Portioning ribs before cooking = blasphemy?


 
C

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
Reading another post on rib racks, and having my own negative experience with one such device, I have to ask: is it crucial to keep racks of ribs whole while cooking? In the past, I've frequently cut them down to 2 or 3-bone portions near the end of the cook and then applied the sauce to bake it on, but is there any compelling reason to not portion them that way prior to cooking? It'd certainly make it easier to arrange them in the smoker, and would allow you to place them more appropriately (ie: the smaller/thinner sections could go on a cooler section of the grate to prevent overcooking). Obviously, you lose the presentation, but you're just going to cut them up for people to eat, anyway, so this doesn't seem like a problem.
 
I cut them into 1/2 rack sections all the time but I don't think I'd go as far as cutting them down to 2 bones
 
I ALWAYS cut my racks in half before cooking (and use rib racks). I have NO intention of cutting them down further to cook them. I always foil my ribs and having to handle so many smaller pieces wouldn't solve anything for me, but that's just me...

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Yea. I would agree. That would be a very short cook, prone to drying out easily if you don't watch them.
But nothing is gained unless you try it.:wsm:

Tim
 
All in how you cook them. Go check out BBQ pit boys recipe for mountain ribs. I tried it once. Not bad. You get color and bark on all sides of each rib. Kind of a pain but good.
 
Well, I wasn't going to go as far as individual ribs, but 1/3 racks (so, probably 2 or 3 bones each) since that's usually how I serve them. I've got 3 racks of spares thawing now, so I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow.
 
Try a Cadillac cut. That's where you cut on both-sides of one bone and remove it.

Tim
 
I have to cut them in half to get them on the mini, but I most of the time I can get the two halves flat so I don't use a rack.
 
I like their videos. Nothing wrong with experimentation and the BBQ Pit Boys are good at it. Personally, I have cut rib racks in half to fit onto the grill/smoker.
 
Okay, I just bought a rack of pork ribs...@ $2/lb., I'm thinking, yeah!, I'm going to try it, that is, cooking them (slicing into individual pieces) up on my 22.5" Weber Gold (Performer)...but I need some help from youse guys that have done low and slow on this grill...

I've never cooked low and slow on this or my other 22" Weber kettle, they've all been fast cooks (less than 20 minutes total time on the grill), so I'm wanting to pick your brains<LOL>

Here's what I need help with-

I'm thinking I want to keep this cook at about 225 degrees....we know the Weber thermometer on top of the lid is of no help, since even if it is reading correctly, I need to know the temp at the grill, so I'm thinking of hooking up my Maverick ET-732 thermometer using the pit probe, to measure temp at the grate. I'm asking as I don't know but will I be alright letting the wire portion of the probe, sandwiched between the lid and kettle? If I do, what hurdles am I going to run into? Will it kink the wire? Will placing it between the lid and the bottom portion of the kettle, create too much of an air gap, or no? Is there a better way to use this thermometer? If not, what/how should I measure temp at the cooking grate?

The plan is to do like the BBQ Pit Boys and spritz the meat every 30 minutes w/apple juice, maybe go 3 hours then sauce and run with the sauce for another hour

Should I start off with a 1/2 or a whole chimney of Kingsford? I will place the coal on one side and do the cook (place the ribs) on the other side, so as to achieve a two zone cook with indirect heat

So if I go with either or on the chimney of coal, about how much grate opening on top (the lid) should I shoot for?...is it like using the WSM and run the lid wide open and control the air flow with the bottom vents? If not, what are your suggestions for how much the bottom and top vents should run at, starting out? I suppose if I ran the Maverick on the grill, I could figure the vent openings out...

Those are all of the questions I have right now
 
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