'Rolling' racks of ribs?


 
T

Tim (the grillaholic)

TVWBB Super Fan
I read in a post earlier, that an alternative to using rib racks is 'rolling' the racks up, an holding them together with a skewer(sp?). I was wondering;
1)How many have tried this, and what the resulys were.
2)If anyone has any pics of 'rolled' ribs on the WSM
Thanks guys, I got the green light to expand my grilling/smoking tool supply, and don't want to buy something I may not need.(rib racks)
 
Greetings from snowbound Jackson, Tennessee!!
Wishful thinking, I guess. Looks like I CAN get to work.
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I've rolled ribs, but I don't like doing it at all. It's messy, you might accidentally tear the rib trying to roll it up tight, they can come unrolled if you're not carefull, etc.

I got a Weber Rib Rack for Christmas, and I love it!
Worst case scenario, cut 'em in half and use the bottom rack
 
Tim -

I own a rib rack but I roll ribs when I am cooking a bunch. When I say ribs I am talking about St Louis cut spares. I roll them bone/membrane side out rather than meat side like is displayed on this site. This seems to give the roll a nice stable base. I roll the ribs so that the ends overlap. I then place 3 to 4 round toothpicks horizontally through the meat between each end bone. That is the meat between bones 1 and 2 and the meat between the last and next to last bones on the other end. I get a vertical strip of overlapping meat that the toothpicks line up in. This makes it easy to locate the toothpicks for removal once the ribs are done. I am sorry that I don't have any pics of this.


-Don
 
I use the skewer method for my spares quite a bit and haven't had any major issues...that being said you do need to be careful when removing the skewer from the ribs because they will tear easily

even if they do tear, big deal...they're going to get eaten anyways!
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I believe I have FIVE different rib racks, but I don't use any of them in my little wsm because of the way it cooks, as opposed to my kettle, uds, or offset.

Because the wsm is a small vertical cooker with the highest heat coming up around the outside of the grates, the smaller end of the slabs, especially, usually ends up getting overcooked. So yes, the better route for loinbacks and St. Louis ribs is to ROLL AND SKEWER
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Burnt ends are supposed to come from a brisket, right?
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Sorry, I don't post pics (yet) and don't even know where the wife put the camera, but I'll offer a tip for whole spares too, ok? Don't knock 'em until you've tried them like this. I think that if you use the wsm's temp disparity in your favor, you might be pleasantly surprised. Half the slab and flip the small end around so that it'll cook more evenly, and you'll probably notice that half of the slab getting done a little sooner, too...maybe a good bit sooner. That's ok. Just wrap in foil and keep hot until the heavy end gets done. A raised rack on top like the Big GReen Egg extender or an extra rack between the two wsm racks on soup cans will help in cooking a family pack of three large whole spares.
 
I just rolled a rack of baby backs using skewers. It was actually a coil with no parts of the ribs touching any other parts. Once I had the basic shape, I pushed through a skewer -- but that clearly wasn't going to hold. So I pushed through another with the skewers making an "X" through the ribs. That held up well even though I had to move the ribs from the bottom to the top rack midway (did several meats at the same time). (I'll post a pic if I can figure out how.)

Since the coil caused the heavier ribs to be on one side and I had to share space on the grate, I put the ribs with that heavy section closer to the outside. No other adjustments were needed (used basically the 3-2-1 method) and the ribs came out perfectly. Best I have done.

Rich
 
Tim, what i do is take the water pan out completely do not like the heat just coming up the sides, i do not use the lower rack, i lay the ribs flat on the top grate, if i need more room i take a 2nd top grate and flip in over the original top grate doubles the room. I do not see the benefit of the water pan unless using the lower grate.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Noe:
Tim, what i do is take the water pan out completely do not like the heat just coming up the sides, i do not use the lower rack, i lay the ribs flat on the top grate, if i need more room i take a 2nd top grate and flip in over the original top grate doubles the room. I do not see the benefit of the water pan unless using the lower grate. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Noe - do you see faster cook times with the pan removed?
 
r benash, i do not see faster cook times unless i do HH which i do most of the time unless i feel like drinking beer then low & slow, what u do notice is a lot less fuel usage and very even cooking, i can get 6 rib cooks going low & slow or 5 cooks going HH with a 20lb bag of blue k, and the real reason i do not use the pan is fat is flavor and the melting fat dripping on the coals is awesome does not get any better imo.
 
My very first comp I rolled my ribs. The event also had a Peoples Choice Spare Rib category, so I had to cook a lot of ribs. I took first in ribs and first in Peoples Choice. Rolling is okay by me!

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