Ribs without water pan


 
Dave Penn

Dave Penn

TVWBB Fan
I did my traditional Mother's Day rib cook last Sunday. Used the Traeger rib rack to do 8 racks of BB's. I used my "express" method - start checking for done-ness at 2-1/2 hours @ 275 degrees over an empty foiled pan, and when they're just shy of done brush the meaty side with sauce and put them back on for another 15-20 minutes to set the sauce. No foil. I spritzed them every 20 minutes with apple juice, starting at 1-1/2 hours in. Everyone likes the not-quite-FOTB texture, including me, and they tasted terrific. Great smoke ring all the way down the racks. But I found that the 3-4 bones in the center of the rack were just a little less done than I wanted them, and thought about skipping the water pan altogether in order to get more even heat across the grate. I'm guessing some of you have tried that approach. How did it work? And did you adjust your times/temps?
 
I have not heard of anyone leaving the water plan out coletely, but I would guess that someone sometime has. It should definitely even out the cooking situation you mentioned. Remember that you will end up with a more direct heat that will alter your experience.
I have added foil shields under the exposed ends of the rib slabs to keep them from cooking as fast and therefore finishing at the same time as the centers.
Anyway give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Mike
 
I agree that foiling the ends will help your problem. Have not tried the no water pan method with ribs and not sure it will work well. Have you tried ribs indirect on your kettle? If I keep having success, it might become my go-to method............
 
UDS's are generally used without the use of pans, bowls, diffusers, or heat barriers. WSM's can be used in the same manner with juices dripping and sizzling directly onto the coals. You'll find you'll end up with a slightly different flavor from the vaporized drippings and from the somewhat direct heat. You'll also be using a lot less fuel. I'm sure some WSM owners have experimented with this.
 
First time i read about this Noe(Member) said he NEVER uses his pan...I was sceptic @ first. I leave it out on many cooks now. But my ribs i try to use it and havent tryed it without. But im sure Tom knows what he is talking about. So next time i will try it 4 sure!
 
Another option is to experiment using a perforated pizza pan in place of the bowl which will allow some direct, radiant heat to pass through.
 
In theory, I can see where it would work a lot like a Pit Barrel Cooker with the fat dripping onto the coals. But that is theory. I think you need some sort of defuser to break up the direct heat.
 
Thanks so much for the helpful responses, folks. I knew I could tap into the expertise here and get some good advice. I'm going to give it a go tomorrow with 4 racks of BBs. Nice thing with ribs, and especially BBs, is that they're pretty lean and unless you're cooking lots of them they don't give off enough drippings to douse the coals. At least from the quantity of what ended up on the foil on my pan last weekend.

I'll report back, hopefully with photos. I usually get so relaxed when I'm cooking that I don't think to fetch the camera out to the man-cave, but I'll try to remember tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Dave
 
Tom_M said:
After THIS EXPERIMENT last year it's the only way I do ribs now. I believe it eliminates the ends cooking differently/more than the center section.
Click to expand...

Those ribs look gorgeous, Tom, and I bet they tasted as good as they look. I agree with what you mention in one of your posts on that thread about rotating the grate. I'll rotate the whole barrel sometimes, particularly if I've got both grates cooking. I've even rotated the lid on cooks where I was tending the pit the whole time, but that's pretty OCD. :)

I may run the WSM a bit cooler than the 275 I usually do ribs at. I don't want them to get done before the guests show up.
 
Yeah, Dave I'd say 275 might be a bit too much heat without the pan, but maybe not. I try to keep it down around 230-250 because that's where I like to do most of my cooking. I like the idea pf rotating the grate, may not do anything but it makes me feel like I'm doing something!:D
 
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