Pork Spare Ribs


 
Jeff Langer

Jeff Langer

TVWBB Fan
Third smoke on the WSM today as spare ribs. Trimmed them up St. Louis style using Chris Allingham's video off of youtube. This is how I got them to look:

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Cooked them using the 2/1/1 method at low heat (225-250) with water in the pan. I sprayed (OK, my 11 year old son did) them with apple juice every hour and after four hours here is how they looked:

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The dinner plate:

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Overall the ribs turned out amazing. They had an excellent bark and a pretty good smoke ring for my first time smoking ribs. I do think they cooked a little long which I will not let happen again. I read about the 2/1/1 method and was trying to stick with that as much as I could.

Up next weekend is a Boston butt, with a big brisket on tap for Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to this site. I have learned so much just from reading your post and feel blessed to have found this site after my wife bought the WSM 22.5" for my birthday a few weeks ago!
 
Man those things look great! I actually have started getting requests for smoked pork products. That being said, I have 3 butts getting ready to go on tonight after I get off work around 3am. My wife got my 18.5 as an anniversary gift a while back....freakin love the thing!!
 
Jeff, good pull-back on the ribs, and congrats on the new cooker.

Only thing I'd suggest would be to focus on getting good smoke and cooking til tender instead of messing with foil. It's just not needed in a water smoker if you start off with good ribs like the IBP ribs Sam's sells, (or at least our's does.) While water in the pan won't save an inferior or overcooked piece of meat from coming out dry, it WILL slow down evaporation from the meat's surface and help keep the bark from getting dry and tough.

Good luck with it, and have fun learning how to quickly get and keep sweet smoke. I've had the classic 18.5" bullet for two years now and hope to get it a big brother some time next year.
 
They look great Jeff. Did you sauce them?
How great is it to butcher meat and have it come out looking like what you wanted
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I'm not a bean fan but I do like a chunky potato side.
I have 2 spare racks and a back rack in my cooler as I type. Used a modified No. 5 sauce. My wife made fried chicken as the side.
Now, I have to go eat...
 
Nice job, Jeff.

Dave's right: Focus on tenderness, not temp or time. A toothpick into the meat or a twist of the bone is a better (and definitive) gauge than time.

Anyhow, they looked great. Where did the trimmings (rib tips) go? They're what I call the "chef's prerogative" (i.e, treat I keep for myself!).
 
Thanks for the nice replies everyone! I had planned on saucing the ribs, but after they came off the WSM and I tasted them I did not think they needed anything else.

Monty: Thanks for the advice. I am slowly learning that there are many different ways to smoke on the WSM. Seems like everything you read contradicts the last thing you read. I keep a log so I do not make the same mistake twice which was recommended by someone on this message board. Prior to receiving the WSM I really did not have any hobbies... Now I do!

Thanks again for all the kind words, advice, and encouragement... It means a lot! Now, I need to figure out what I am going to smoke this weekend!!
 
Jeff i just did Spares for the first time and i used the 3/2/1 method as i was told that spares take longer to cook than baby backs. I did not use water in the pan. Cooked them at 225.

Yours look very good and tasty!
 
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