Ribs - didn't go as planned


 
ChuckO

ChuckO

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I've been looking forward to my first long cook on the SmokeFire and Ribs seemed like a great choice being Independence Day Weekend and all. But....

Safeway had these on sale for $5 each. Extra meaty, what could be better?

uoclFII.jpg


All seasoned up and ready to go

OqMvhvS.jpg


Put them on a 10AM anticipating them to be ready anywhere between 3PM and 5PM. Had the SF set to 225

At 5PM not looking too done

5bkY9Oo.jpg


Put the probes in and cranked up the SF to 275

eNtBnOk.jpg


6PM and probes were saying 165 & 170, some spots were tender, most spots were tough

TWGwMV2.jpg


At this point, I admitted defeat and cranked the SF up to 350

TWGwMV2.jpg


Put the rest of the food on at 7PM and glazed the ribs, probes were 180 & 183

LaUAkYq.jpg


Pulled them once the glaze set, I figure after nearly 9 hours, you get what you get and you don't cry a bit

i2hgOzw.jpg

8xN2nWi.jpg


What we got were; some pieces done right, some pieces were pulled pork and some pieces were tough as leather. I took one for the team and had a leather piece. Tasted good, probably shouldn't complain too much, but I was expecting greatness, and that didn't happen. All I can figure is that I wasn't cooking at 225 as thought for the first 5-6 hours, I probably wasn't even at 200. I have plenty of ways to check the pit, I didn't so it was all my fault. Lazy sometimes comes back to bite you

I was glad I foiled the SF. The ribs made a huge mess on the foil, I'm glad all I had to do was yank it out and toss it away

sUjRdZg.jpg


This is how it looked after foil removed, that's pretty reasonable clean up considering they're ribs that were mopped and glazed

3tirbzy.jpg


After about 15 minutes, the SF was all cleaned up and ready for the next cook.

X6lnuj1.jpg


The SF Giants are playing Bob's SL Cards today, I better make some go Giants wings, because I'm sure Bob Correll will be making some Go Cards McBobs, and that's a tough act to follow
 
Baby backs can be a little finicky to cook and get the right texture. My preferred method is to smoke for a couple of hours 225 or 250, wrap tight for an hour or so, with some apple juice or beer in the wrapper and then unwrap over direct medium heat to baste on a little bbq sauce and char marks. The big risk with this method is foiling too long and having the ribs fall apart...
 
John K BBQ said:
Baby backs can be a little finicky to cook and get the right texture. My preferred method is to smoke for a couple of hours 225 or 250, wrap tight for an hour or so, with some apple juice or beer in the wrapper and then unwrap over direct medium heat to baste on a little bbq sauce and char marks. The big risk with this method is foiling too long and having the ribs fall apart...
Click to expand...
The first time I foiled I ended up with a lot of bones!
 
I saw your wing cook before I saw this one.
Glad you pulled this one off in the end, but glad your excellent Go Giants wings flopped, or is that flapped, at bringing your team a win.
I don't like buying Smithfield for 2 reasons, one is that it's now owned by a Chinese company.
Second is that at some stores it's about their only choice for pork.
However, Smithfield is all the store I was shopping had for baby backs when I was buying for the 4th, so that's what I cooked. They turned out pretty darn good.
 
They still look pretty darn good!
A couple of things....they took way to long to cook....baby backs should be done at ~ 5 hours.
Is the thermometer that you're using to monitor grill temps accurate? Maybe consider upping the temp to 250? Also, there's really no need to measure the meat temp....between the thinness of the meat,(and the variations of thickness of the meat), and the proximity of the bones, makes it tough to get an accurate reading.
after 5 hours, try the "bend" test. Pick 'em up by the middle with your tongs and bounce them a little bit...if the meat cracks when you do that, they're ready. You can also use a toothpick, skewer, whatever, to probe the meat. If they're they pull in and out easily then they're done. Just make sure to probe several spots.

Good Luck!!
 
Had a similar experience with a rack of Costco BBs yesterday on my camp chef. Ran it at 250-275 naked for two and a half hours foiled for one hour with apple juice and brown sugar. Unfoiled put the #5 on it for 25 minuets.
They were not edible, dry as a bone like eating balsa wood. Ended up throwing the whole rack out.
I know the temps were right the Smoke and the CC were showing within a few degrees of one another.
I've done St Louis cut spares on the CC with excellent results.
 
I'm back at work so I can't play as much now but my experience thus far is that my SF runs 25-30f cooler (if memory serves) than what its controller reports, at least when I run at our typical smoking temps. So when I want a given temp I adjust the controller until my Fireboard reads my preferred temp. I have not gone crazy and monitored various pit areas. When I run at higher temps the delta may not be that wide but I haven't really checked it yet.

So far this has not been an issue to me because even though it may not report a correct temp I'm able to rely on it being stable (so far).
 
I bought the same Smithfield Extra Meaty ribs a few years ago to smoke for Mother's day. Ran at my usual 250 temps, foiled at the same time and length and after 5 hours still not done. Took close to 7 hours. BB never take me more then 4 or 5 hours. Never bought the extra meaty ones again.
 
Could be my eyes, but from the pics one looks like a loin back rib and the other looks like a St Louis cut Sparerib.
Still looks great Chuck!
 
I think they look fine also I really think its the cook temps giving you a bad reading as you said you set it for 275 which I do also. I buy my ribs from Costco they carry the Swift Brand never been disappointed with them. I keep seeing some reference here to Baby Back Ribs there is a large difference between Back Ribs which you bought and Baby Backs I am sure you know the difference but I don't know of any chains that carry Baby Back Ribs which are much smaller and will cook faster. If they do they are already marinated which I would not buy.

When I do ribs its on my UDS 275 for about 2 hours and 20 minutes, after an hour I spray them with water and fake butter a Harry Soo trick every 15 minutes, then foil for 2 hours then I check them my house demands fall of the bone or darn close so if they are not that way I just close up the foil for another 15 minutes or so, I am always done under 5 hours.

There is a chain in ATL called Lidl, they do sell Baby Back Ribs just never tried them cause they are marinated with sauce but I think might give it a shot one time as they put them on sale every month or so.
 
Bob Correll said:
I thought the same thing, one looks too wide for loin backs.
Click to expand...
Must be the extra meaty thing they clearly say back ribs on the package but who knows. All the St Louis I have generally bought would need the bones or whatever on the edge trimmed at least, those things are big though.
 
I know the one was mislabeled, and with everything going on I can understand why.
I've done enough of both and so has Bob, so yea you can tell one from the other.
Full spares you cut off the rib tips and the flap meat to make the St Louis cut.
 
Tim, that probably means a whole run was mislabeled makes you wonder how many people actually noticed. I don't have the expertise that you guys have on the other hand pretty sure at Costco never run into that before.
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback / suggestions. I had no idea that Smithfield was owned by WH Group, as is Tyson and Hormel among others. Good to know, thanks Bob

Next time I do ribs in the SF (Labor Day weekend maybe) I'll be more diligent about knowing the pit temp, but for now I'm just going to blame it on china :)
 
Verify your SF temps with an independent thermometer. Don't believe what the grill tells you. In fact if I still had it, I would drill a hole and put a thermometer in the lid. When I checked temps on mine the grill was off by about 80° or more for a while, and had very wide temp swings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top