Hanging ribs at a comp


 
Donna Fong

Donna Fong

TVWBB Super Fan
Much thanks to the folks at Virtual Weber Bullet forum who helped me work through hanging ribs on a WSM. I cooked with a friend in Hermiston this weekend and after a few months of practicing, I was happy with the ribs on both days. They only got a rib call one day but that's competition BBQ for you. You folks are the best!
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I wanted to prove to myself that a WSM could perform like a Gateway at a competition for ribs. I think I did that so I'm happy. I did not practice chicken so I did poorly. But that's okay.
If anyone has a novel chicken suggestion, I'm open to ideas. Obviously, I'm a little bored with traditional turn-ins. That ends up being more challenging and risky.
 
What about hanging chicken in a flat wire “basket”?
I know, how “Gyro Gearloose“ can one get?
Boy, attach some fan blades on a vertical axle and have a heat powered vertical rotisserie! I can really come up with some wild ideas, can’t I?
 
Donna Fong said:
I wanted to prove to myself that a WSM could perform like a Gateway at a competition for ribs. I think I did that so I'm happy. I did not practice chicken so I did poorly. But that's okay.
If anyone has a novel chicken suggestion, I'm open to ideas. Obviously, I'm a little bored with traditional turn-ins. That ends up being more challenging and risky.
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I wish Cool Grilling had continued with the chicken breast !
Their turn-in at Harry's 1st annual backyard cookoff in Temecula was excellent.
 
EricV. said:
How do you like the taste profile, hanging vs traditional WSM smoking?
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In the photo i see a drip pan under the ribs......which would make it more like traditional, but hanging instead of lay flat. It's all the juices dripping directly into the fire which would be more similar to the UDS style ? Of course having that catchpan be closer to the fire and hotter where the liquid burns off instead of accumulating changes it as well so.... There could be an.intermediate result too?

I tried hanging ribs without the catch pan under them and I wasn't crazy about the taste but my wife liked it so it may depend on the person. It wasn't as "clean" of a taste as I was used to for ribs. I also tried hanging a chicken and even after trussing it up it still fell apart and fell into my catch grate. I never bothered to try that again.

In any case congratulations in order and well done. Was the drip pan used in the competition,?
 
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To me it looks more like a heat shield of aluminum foil over half of the charcoal basket. The hanging ribs are then rotated over the direct and indirect heat. At least that’s been my experience. I prefer to lay them flat and rotate them this same way for competition cooks. I’m still using my team of WSM’s for other meats, but using my Gateway for ribs with the 1/2 foiled charcoal basket method. So far the results have been good.
 
James is spot on. I covered half of the charcoal basket with foil. I also put a lip so that anything dripping onto the foil will not pour into the charcoal, which was a problem I had. And I rotated between indirect and direct, like James said.

Is there a difference between laying them flat, or in a rib rack, or hung? I've only done these combinations:
1. flat & indirect
2. rib rack & indirect
3. hanging & direct/indirect

What I can say is that my crust is better with method 3. And it only takes 1.5hrs, whereas it normally takes me 2.5hrs with method 1 & 2. Some people say the meat is more tender with method 3. Is it? Maybe. It certainly isn't less tender. I think it is either the same or more tender but the gain in crust appearance and depth of a smoke ring, are also hallmarks. It is also more smokey. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

Martin, the photos you see above are from the competition.

Lastly, the method I use has a reduced chance of blow-out ribs, which as some of you know, has been an issue that I've been struggling with for some time.

The only thing I dislike is how much room it takes. I'm use to cooking all 4 meats in one smoker and you just can't do that when you hang. As a matter of fact, I had a difficult time cooking ribs and chicken in the same smoker with hanging. I tried putting a half moon grill over the indirect side but it doesn't fit very much chicken, plus there is the issue of the chicken being over a direct fire. You basically lose an entire smoker to ribs.
 
What criteria do you use to rotate? I guess what I'm asking is that if you rotate them they are each over either indirect or direct heat at different stages of their cooking so they're possibly not all the same. They' dont appear close enough together to be rotated together... Ie all direct or all indirect at the same time.

So at any given time how much juices are dripping into the fire coals? 1/3? Does this amount make a difference in taste?

After reading of the wonders of UDS hanging ribs dripping directly into the fire (that I didn't exactly agree with when I tried it), I'm a bit surprised to learn that people are only doing direct heat part of the time when they cook that way in competition.. and it sounds like this is a standard method of some sort.
 
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MartinB said:
What criteria do you use to rotate? I guess what I'm asking is that if you rotate them they are each over either indirect or direct heat at different stages of their cooking so they're possibly not all the same. They' dont appear close enough together to be rotated together... Ie all direct or all indirect at the same time.

So at any given time how much juices are dripping into the fire coals? 1/3? Does this amount make a difference in taste?

After reading of the wonders of UDS hanging ribs dripping directly into the fire (that I didn't exactly agree with when I tried it), I'm a bit surprised to learn that people are only doing direct heat part of the time when they cook that way in competition.. and it sounds like this is a standard method of some sort.
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Hi Martin,
I did rotate them together. About every 20min or so. Over direct, then over indirect. It's the best crust I've gotten for ribs so far. And if crust is important in brisket, boy, is it important in ribs.
I think when I do it this way, it is smokey enough for me but maybe not others. I wrap as usual afterwards.
 
I spin the grate (ribs flat) every 30 minutes over the open coals. We’ve tried both hanging and flat, and prefer flat. I run hot and fast at 300 degrees for 2 hours, and they all seem uniform after rotating. I then wrap and back on for about an hour. I finish them sauced in my “foil boats.” We has a 2nd place finish two weeks ago, and are now on our way up the Best of the Midwest BBQ Competition. Let’s hope the “spin to win” works!
 
James J said:
I spin the grate (ribs flat) every 30 minutes over the open coals. We’ve tried both hanging and flat, and prefer flat. I run hot and fast at 300 degrees for 2 hours, and they all seem uniform after rotating. I then wrap and back on for about an hour. I finish them sauced in my “foil boats.” We has a 2nd place finish two weeks ago, and are now on our way up the Best of the Midwest BBQ Competition. Let’s hope the “spin to win” works!
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Good luck.
After being late for dinner a few times I've kind of started cooking ribs about 300 as well.
I like laying flat because it's just easier to get to the ribs and handle them. And see them. They can be sauced while laying flat as well. Easy to probe with a thermometer and easy to do a bend test. In my humble opinion.... Everything else with ribs is a bit of a PITA. Of course I ain't trying to win a competition.
 
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