Small racks of Baby Backs

[Dave Kaneva]

I can't seem to find big racks of BB ribs in local stores, most seem to be around the 1lb mark.

I like my ribs pretty tender, moist, and rather easy to pull off the bone, and I HATE bark, lol. I always sauce em at the end. I am not adverse to foiling.

The problem Im having is I cant tell if Ive overcooked these suckers or not. Last time I cooked em nearly 2 hrs at 225, then 30 mins in foil, then another 45 mins out of foil.

They came out dry, the bark was crispy as hell (like I said, I dont like bark), and the meat was pure white and tough.


ANy Ideas? How should I cook these small racks so I have minimal bark and they are real tender and moist?

 

[Davo]

Ribs are very much a challenge at the best of times and it's possible that although they turned out a bit tough, it's possible that they are still undercooked. Now I've confused you...huh!!
The rib racks don't seem to have that much meat on them do they, so how in the hell can they take so much cooking!!

I bought 2 packs of babyback style pork ribs from the supermarket 2 weeks ago and there were 2 small racks in each pack, each rack was a different size in each pack, one larger & one smaller.
I stripped the membrane from each rack and then rubbed some white vinegar all over the ribs, this helps to make the rub stick and opens the pores of the meat.Added basic rub which I made a little too hot(oh well..lesson learnt) I set up a low heat fire on both sides in the Performer (I didn't bother with the Minion method this time)and some hickory chunks.
Using the bottom vents and a tray of water over one of the fires,I stablised the lid temp to average 250F, I cooked these ribs for 2.5 hours under smoke in the middle of the grill then I foiled them for an hour and unfoiled and cooked for a further 30 minutes with the final 15 minutes of that time basting with a sweet bbq sauce mix I made up from what I had available.
Now these ribs sounded to be about the size that you had and I had now cooked them longer and hotter than you did and I reached the nirvana of ribs that I never knew existed because I never pushed them that long before and many times prior to then,they came out tough because they didn't reach that pinnacle of time.
I also gave them a spray around every 30 minutes with some cider vinegar and apple juice just quickly on each side.

How do you tell when they are done...well I guess when you see that the bones are well and truly sticking out on one side and the meat has shrunk from the bone a bit, but i think that when you see this, pick up one end of the rack and bend it upwards and if you see it splitting away from the bone on the underside so easy, they are done and they are tender.

Buy some more of the same and push them to the limit and see what happens, maybe use a little eaxtra heat, say about 250F rather than 225, not much difference but over 3- 4 hours it will be.Foiling for an hour makes them steam up and soften a fair bit and then unfoiling and plaing them bare is supposed to firm them up after the self steaming.

Anyway, something like that...I'm not an expert by any means but I hope this helps.

Cheers

Davo

 

[Dave/G]

Test for tender with a probe between two bones. Leave in foil longer for less/softer bark.
BTW, where are you located? No warehouse type stores near you? I get my ribs at BJ's and haven't been disappointed yet. l lb, wow, must have come from a new born