Jon in SF
TVWBB Fan
After several slabs of foil wrapped smokey ribs over the last few months and not really being satisfied, I decided to try a slab of St Louis ribs unwrapped. I've done loin backs unwrapped before, but this was before I became a "serious" BBQer, and they never really were any good. But now I have a few proper tools at my disposal. I didn't take many pics cause I didn't realize that I wanted to till after a few hours in the WSM lol
This was 4 hours in did a probe test, not ready yet
After almost 6 hours, the probe went in like butter. I could've probably left it in longer to render more fat but the meat was almost falling off the bone on the thinner side and I didn't want that
They came out REALLY juicy and tender. Not much of a smoke ring but they had plenty of smokey flavor.
So, I think I'm going to be cooking ribs unwrapped from now on. Whenever I've wrapped them, they came out tender but seemed to be a bit dry. I've even experimented with the time I wrapped them from 2 hours to 45 minutes, and no matter what, they had a bit of a dry texture like being boiled. The unwrapped ribs were more fatty, but man they were juicy and pulled off the bone with a bite very nicely.
Oh, and this is why you shouldn't depend on the lid temp gauge. This one was off by 40 degrees!
This was 4 hours in did a probe test, not ready yet
After almost 6 hours, the probe went in like butter. I could've probably left it in longer to render more fat but the meat was almost falling off the bone on the thinner side and I didn't want that
They came out REALLY juicy and tender. Not much of a smoke ring but they had plenty of smokey flavor.
So, I think I'm going to be cooking ribs unwrapped from now on. Whenever I've wrapped them, they came out tender but seemed to be a bit dry. I've even experimented with the time I wrapped them from 2 hours to 45 minutes, and no matter what, they had a bit of a dry texture like being boiled. The unwrapped ribs were more fatty, but man they were juicy and pulled off the bone with a bite very nicely.
Oh, and this is why you shouldn't depend on the lid temp gauge. This one was off by 40 degrees!
