Hi, all,
I have a situation coming up early next week that I'm not quite sure how to handle. My dear grandmother Mickie (whose 84th birthday is today, BTW; 84 going on 50, I think) has asked me to do babyback ribs for her senior apartment complex's community dinner which is next Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 pm. Since I work during the day, I need to do the ribs on Monday night. I don't really want to fire up the trailer rig at that late hour of the day, so I'm going to do 8 or 10 slabs of BB's on the WSM Monday night. I'll start a small Minion-style fire as soon as I get in from work about 5:30, pull ribs about 11:00 or whenever they tell me that they're done, wrap in HD foil and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour, and then put them in the refrigerator overnight, to deliver to granny-dear early the next morning on my way to work along with a small assortment of sauces ranging from plain KC Masterpiece and Head Country Hot to my own raspberry-chipotle sauce. I'll then have her take the individually wrapped slabs out of the refrigerator about 3:30, and have her place them in a single layer in their cafeteria kitchen's oven at 300* at 4:15 with a few good sprays of apple juice/EVOO, leaving them in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes to heat. Then she'll unfoil a few slabs at a time to cut up and platter as she pleases.
QUESTION 1:
To get that many slabs on the WSM at once, I'm either going to have to roll 'em or rack 'em. If I roll them and IF (and I say that most hypothetically...) I decide that I want to foil them partway through the cook, how hard or damaging is it to flatten those rolled ribs out to wrap them in foil, be it for further cooking OR for resting and refrigeration?
Potential answer - I think I'd be better off racking than rolling if I'm concerned about presentation.
QUESTION 2:
Whether I rack 'em or roll 'em, IF (again, hypothetically...) I foil them part way through the cook to go back on the WSM for a while, would I be better served to place them in racks sideways for the foiled portion of the cook, or would they retain better juiciness by laying them down flat with bone-sides-down, and stacked in essentially the shape of tic-tac-toe boards on each WSM rack?
Potential answer - ought to lay them down flat or I'm going to lose juices, four to five on each WSM rack.
Have I answered myself correctly? I appreciate your opinions here. We've cooked for our friends in large groups many times before, but never for GRANNY'S friends, never for a group where I was not going to be present during serving, never where someone else was going to be doing the reheating, and DEFINITELY NEVER where... uh... tenderness was going to be such a big issue, if you follow me. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
Patiently awaiting the words of those more wise than I in the ways of smoke, I remain,
Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time, for Granny and the Gang
I have a situation coming up early next week that I'm not quite sure how to handle. My dear grandmother Mickie (whose 84th birthday is today, BTW; 84 going on 50, I think) has asked me to do babyback ribs for her senior apartment complex's community dinner which is next Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 pm. Since I work during the day, I need to do the ribs on Monday night. I don't really want to fire up the trailer rig at that late hour of the day, so I'm going to do 8 or 10 slabs of BB's on the WSM Monday night. I'll start a small Minion-style fire as soon as I get in from work about 5:30, pull ribs about 11:00 or whenever they tell me that they're done, wrap in HD foil and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour, and then put them in the refrigerator overnight, to deliver to granny-dear early the next morning on my way to work along with a small assortment of sauces ranging from plain KC Masterpiece and Head Country Hot to my own raspberry-chipotle sauce. I'll then have her take the individually wrapped slabs out of the refrigerator about 3:30, and have her place them in a single layer in their cafeteria kitchen's oven at 300* at 4:15 with a few good sprays of apple juice/EVOO, leaving them in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes to heat. Then she'll unfoil a few slabs at a time to cut up and platter as she pleases.
QUESTION 1:
To get that many slabs on the WSM at once, I'm either going to have to roll 'em or rack 'em. If I roll them and IF (and I say that most hypothetically...) I decide that I want to foil them partway through the cook, how hard or damaging is it to flatten those rolled ribs out to wrap them in foil, be it for further cooking OR for resting and refrigeration?
Potential answer - I think I'd be better off racking than rolling if I'm concerned about presentation.
QUESTION 2:
Whether I rack 'em or roll 'em, IF (again, hypothetically...) I foil them part way through the cook to go back on the WSM for a while, would I be better served to place them in racks sideways for the foiled portion of the cook, or would they retain better juiciness by laying them down flat with bone-sides-down, and stacked in essentially the shape of tic-tac-toe boards on each WSM rack?
Potential answer - ought to lay them down flat or I'm going to lose juices, four to five on each WSM rack.
Have I answered myself correctly? I appreciate your opinions here. We've cooked for our friends in large groups many times before, but never for GRANNY'S friends, never for a group where I was not going to be present during serving, never where someone else was going to be doing the reheating, and DEFINITELY NEVER where... uh... tenderness was going to be such a big issue, if you follow me. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
Patiently awaiting the words of those more wise than I in the ways of smoke, I remain,
Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time, for Granny and the Gang