Woke n’ Smoke Baby Back ribs

[Dewey Dewlaney]

I prepped a pair of baby backs last night with two different ribs (Mango Magic rub and a Spicy Pepper Rub). Plus my plan was to sauce the spicy rack during the cook and let the mango Magic slab stay dry. Warmed up the smoker with royal oak briqs, a water pan, and a couple apple wood chunks and got the meat on at 8am.

My main conundrum is would I rather the ribs be..

Fall off the bone... or firm to bite?

I’ve heard one style is preferred for competition and the other is not. But I’m still not sure which way I prefer... so I wonder what you all like better..?




Three hours at ~250F with apple chunks on minion method.



Sauced, wrapped, and back on the cooker for another hour.



Total cook time 4hr 30 min. Good thing I did two racks otherwise there’d be none leftover!

I would say that these ribs finished up in between fall off the bone and firm for a bite. Not mushy like I used to do in a Crock Pot, but not tough like baked... so I think I nailed it. But which way do you prefer and how do you achieve it?! Thank you!!!

 

[Rich G]

I think of competition style as very tender, but when you take a bite it's a clean bite that doesn't remove all the meat from the bone at once. I tend to prefer the competition "doneness" on my ribs (had some great ones at Mo's Smokehouse in Pismo Beach this weekend.....some of the best restaurant ribs I've had in California!)

Having said that, I don't mind fall off the bone, as long as they haven't gotten to the mushy stage. Sounds like you achieved something that you really like (which is most important) with a modified naked/wrapped method.

I typically cook spares, so my times will differ, but I don't wrap, just cook "naked" at 240F until they are done to my liking. With spares that generally tends to be 6-6.5 hours.

Nice looking ribs, by the way! I'd happily sit down with a plate of those in front of me!

R

 

[BryanO]

Bottom line is, if you and yours think that you nailed it, you nailed it. They look great!
But to answer the question, I don’t like them so done that they try to fall apart when picking them up. I like a nice clean pull from the bone when I take a bite. Achieving that varies a little bit from cook to cook. At least for me it does. