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Help with small, lean spares


 
K

Ken K.

New member
First time post and relative newbie to the bullet. Love the site and have been a lurker so far but now I need some help. I have about 10 total bullet cooks under my belt consisting of chicken, baby backs, spares, butts, and salmon. Everything has come out wonderfully so far except for the last two tries at spares.

We recently started buying our pork exclusively from a local butcher that only sells his own pigs from his family farm. They are smaller pigs and are the Yorkshire (supposedly leanest) breed. The cuts we get from them are much smaller and more lean than what you buy in the mega stores like Costco. This is nice when making bacon, sausages, brats, etc. but has proven to be an issue for me with smoking his ribs.

I did two recent cooks each with 2 racks of spares (trimming both St. Louis style and cooking tips and racks) and both were tough and dry. Each rack with the tips still on are usually about 2.25 - 2.5 lbs so the trimmed racks are probably around 1.75 lbs or smaller. The first time I did my usual mustard/rub combo straight to the cooker and basted about every hour with apple cider and took them off, cut them, and then sauced them. Total cook time 4.5 hours. After they were so dry and tough I decided to try foiling for round two. Round two I went with the same mustard/rub straight to the cooker for 1 hour, sprayed them with apple cider/cider vinegar mix, 30 mins back on cooker, then 30 mins in foil with apple cider/cider vinegar mix then an hour out of the foil and last 45 mins with sauce on them. Different method and 45 mins less cook time didn't make any difference. The ribs were still dry and very tough. The meat did come off the bones cleanly but was VERY chewy. For both cooks, grate temp was precisely held at 225.

The ribs looked dry after only an hour in the cooker on the 2nd time when I went to spray them. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but obviously I'm not doing much right! Maybe foil them longer and cook less? I don't know, I just need some help! I'm ready to try round 3 but not going to waste more money on bad ribs!
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i would say at a 225 grate temp they probably weren't done. i shoot for 250-270 lid temp when i do spares no matter what the size. cook until tender not for a specific time. my spares average 5-6 hours but sometime more, sometimes less. tough usually equals undercooked in my experience.
 
In this discussion, Ed Mitchell cooks his spares high heat, flipping often for about 15-20min per side. I'm wondering if the lean pig is Mitchell's secret here.

For what it's worth, it might make sense to give this method a try.
 
Don't know what temps you're cooking at but I cook ribs > 300? (325-375?) and I would suggest that here. When dealing with lean, thin cuts higher heat for a shorter time plus a foiling component usually works better.

Cook the ribs ~ 325? for 45-60 minutes, meat side up. Don't bother spraying. Foil each separately with 1/4 c juice of your choice into which 1 tablespoon of butter has been melted. Place the ribs in the foil meat side down.

Return the ribs to the cooker and cook at 325-350?. Cook till tender while still in the foil. Open one to check, maybe 20-25-30 minutes after foiling or so. Insert a probe between the ribs. If it goes in easily they're done, if not, reseal the foil and check 10 minutes later (or a bit sooner or a bit later depending on how they felt; if in doubt check sooner).

When tender, remove from the foil and return to the cooker for 5 minutes or so, tops, for the bark to firm. Skip the saucing - you can serve it on the side. If you wish, paint on a glaze (a glaze, not a sauce, though you can make a glaze based on your sauce), in a very thin veneer about a minute after removing the ribs from the foil, then again a minute before removing them from the cooker.

Welcome to the board.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tony C.:
i would say at a 225 grate temp they probably weren't done. i shoot for 250-270 lid temp when i do spares no matter what the size. cook until tender not for a specific time. my spares average 5-6 hours but sometime more, sometimes less. tough usually equals undercooked in my experience. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was thinking they weren't done as well initially but they were just so so dry that I really have to believe they were actually overcooked.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Paul Lai:
In this discussion, Ed Mitchell cooks his spares high heat, flipping often for about 15-20min per side. I'm wondering if the lean pig is Mitchell's secret here.

