First Cook - some final questions


 
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Tom Ferguson

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Ok, I got some BB ribs at Sam's Club last night. CryoVac 6.5 lbs, 3 racks. I got my Maverick via UPS today. Chimney should be here tomorrow. Ribs planned for Sunday.

Should I leave the ribs in CryoVac until I'm ready to apply the rub?

I'm going to try the BRITU recipe first time, although I have read too much and am wondering about foiling them at some point. Is this bad with the BRITU recipe? I know it says follow it closely for best results. I'd like the meat to come cleanly from the bone, but not "mushy" or fall apart.

The Maverick... how careful do I need to be with the probe wires going under the WSM lid? I'll only be using the one probe with the ribs to check the WSM temp. I have a backup thermometer for the top vent just in case.

Also, if I "roll" the racks instead of cutting them in half, how would I go about foiling that?

Anyway, wish me luck and I appreciate any answers anyone might have.
 
Yeah, I always leave cryo'd ribs in the pack until I'm ready to season. For BRITU, I don't think you should use foil at all. Typically, only spareribs are cooked with foil, not back ribs. Even then, some people consider foil a "crutch."

Also, I doubt that you will need to have the maverick in the ribs for the whole cook, just follow the recipe and check the meat for doneness after 4 hours. When the meat is clinging or falling off to the amount you like, then they are done. You can use the maverick as you are checking, as a way of double checking, but I wouldn't leave it in the whole time.

If you are only doing 3 racks, you should be able to lay them flat, 2 on the top, one on the bottom. No need to roll, and NEVER cut them in half. Unless you really wanted them all on one rack, then rolled is fine.
 
Hi, Tom!

Yes, leave them cryo'd until the night before.

If you are cooking all 3 slabs, I suggest you experiment a little(even if you are cooking just 2 of them)! Try one slab unwrapped for the entire cook, one slab foiled at the very end(in a holding pattern) and one slab foiled using the 3-2-1 method.

That should give you a pretty good indication of which technique is close. Once you find that, then you can hone in and perfect that technique to your own personal tastes. Just be sure to take good notes!

3 slabs can easily fit without needing to roll or cut in half. Set your 2 smallest slabs on the top grate and the other on the bottom(You'll need to swap places at the halfway point).

OR

you may be able to squeeze all 3 on the top.

OR

cut a few bones off of each slab and throw those on the bottom....cut just enough to fit the grate. Then you can place all 3 on top.

If you do decide to roll, it is really hard to foil. You will need to flatten them out and wrap tightly enough to keep them flat.

No idea on the Maverick. My Polder clones have been placed under the lid for over 6 years now and I have never lost one due to that.

Good luck and have some fun!
 
Just exercise reasonable care when replacing the lid, and you won't damage the wire. To avoid kinking it, run it under sort of "parallel" (technical term: tangentially) to the edge, rather than straight in (perpendicularly).
 
Tom
The Maverick may not be necessary for ribs. It's best use (but not only) is for long overnight cooks. This cook will take you 4-6 hours, presumably on Sunday for lunch or dinner. If you follow the recipe and read the tips here about checking ribs for doneness with a toothpick and/or meat separation from the bone, you should do just fine. I haven't used my Maverick for ribs yet, but I occasionally use my Taylor standard thermometer.

A note of encouragement: my worst ribs on the WSM were better than anything at a restaurant.

Peter
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will take Stogie's advice and experiment a little with different recipes. There are definitely 2 different camps here on the idea of foiling vs not foiling. I see posts raving about both ways. I guess the only real way to tell is to try both.

So I'll do the BRITU with two racks and foil the third after 3 hours.

Jason, just a little clarification though, you seemed pretty adamant about not cutting the ribs in half. I was wondering what your reasoning was?

Thanks again to all who replied. I'm really looking forward to this.
 
I guess with ribs (due to their lack of girth) it's not AS important. I just always heard that keeping a piece of meat whole was the best way to smoke it. I also tend to not enjoy the "end ribs" as much as ones that are in the middle of the rack, and the more pieces you cut them into, the more ends you get. I suppose this is a personal preference, however. I have had to cut a rack into 3 sections in order to fit it onto a 14" Smokey Joe once, and they turned out fine. So I guess it is acceptable to cut them in half. With the WSM though, there is more than enough room to lay them flat.

Other than that, whole racks look more impressive for presentation on a big platter.
 
Thanks for the reply, Jason.

The racks I got are all 3 too large to lay flat on the WSM. I was also concerned that if I did make them lie flat, the ends would be exposed to much higher heat near the edge of the grill.

Keep in mind, I haven't yet cooked a thing on the WSM so I have no clue what I'm talking about. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I'll take a shot at rolling 2 of them, and the third I'll cut in half because I want to foil one to test it out.

Thanks again.
 
Tom,

When I do ribs, mostly spares but every once in a while I'll do baby back, I remove them from the cryovac about 3 hours prior to cooking them.

1) I rinse them off in the sink with plenty of cold water.

2) I trim them up nice and spiffy.

3) I pat the ribs dry with paper towels and let them sit out, I use a couple of cooking grates, until they get tacky.

4) once tacky, I season them with my favorite rub (i prefer lower salt than most on my ribs) and wrap them with plastic wrap.

5) I put them into the Fridge for about 60-90 minutes.

Lastly, I remove from the ice box and place in the smoker. I like putting COLD MEAT into my smoker.

With baby back ribs, I would flip steps 4 and 5. I prefer, especially considering so many rubs are high salt, to lightly season them with the rub and put them straight on the cooker.

Actually, I cooked up some spare ribs last night... yum yum yummy... I used a New Mexician version of the sugarless Texas sprinkle with no "chili powder" and more chile powders. I also put about half the salt that is called for in the recipe.

Put em on last night at 10:30 pm and pulled them off at 5:15 am. Had a few for breakfast and some more for lunch.

Got 4 butts ready to go on the smoker when I get home from work tonight...

Enjoy your WSM,

SA

PS. no need to probe ribs and don't worry about the wires. I place them into the cooker on an angle just to be safe.
 
Tom,
Think you have enough advice on the ribs (FYI, just made some for the superbowl, cut mine in half to fit them on and they came out just fine)...so as for the Maverick. I'm sure since it's your first cook you're dying to play with your new toys! I don't think it'll be a problem using the Maverick for the duration of your cook. I do. True, be careful not to kink the wires or accidentally dip your probes into the water pan. I run my wires through one of the upper corners of the access door so they won't get kinked as much. Hope that helps!
 
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