Spareribs, a new experience


 
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Cy Robinson

R.I.P 3/14/2017
My fat little buddy and I made our second journey into Smokeville today, this time in the daylight. A whole different thing when you can see what you are doing.

We smoked four slabs of pork spareribs to feed five people. A small overkill, but look at the leftovers. My Momma din't raise no dummy!

My sister and brother in law joined us for dinner and said the ribs were great. My brother in law has a salt tolerance problem and my sister has to watch several other things, like sugar. On this site I found a no salt rub and a no carb bbq sauce that uses Splenda instead of sugar, and good they were too!

The ribs were great but there were differences. One package (just over 12 lbs.) was enhanced and the other package (just over 10 lbs.) was not. I placed the enhanced ribs on the lower grate and the regular one on the top. The enhanced ones seemed to be done sooner that the regulars and carmelized to a rather dark color. However they tasted just fine. Is it normal for enhanced meat to cook quicker? The dome temp was 240* - 250* most of the time. I didn't have a meat thermo.

Used the MM to start but only put 18 lit coals on top of 1/2 a ring of Kinsford. It took over an hour to get up to 240* with all the vents wide open.

The end result tasted just great so it was worth it.

Almost forgot, also made a pound of "Pig Candy" which everybody approved of.

Thanks to the people of this forum, and especially you, Chris, for making it all possible.
 
Enhanced meats (read: brined) usually do cook faster than their non-enhanced counterparts.

Also, there is something to be said for using the Minon Method on large quantities of relatively short-cooking time meats. The "gets you cooking faster" theory is offset by the fact that a lot of cold meat-- over 22 lbs. in your case-- really sucks up what energy a relatively small amount of burning charcoal has to offer. On ribs, I say lighting that puppy up with two fully-lit Weber chimney-fulls of Kingsford is the way to go.
 
Thanks Doug,

While thinking about what I did at the start I came to the conclusion that I should have put more lit coals on top of the unlit. But never even thought about the 22+ lbs of cold meat in there. Looks like I've got more to learn than I thought.

If you are willing to keep teaching, I'm willing to keep learning. Thanks again! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
Pork butt when cooked to higher internal temps and the connective tissue is broken down has a sweetness to it that you don't get when cook to sliced texture. That's Pig Candy.
Of course Cy could have something else in mind.
Jim
 
There's also a "Pig Candy" that's uncooked bacon coated with dark brown sugar-- and sometimes also crushed pecans-- that's baked at 350* for 20 minutes. /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif
 
Thank you Jim. I have never heard of that definition. Doug has it right. Ford told me how to make "pig candy" with brown sugar and thick sliced bacon. (we met at the Royal) The difference is that he put it in the smoker at about 225* for about two hours. That is how I did mine. Used one pound thick sliced bacon and 11 ounces of dark brown sugar. Cut the bacon into quarters and seperated the slices and poured on the sugar and then just stirred everything together with my hands until all the slices are coated with sugar and pop the pan in the smoker for about 2 hours. Next time I will try the oven, unless the smoker is already going.
 
I also add some cayenne to the brown sugar before putting it on the bacon. You get this salty/sweet/smoky/spicy thing giong that is really tasty.
 
Tony, I thoroughly agree with you. However, my Bride of 47+ years is still of the firm belief that God never intended that anything hotter than a cornflake was to be consumed by mankind.

Next to my place at the table sits my everready bottle of ground cayenne which I enjoy on most things. (Except cornflakes) /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Hi All,

This is my first message here. Nice to meet ya!

8 racks of ribs seemes a bit adventurous for only the second time. Better luck next time.

I've had an ECB for a couple of years and just yesterday fired up my brand spankin new WSM. WOW what a difference! Nothing to do, or at least a whole lot less.

Did up 2 racks of fantastic babybacks. Put a dusting of a great mesquite mix on w/ some cumin, pepperm, garlic, salt and pepper and let it sit overnight in the ridge. MM fire w/2 chimneys burnin to begin with....about 3 fists of hickory and a full water pan. Did em for 3 hrs at 230 (polder sitting on the top grill) and then another 1.5 at 260 or so......They didn't seem quite done so I did another 45 mins then sauced one rack and sat back and drooled till they were done!

The wife and kid said they were the very best ribs that they had ever had! That's a BIG compliment around here as we eat a LOT of ribs since getting the ECB.

I was amazed that the water pan was still 1/2 full after almost 5 1/2 Hours!

I used commercial Lump however and find that it burns pretty fast and I did have to add more each hour and a half or so. Had the vents all the way open during the last hour and still had problems getting it over 260.

Now for the happy news.....I finally discovered tonight about putting the leftover ribs into a foil package slathered in sauce and let them warm on an indirect grill will REALLY enhance the flavor and tenderness for those second day feasts....

Has anyone here foiled ribs on the day they are smoked and used the foil to help sauce the ribs?

I think you guys have a new student here!

Thanks in advvance
Paul /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
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