For what it's worth, it might make sense to give this method a try. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Interesting stuff, thanks for the link, I may just give it a shot. I could always do one rack on the WSM (from K Kruger's method below) and one on the performer with this method and see how it goes.
 
Good idea.

Grilling ribs can work well. Frequent flipping cools the top side while the bottom is exposed to higher heat. Cooking at higher heat in the WSM, my usual thing, disallows excessive moisture loss: by the time the ribs gey hot enough for this to be a concern they're going into foil.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Don't know what temps you're cooking at but I cook ribs > 300? (325-375?) and I would suggest that here. When dealing with lean, thin cuts higher heat for a shorter time plus a foiling component usually works better.

Cook the ribs ~ 325? for 45-60 minutes, meat side up. Don't bother spraying. Foil each separately with 1/4 c juice of your choice into which 1 tablespoon of butter has been melted. Place the ribs in the foil meat side down.

Return the ribs to the cooker and cook at 325-350?. Cook till tender while still in the foil. Open one to check, maybe 20-25-30 minutes after foiling or so. Insert a probe between the ribs. If it goes in easily they're done, if not, reseal the foil and check 10 minutes later (or a bit sooner or a bit later depending on how they felt; if in doubt check sooner).

When tender, remove from the foil and return to the cooker for 5 minutes or so, tops, for the bark to firm. Skip the saucing - you can serve it on the side. If you wish, paint on a glaze (a glaze, not a sauce, though you can make a glaze based on your sauce), in a very thin veneer about a minute after removing the ribs from the foil, then again a minute before removing them from the cooker.

Welcome to the board. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Couple of questions on this method:

1) I'm assuming to get these temps in a WSM you leave the water pan empty?

2) For the first part of cooking 45-60 mins at ~ 325 is that out of foil and directly on the grate?

3) Does this method allow enough smoke flavor to get into the meat?

Thanks for all the help and suggestions from everyone!
 
My spares were small, and lean. Once I figured out how to control the temp. on my 18.5 bullet, I maintained a temp between 225-250 for 4 hrs. I ran 2 apples, an 1 orange throught the blender with water, filled a 1/2 gallon jug with it, poured it in the water dish, and filled another 1/2 gal jug with water and added that to the bowl along with it. They turned out real good, but could of been better, for they were border line dry. 3.5 hrs, I feel would of been just right. They had a hint of citrus to the taste, but not over powering.

.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">1) I'm assuming to get these temps in a WSM you leave the water pan empty?2) For the first part of cooking 45-60 mins at ~ 325 is that out of foil and directly on the grate?3) Does this method allow enough smoke flavor to get into the meat? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
1. Yes. Empty but foiled. 2. Yes. 3. Yes, especially if you Minion the start. I do. I load the meat in cold when I dump the lit onto the unlit and wood (I use ~ 25 lit) and assemble the cooker. I let the temps rise, propping the door open 1/4-inch if necessary - the door flipped so the knob is at bottom - to my target temp. This allows for longer time in smoke - and you can certainly up the amount of smoke you use if you wish.

Terry - Flavor volatiles in fresh fruit are already so dispersed in the fruit - and much more so once added to the water - that little flavor, if any, will transfer to the meat. Easier to simply apply the flavors you wish directly, either by adding to the rub, the foil (if foiling), or to a glaze (if glazing) or sauce.
 
Awesome, thanks for all the suggestions and help! I will be going for round 3 very soon with the help. I will report back on this thread with my findings!
 
I just wanted to say that you guys were on to it with the high heat / foiling method. Had a chance to try out another rack tonight and I fired up a Minion start and did them 50 minutes from start and it was at 315 when I pulled them off to foil. Foiled for 25 with the butter & juice mix for 25 mins and then 5 mins to crisp at the end. The ribs were phenomenal. They had a great smoke to them, came off the bone clean as a whistle but still had some of that chew to them that I like. They were also tender at the same time and not dry at all.

Had a little trouble getting the WSM up to 325 (335 was the hottest it got) but the higher heat method still worked like a champ on these ribs.

Thanks for the help and suggestions and especially Kevin!
 
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