Spare Rib Tenderness without wrapping?
- Thread starter BruceS
- Start date
timothy
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Sure just cook them till they are tender. I go 250-275 and they take around 4 hrs, I spritz with FAJC every hour.
Here's a good way https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/spareribs-sugarless-texas-sprinkle/
Here's a good way https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/spareribs-sugarless-texas-sprinkle/
Jim C in Denver
TVWBB All-Star
Sure. With enough exposure to any type of heat source (microwave, oven, gas grill, kettle, WSM), the ribs will get tender.
The reasons to wrap are to cut down cooking time, add flavors (butter, honey, brown sugar, etc.), limit smoke exposure, keep the ribs from getting too dark or too barky.
To keep it simple, I hang my ribs over the coals at 275F and never wrap. Cooks fast and come out tender. Also come out dark, smokey, barky.
The reasons to wrap are to cut down cooking time, add flavors (butter, honey, brown sugar, etc.), limit smoke exposure, keep the ribs from getting too dark or too barky.
To keep it simple, I hang my ribs over the coals at 275F and never wrap. Cooks fast and come out tender. Also come out dark, smokey, barky.
Dustin Dorsey
TVWBB Hall of Fame
The problem with ribs is that people tend to try to cook by time. I've been cooking ribs unwrapped lately and they always take way longer than times I've been told. I cooked some babybacks at 225 the other day and they took almost 7 hours. You cook them long enough they will get tender. I can try to do the bend test and convince myself some ribs are done and they are nowhere near done or at least not to the tenderness that I'm looking for. Cooking hotter will get them done a lot faster. 250 to 275 is a good way to go. I still would try to probe them for tenderness. I've found using a thermoworks style probe to be pretty instructive because it's thin enough to get reliably between the bones. May last 2 racks of babybacks probed in the 190s.
Jim C in Denver
TVWBB All-Star
Dustin is right. The time can be almost anything.
My standard drill (hung, unwrapped, 275F) takes 3.5 to 4 hours.
But more like 7.5 hours if laid flat and cooked unwrapped at 225F. But you can cut a few hours off that if you wrap. Or cook at a higher temp.
And they all would get tender (which is just a cumulative BTU thing) eventually.
The different techniques aren't about tender. They are about delivering the other features (color, smoke, bark, added flavors) by the time the ribs are cooked tender. And how long the process will take.
My standard drill (hung, unwrapped, 275F) takes 3.5 to 4 hours.
But more like 7.5 hours if laid flat and cooked unwrapped at 225F. But you can cut a few hours off that if you wrap. Or cook at a higher temp.
And they all would get tender (which is just a cumulative BTU thing) eventually.
The different techniques aren't about tender. They are about delivering the other features (color, smoke, bark, added flavors) by the time the ribs are cooked tender. And how long the process will take.
Last edited: