Spares done much earlier than expected.

[Garrett Rowe]

When I bought my WSM I bought it mostly for ribs, although since I've had it I've tried a number of different BBQ meats. Anyhoo.. I usually get spares in the smallest size I can find, which around here is about 3.7# per rack untrimmed. I usually let them go for about 6-7 hours at a lid temp of 250*F. Well yesterday I bought a rack that was bigger than usual (4.6#) so I had planned on about a 7 hour cook time. Lit MM with Kingsford I was averaging about 265*F at the lid when I went to baste them at the 4.5 hour mark (about 15 degrees higher than normal for me). When I opened the lid, they were done! All the signs were there, the meat had shrunk down about 1/2 inch from the bone ends, they passed the tear test, they were done. So I pulled them off, let the cooker temp drop to about 220* sauced them and put them back for another 20 min. just to let some of the liquid evaporate from the sauce. The end product was excellent. Tender not chewey, juicy, good texture. I was pleased. But I am at a loss as to how they were done so soon. I know every rack is different, and my lid temps were higher than normal but not THAT much higher. Anyone else ever experienced this?

BTW no foil was used during any portion of the cook. Spares were trimmed KC style

Garrett

 

[Paul G.]

I do spares a lot and usually the really big ones from Sam's. I can't imagine them finishing in 4.5 hrs but obviously yours did. One thing to check would be your pit therm to see if you may have been cooking hotter than you thought. Maybe the spares had less fat to render and cooked faster than normal. No reason to think you had a temp spike during the cook ?

I guess it's just the mystery of BBQ.

Paul

 

[Doug D]

Were they from the same source? Perhaps the larger ones were enhanced. Any labeling like "Guaranteed Tender", or verbage about added solutions?

 

[Garrett Rowe]

I don't believe I had any knid of spike. The texture was like good smoked ribs, not the chewier roasted kind. However I was away from my the smoker for about an hour (hour 2 to hour 3) when I had to go to the bank. When I left the temp was reading 266*, when I got back it was down to 245*. There could have been some kind of spike then but I doubt it.

Doug, I don't believe the ribs were enhanced. I usually look for any "enhancements" right away but I don't remember looking at these too closely. They were from a different grocery store than I usually go to but were the same brand (Swift). Maybe I'll go back there tomorrow and look at the packaging again to be sure.

Like I said I usually try to keep my spares under 4# as a rule but these were about $.50 less a pound than what I usually pay so I figured no harm in trying them.

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Garrett....

How THICK were they in comparison to what you usually smoke? This is far more important than the overall weight. Logically it seems that a higher weight would be thicker, but maybe the dimensions(length and width) spread that weight out so it was actually thinner than the lighter rack.

If they were a little thinner and then you cooked them at a higher temp, that may be the difference.

 

[John L]

266 is pretty hot for ribs, still, rib size probably accounted for something. I don't think I've ever done spares in less than 5 hours, usually takes at least 6. Very odd.