Spareribs First Cook

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I am going to cook a 4 l/b sparerib tomorrow. I am going to trim it St. Louis style. Any suggestions?? Also going to cook a 2 l/b brisket, but I need to know how long to cook the spares. The brisket will only take 4 hours so I am wondering how long the spares will take. I am thinking 6 hours.....too long too short?? I have some leftover BRITU rub and was thinking about using that. Other than that have a great weekend. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
I cook ribs around 6 hours at 225 degrees. I've only cooked 1 brisket but it cooked about 12 hours and was very good. Some cook brisket longer than that, mine just happen to get done in 12 hours.

If you haven't checked out the "cooking" section here on the forum, give it a look! Lots of great info!

Good smokin' to ya!
 
Bryan

Almost all my rib cooks are spares because that's what we prefer. My guess is that for planning you should look at 7 hrs for the spares unless you use foil which I don't. Use a toothpick between the bones to test for tenderness - also. of course, the meat should have pulled back 1/4th in or so from the ends.

I'm even a less of an expert on brisket, but I recommend you look at Kevin Taylor's post on that subject. It is very complete and is from a real expert.

Good luck and enjoy your cook !

Paul
 
4 hours on even that small a brisket won't allow time for the connective tissue to break down. It needs to be cooked until it is tender and it could take 6 to 8 hours to do that. A flat that small will be hard to keep moist, smoke for a couple of hours then place in foil and cook until tender, this will speed up the process.
Spares normally take me 6 to 7 hours even using foil during a portion of the cook they take aprox 6 hours.
Jim
 
I wonder what would happen if you saved all the fat you cut off of whole intrimmed briskets and put it in the freezer, and then if you ever wanted to cook a small flat that didn't have a big fat cap, you laid (or tied with butcher's twine) all that fat on top of it. I've seen where folks (was it in here?) said you could put bacon strips on top, but why not just all that leftover fat from other briskets instead?
 
I cooked my first brisket on the WSM and it weighed only 2 lbs. It came out great, so I am sticking to the 2 hours per pound. I just checked the WSM after 4 hours for the ribs and 2 hours for the brisket. Every thing seems to be going ok so far. Added some water and a couple of additional pieces of mesquite for the charcoal. My only concern it is about 82 degrees and it is very sunny. I am only 2 hours from finishing up, so I guess I will post up once we eat. All previous cooks have been a success, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Have a great weekend.
 
Well one thing for sure. My wife and I DO NOT like spareribs. I am going to stick to baby backs and that's that. The brisket was OK, the first one I cooked was better, but I may have sliced it the wrong way?? I think the heat of the day may have been what did it, not sure. Oh well I guess you have to take the bad smokes with the good ones. Beer still tastes good though.
 
Dont give up so easy. It took me several times to make a good spare and like you I loved the baby backs. I now love them both. Find the method you like best. I have tried foiling, putting on BBQ sauce from the begining, higher temps, lower temps, you name it I tried it!! I have now figured out MY way for doing ribs that satisfies me. Keep on experimenting and you may find that you like spares better than babys, for one thing they have more flavor. BTW my ribs take anywhere from 7-10 hours.
 
Bryan,
Keep practicing, you'll get the hang of it in no time at all! One thing you really need to keep in mind - cook times are good as *rough* estimates only. Meat is done when it is done. For a beginner this is measures by the internal temperature of the meat. For 'ol pro's like Stogie they can figure this out by look and feel. I've had some butts finish in 12-15 hours and some smaller butts take over 20 hrs to finish cooking.

***IT'S DONE WHEN IT'S DONE***
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bryan Wadkins:
[qb] Well one thing for sure. My wife and I DO NOT like spareribs. I am going to stick to baby backs and that's that. The brisket was OK, the first one I cooked was better, but I may have sliced it the wrong way?? I think the heat of the day may have been what did it, not sure. Oh well I guess you have to take the bad smokes with the good ones. Beer still tastes good though. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I have had much more sucess with spares vs backs! Go figure? I guess I just haven't gotten the baby backs down yet. Spares come out more juicy and have more flavor for me. After removing the membrane, I use a teaspoon and scrape the fat deposits off before cooking.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bryan Wadkins:
[qb] Well one thing for sure. My wife and I DO NOT like spareribs. I am going to stick to baby backs and that's that.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I think you have just not yet cooked spares to the best of your ability. Although you don't state exactly how long, and at what grate temp you cooked them, I have a feeling that better pre-cook fat-trimming, coupled with sufficient time and temp to properly render remaining fat, will ultimately produce a satisfying result. Consider giving foil a try.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Susan Z:
[qb]Saccharum est gratum, sed liquor celeritor[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker? Pretty fast and loose with the Latin there, eh?
 
Thanks for the tips. I think like anything else in life it has it's ups and downs. I was still recovering from a cold and for the first time I was cooking on both grates. I had the spare ribs and the brisket on the top and the trimmed parts were on the bottom grate. This was also my longest cook to date. Looks like I am going to invest in a ET-73. But I will leave you with a little thought and if you make a buck send me a small percent. Invent a grate thermometer that will send a message to your pager or cell phone to let you know if the temperature is out of range. Now that is a thermometer I would pay a top dollar for anyday. Smile because you know it's funny!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
And they say Latin is a dead language!

I was torn between candy is dandy and "libido pro nobis" (lust is for us---borrowed from a bawdy spoof of "Gaudeamus Igitur")
 
A brisket tip.......The most important part of gauging time for brisket is THICKNESS...NOT weight. That is why you should always look for equal thickness when purchasing a brisket flat.

If it is thick it will take much longer...if thin it will cook much quicker. And Jim M. is correct..no matter how small, connective tissue takes time to breakdown....you simply can't ignore science.
 
I think Susan asked about putting leftover trimmed brisket fat on top of other leaner cuts to keep them moist.

At a BBQ demonstration that I saw by the KC Rib Doctor (Guy Simpson), he talked about how fat cut from the top of a brisket when fried in a skillet will mostly burn, it doesn't render nearly as much as the pork fat in a second skillet did. Pork fat generally renders pretty well, but beef fat doesn't, which is why it seems to be a pretty good idea to keep that fat cap on a brisket fairly trim while you can get away (or even prefer) not to trim most fat from a pork shoulder.

I think that's why more people bard their lean cuts of meat with bacon or pork fat (this is what fat nets are for, if you've ever seen "Iron Chef"). I've done it to game hens and venison tenderloins and the results were great. You could also lard (as opposed to bard) a piece by actually putting lard or slivers of pork fat into shallow holes pierced into the meat, but I've never done that personally.
 
I believe there is such a device known as a larding needle. Although I haven't ran across one lately, but I haven't really looked for one.

Essentially its a long hollowed out shaft you somehow fill with pork fat or another type of animal fat and then stick it into a lean piece of meat and the inserted fat is left behind in the lean meat.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Invent a grate thermometer that will send a message to your pager or cell phone to let you know if the temperature is out of range. Now that is a thermometer I would pay a top dollar for anyday. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Try the BBQ Guru. It goes one better, it adjusts the temperature for you automatically and you don't even have to worry about being called or paged.
 
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