Spareribs and testing for doneness


 
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Hi all. I cooked up a 3.5 lb slab of spareribs this week-end (covered with the "Memphis" dry rub from Steve Raichlin's BBQ bible). I had the ribs on for 4 hours (Temp varied btw 235-250).

When I pulled the ribs out of the smoker they were were juicy with a nice smoke ring (used a combination of maple, oak and a few chips of hickory).

My question is this- are spare ribs supposed to be "falling-off the bone" when done or do are they usually more "resiliant." When I picked the slab off the smoker it was stiff.

As I said the meat was juicy and incredibly flavorful (smothered with KC BBQ sauce).

Would the meat have been more tender if it was cooked longer or did I pull it off at the right time?
 
Rollins,
I think you pulled them off way too soon. I usually cook spare ribs for about 5 1/2 to 6 hrs with a lid temp of 250 and a grate temp at about 235/240. A clue to help tell you when they are almost done is when the meat has shrunk to the point that about a 1/2 inch of the bone will be bare. In my honest opinion they shouldn't be "falling" off the bone, but tender enough to be able to twist the bones freely.
 
Rollin

I'm surprised, but happy for you, that the spares were not tough. Mine usually go about 7 hrs if I don't use foil. Yes, a longer cook would have made them more tender.

Falling off the bone is a personal preference. I don't like them that way, but many do. To achieve that you'll probably need to foil for some part of the cook. There are LOTS of post on that so do a search.

Good luck on your future cooks.

Paul
 
Thanks for the feed-back! Come to think of it, they were a little "Chewy" but they were still darn good!

I'll leave a little more time for cooking the next time I make these.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Paul G.:
[qb]Falling off the bone is a personal preference. I don't like them that way, but many do. To achieve that you'll probably need to foil for some part of the cook.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Cook at 225 for too long and they will literally fall apart when you try to lift them from the grate. I had this problem twice and I've never used foil. Too soft, I prefer some resilliency when I bite into the ribs.
 
I use the tear test, so far it has done me well. Simply wiggle two bones that are close and if it tears easy, its eatin time! Ribs are hard to judge, I have some pass the tear test that have not shrunk as much as others. Juicy is better I say! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
I have no clue how some of you guys are finishing slabs of spares in 6 hours w/o foil.

If I don't open the cooker, it take me right around 7 hours.

If I open it to baste, turn and that other stuff, it take almost 8 hours.

I like my ribs not "falling off the bone" but just needing some gentle urging to leave the bone clean.
 
I did 6, 1/2 slabs last weekend and went exactly 7 hrs. I did several quick sprays with AJ - lid off no more than 5 seconds each time. No foil. The ribs were tender and still had a fair amount of tug. I don't like them falling off the bone, but they probably could have taken another 1/2 hr on the cooker. I had country ribs on the top grate which I had started 2 hrs after the spares and it made it a little inconvenient to test the spares doneness like I usually do. At 6 hrs the spares would not have been tender.
 
Spyro, do you trim your spares down to KC cut? Thats what I do. I never baste, foil, or even open the cooker for 5.5 hours. I cook around 225-240. Sometimes mine take longer than 6 hours, but usually 6 is sufficient. Plus mine are not falling off the bone, but they are pretty tender.
 
Exactly. I did some St. Louis-trimmed ribs a few weeks ago on a barrel smoker (the WSM was stuffed with butts and briskets already) and they took about five hours.

The 'tear test' is the best I've tried for determining the done-ness of ribs.
 
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