About a year ago I tried smoking some spare ribs on a ECB and the results was a disaster. The lack of heat control made the ribs dry and tough. After that incident, I decided to buy a WSM and hope that my results would be much better all the way around. Fast forward a year later. The WSM has been a joy to use. However, I have only done pork shoulders in it.
I wanted to try spares in it hoping not to have a repeat performance of the last outcome. I read many, many different posts on this site and I started to doubt myself with all of the trouble that folks were having with this cut of meat. No to mention that some use the word that shall not be named that starts with "F".
Today I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it, no matter what the results. I also read how popular the rub called "A Butt Rub For Jane" was so I wanted to try that as well.
I went to Sam's and bought a package of pork spare ribs. There were three ribs in the pack and the total weight was 15 pounds. I read that the number that you are looking for is "three and a half and down", well that wasn't going to happen.
When I returned home I prepped the ribs by removing the membrane and putting on the rub. I minioned the WSM with some Royal Oak lump and a couple of pieces of pecan wood. I also hooked up the Maverick for the grate temp.
I was minus a rib rack so I used an inverted V rack to hold the ribs. I loaded up the WSM and hoped for the best.
I had read quite a few posts on the 3-2-1 method as well as folks who had done just fine going with straight smoking. So I decided to take one of the racks and try it. At the three hour mark I wrapped one of the racks up and threw it back on the smoker.
At the end of the smoke, I managed to keep the temp around 240-245 during the smoke. Not sure if they were done, I tried the twist test, the pull test and the poke with a thermometer test. The last test seemed to work the best. The probe went through the meat with ease after 6 hours. I pulled the meat and let it rest about 20 minutes.
I asked the family which "version" they liked the best. Ironically, they couldn't tell the difference between the the one that was wrapped and the one that stayed on the grate unwrapped. As I had read, when it's cooked and tender with the probe, it's done.
I'm glad that it worked out and I look forward to trying this again. It's true that you don't need any help from foil if it's done low and slow. Thanks...
Spencer
I wanted to try spares in it hoping not to have a repeat performance of the last outcome. I read many, many different posts on this site and I started to doubt myself with all of the trouble that folks were having with this cut of meat. No to mention that some use the word that shall not be named that starts with "F".
Today I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it, no matter what the results. I also read how popular the rub called "A Butt Rub For Jane" was so I wanted to try that as well.
I went to Sam's and bought a package of pork spare ribs. There were three ribs in the pack and the total weight was 15 pounds. I read that the number that you are looking for is "three and a half and down", well that wasn't going to happen.
When I returned home I prepped the ribs by removing the membrane and putting on the rub. I minioned the WSM with some Royal Oak lump and a couple of pieces of pecan wood. I also hooked up the Maverick for the grate temp.
I was minus a rib rack so I used an inverted V rack to hold the ribs. I loaded up the WSM and hoped for the best.
I had read quite a few posts on the 3-2-1 method as well as folks who had done just fine going with straight smoking. So I decided to take one of the racks and try it. At the three hour mark I wrapped one of the racks up and threw it back on the smoker.
At the end of the smoke, I managed to keep the temp around 240-245 during the smoke. Not sure if they were done, I tried the twist test, the pull test and the poke with a thermometer test. The last test seemed to work the best. The probe went through the meat with ease after 6 hours. I pulled the meat and let it rest about 20 minutes.
I asked the family which "version" they liked the best. Ironically, they couldn't tell the difference between the the one that was wrapped and the one that stayed on the grate unwrapped. As I had read, when it's cooked and tender with the probe, it's done.
I'm glad that it worked out and I look forward to trying this again. It's true that you don't need any help from foil if it's done low and slow. Thanks...
Spencer
