of spares. (she is a farm girl, trained home economist, and SHOULD know better!)
SO, what are the differences in cooking? I usually do spares at 225 for a 5-1-<1 cook.
 
If they are meaty loinbacks, you only need to shave off a little time. Better yet... Plan the same amount of time, and use some of the foil time holding in a cooler if you are way ahead of schedule. IMHO... There is a lot larger margin of error with babybacks.

If they are trimmed babybacks without any meat above the bones... First, I'm very sorry....But, cut your time almost in half.

I bet you will end up being pretty happy with everything. The loinbacks have more flavor than most people expect with plenty of meat and fat. I'm sure you will knock 'em out. Have fun.
 
I did some spare St Louis syle and some loin back a few weeks ago at the same time ! I did the spares on the top and the loins on the bottom . There was about 45 minutes diffrence in cooking time . Spares took a tad longer but could of been pulled off at the same time and IMO no one but me would of really noticed it .

%That was most likely because the top grate with the spare was running about 20 degrees hotter than the bottom grate ! or maybe it was just the quality of the spares meat does vary a lot .

I don't foil and I have had them take as litte as 4 hrs 45 min to as long as 7 hrs low and slow with a average temp of 235 to 250 . I will say the WSM cooks more even than the smokers I used for yrs until I discovered the WSM .
 
Just go on like u do with spares,i never foil my BB and around the 5hour mark try the tear test and se if they are as tender as u like.

Normal cooking time for me with meaty loinback is around 6hours.

Bless
 
Hey Vernon,no worries! A lot of people like BBs because of that $#%& ! Chili's commercial. Just cook them a little less long than you would spares. About an hour less. No need to foil in my opinion,but if that's what you do,go for it! Let us know how everything turns out. PS-what part of Charlotte do you live in? I'm up here in Shuffletown.
 
Thanks Y'all.

The ribs have lots of meat on them, over 3lbs per rack. No need to feel sorry for me this time, Ernie.

I will cut an hour off the cooking time. Next bit of fun will be figuring out how to get 4 or 5 racks on the WSM. I have between now and noon.

Phil, I live not too far from Eastland.
 
Vernon,if you have the 22,5-6 slabs is not a problem. Just lay them flat. If you have the 18.5,roll them and secure with bamboo skewers. Half on bottom,half on top. I'd swap the ones on top halfway through with the ones on bottom though. Just to have even cooking time. Enjoy!
 
I rarely buy spares, the BB's in Cali are always very meaty and the meat is less fatty. 4-5 hrs @250 'till they pull apart easily. I don't foil any more. I think your wife did you a favor.
 
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