Cut rib slabs in half to prevent ends from drying out?

[Darcy Poulin]

Hello. I was wondering if it was a good idea to cut the full slabs of ribs in half, and put them into a rib rack? The reason I ask is because the end pieces of the ribs tend to dry out on me, since they are outside the area of the waterpan. I could easily get two full racks of ribs on each grate using rib racks, with every piece within the area of the waterpan.

Thoughts?

 

[Craig C]

Hi Darcy, I just smoked 3 slabs yesterday and cut them in half with good results.

 

[Larry Wolfe]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Darcy Poulin:
Hello. I was wondering if it was a good idea to cut the full slabs of ribs in half, and put them into a rib rack? The reason I ask is because the end pieces of the ribs tend to dry out on me, since they are outside the area of the waterpan. I could easily get two full racks of ribs on each grate using rib racks, with every piece within the area of the waterpan.

Thoughts? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sure, it won't hurt a thing. It all depends on how many ribs you're cooking! Obviously if you need to cook alot, cutting in half will not suffice.

Here's some spares and loin backs, the spares are cut in half.


Spares

And the Loinbacks

 

[Frank S]

You can cut the slabs in half without ant negative effects. However many, including myself, simply roll them into a loose circle, runs a wooden skewer through the circle to help it hold the shape, then lay the slab on its side. Using this method also helps to increase the number of racks of ribs that you can get onto a grate. I can usually get 3-4 racks on each grate. A picture of what I am talking about can be found here: Rolled racks

 

[Darcy Poulin]

Fantastic. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

[Darcy Poulin]

Well, I rolled my ribs for the first time, and won the local labour day rib competition on Sunday. It's kinda funny, I tried a bunch of different things this time;

1.) Rolled ribs (never done that before)
2.) Cooked with lump instead of Kingsford (never done that before)
3.) Used the larger Brinkmann charcoal pan and replaced the stock Weber water pan (had a friend who came up from NC pick one up and bring it up when he came for the long weekend)
4.) Used a completely new glaze

I guess there really isn't a bad time to try new things. I'll try to attach a couple of pics of the event, and the rolled ribs. There were 12 entries in the rib competition.

 

[KenP]

I just slip some foil under the ends if I want big, full slabs on the platter.