Spares - foil?


 
P

Patrick Balint

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Cooking 3 racks of spares tomorrow (untrimmed, not St. Louis). I've not foiled ribs before, but I'm thinking about trying it on a couple of the racks to see how I like it. One one rack, I'm going to try the brown sugar/honey/margarine style. What should I do with the other foiled rack; anything? Or do you just wrap them and call it good? And approximately when do you foil, and for how long? Thanks
 
why foil at all
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3 racks at 225 to 275ºF for 4 1/2 to 6 hours, watch them toward the end...
no need to foil.
 
I use a mix similar to yours or I just put some apple cider in the foil. Try an apple cider and cream sherry mix, or squeeze margarine and apple cider.
I like the way foiling makes the ribs come out.

Bob
 
Several reasons people foil.

Preserves the desired color
Allow you to add another flavor profile layer
Shortens the cook
Tenderizes. From a clean bite to FOTB
Because people read it on the Internet or see on tv and think you have too
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Nothing wrong with trying it to see if you like or how you can tweak to make your own. You will find one day you do them different on any cook jus to change stuff up. I'm due for a non sauced version soon
 
A lot depends on how hot you are cooking. When I foil, I use heavy duty and you need to use two sheets. This provides a little more insulation. I don't cook in competitions so I am not going for any "wow factor" in the ingredients that I add to the foil. I do like the ingredients that you are adding. If you are going for the Johnny Trigg style, I think that he also adds a little Tiger Sauce. I usually just go with apple juice or my favorite beer. A tablespoon or two is usually plenty. I cook with a dry water pan. On the WSM I cook at 275F. I will cook for two hours, foil for 30 min, and check. Usually that is enough time in the foil. I will then take them out of the foil and put them back on for another hour and begin checking every 30 min for doneness. You will have to decide if your prefer foiling or not. I find that it helps on the WSM. There is a lot of debate as to whether you need to use water in the water pan. Since I do not, the cooking environment is less humid. The WSM is not insulated and I believe this leads to more evaporation and that is why I think foiling helps. I have an CG Akorn cooker also. It is insulated and I find that foiling is not needed. I usually cook a little lower at 250F on it. You just have to play around and find what YOU like...that is what is all about. Good luck and Happy BBQing.
 
I prefer to foil now after not foiling for the first couple of years. I find the ribs much more tender as a result and my cook times are shortened a tad as well. I do more backs than spares and the family has always preferred the foiled results.
 
Originally posted by Patrick Balint:
Cooking 3 racks of spares tomorrow (untrimmed, not St. Louis). I've not foiled ribs before, but I'm thinking about trying it on a couple of the racks to see how I like it. One one rack, I'm going to try the brown sugar/honey/margarine style. What should I do with the other foiled rack; anything? Or do you just wrap them and call it good? And approximately when do you foil, and for how long? Thanks
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Try trimming a rack or two St. Louis style to see what you think. It'll speed up the cook some, but not too much, and yes, I'd try wrapping a rack with nothing in the foil but a couple TB of AJ. Being able to add flavor in the foil is not a big thing in my experience, at least just cooking in the backyard. Biggest thing about foiling is be sure to get the color how you want it BEFORE you foil, and not just cook by time. Also, while the biggest benefit to foiling is tenderness, drying out and mushiness is all too easy if you cook too long. I prefer to cook to tenderness in the foil with very little time back on the grate, and I've had much more consistent results like this. Less stuff added in the foil probably helps, as well, and maybe meat side up, too? Anyway, good luck with the ribs and have fun with it.
 
I've shifted from foil to butcher paper for brisket and ribs. Brisket I'm 100% sold on wrapping in bp, ribs I'm currently leaning more towards the bp wrap lately.

Next time I do multiple wraps I'll do both and compare.
 
Ended up doing each of the 3 racks differently. 1 rack on bottom grate of WSM was "normal"...no foil during the whole cook. Both racks on top grate were foiled after 2.5 hours, but in 1 I just did apple juice, and in the other I did the honey/margarine/brown sugar. I think they all turned out great, but there were differences. Of the 3 people who ate (myself included), 2 thought the honey/brown sugar were the best, 1 thought the "regular" was the best, and all 3 said the foiled/apple juice was the bottom of the 3...but there were no losers in this cook!

This picture has the foiled apple juice on top and the "regular" on the bottom:
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And this is the honey/brown sugar. I thought the color on this one was tremendous, and they were my personal favorite:
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Winners in my book. Nice looking ribss. Sounds like now you have three different styles you can cook based on what you are in the mood for.
 
Originally posted by PeterD:
I prefer to foil now after not foiling for the first couple of years. I find the ribs much more tender as a result and my cook times are shortened a tad as well. I do more backs than spares and the family has always preferred the foiled results.
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Ditto. I'll eat them FOTB or chewy yet tender, but the family prefers them FOTB... so foiling it shall be
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Originally posted by Patrick Balint:
Thanks for the kind words and suggestions! The ribs were all a big hit...although the favorites were still the non-foiled.
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Glad all the ribs turned out good for ya, Patrick. So with the discussion on the foiling part of it, what about other cook details? Temps/times? Water/clay/nothing in the pan? Any spritzing?
 
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