Just made my best ribs so far, I brined them


 
R

Ross Hanig

New member
I just made the best ribs I've made so far, and I brined them. I used the same rub I always do (with salt) and the ribs came out awesome--not overly salty at all. The ribs were a little richer than usual, but in a good way and that just made the ribs go farther (most people had 2-3 ribs instead of 3-4). They were super juicy despite some temperature fluctuations, had a great bark, and a nice smoke ring. Here's what I did:

I brined the ribs overnight in the brine linked here (http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail.html?p=detail&rid=10683&sorig=qs) only I used 2/3 cup sea salt (Trader Joe's) and 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (a mix of light and dark) since I brined 3 full racks of spare ribs (not St. Louis cut). The next day, I dusted my rub on, wrapped the ribs in plastic wrap, and let them sit in the fridge until they went in the smoker. I used Andy's Rub from Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces. I smoked them at 275 degrees for about 2 hours with charcoal and a few chunks of applewood and hickory. Then I sauced them and wrapped them in foil and put them back on the smoker for about another hour until a toothpick went into the meat like it would a cupcake. For the sauce I used the recipe for a "Mustardy Barbecue Sauce" from The Complete Meat Cookbook. After taking them out of the foil, I brushed on one final layer of sauce and cooked it on to set for about 15 -20 minutes. I let the ribs rest for about 15 minutes.

I ended up with incredibly juicy, rich, delicious ribs. I'm now a convert to brining my ribs. I thought they might turn out way to salty, but they just turned out awesome.
 
Have you done them the same way in the past without the brine? Reason I ask is to understand whether it was the brine or the cooking method. The cooking method has me wondering. If I add it up, it looks like you cooked them less than 4 hours. That seems like a very short time for ribs - especially spare ribs. I'm wondering if the short cook time and the foil had a lot to do with how the ribs turned out.
 
I recently read that Famous Dave Ribs are marinaded. Your brine sounds like a similar technique. I've never done eithe but sounds like I should.
 
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Interesting. I know that brined meat cooks faster, at least when I do it on loins or whole chickens.
Did you take any pics?

Tim
 
I've cooked them the same way every time. Just this time with the brine. I might have foiled them for a little longer but it was around an hour. No pics sorry. Since I didn't trim them down to a St. Louis cut, they weren't the prettiest ribs ever, but they were tasty. I don't know if this is related, but I also wrapped my WSM with a fiberglass water heater blanket to help maintain the temperature. I don't know if there's a lot of wind on my patio, but otherwise my smoker goes through a ton of charcoal to maintain temp. I base my cooking method on Harry Soo's posts. I think his smoke and foil time adds up to about 3.5 hours so this isn't far off his time. Hope that helps.
 
I've been thinking for a while that one day I'd try brining some back ribs, but going by how few ribs your guests ate, sure you weren't just hungry? ;-)
 
Our last ribs were soaked overnight in apple juice with cinnamon and brown sugar. Took them out of the fridge, drained them, then hit them with some modified Magic Dust. Set up the WSM with the rotisserie ring and the rib-o-later. Full ring of KB with several hunks of apple wood embedded and 2 nice chunks on top of the lit. Kept re-dusting them and spritzing with apple juice about once per hour. Had the Guru set for 225. Took about 7 hours, but they finally hit 190 degrees. Pulled them, wrapped and rested them for 45 minutes.........perfection.......best ribs that I have ever had. Had some apple BBQ sauce that we made for dipping, but I didn't need it.

I have tried the foil method several times, but I never get the same quality and crust that I get by letting them cook over fire all of the time. The rib-o-later helps with keeping the temperature even on all slabs.

BTW, the worst ribs that I have ever cooked were great, so like so many other grilled or smoked foods, it is kind of hard to mess them up too bad.
 
My only concern is that it's hard to find ribs around here that aren't "enhanced." I don't think I'd feel good brining on top of that. Sounds awesome though!
 
First of all...welcome to the forum Ross....I like to see the Left Coast guys joining. The brine sounds very good, I will probably try it on some chops first.
 
I found the cook time very interesting as well. I just did 4 racks of baby backs in my 22.5" wsm and I've never seen them done any sooner than 4 hours at 275 degrees.. I foil with a 2-1-1 mehtod. I am surprised that 3 racks of full spares were done in less time (?). Any other folks ever brine thier ribs?
 
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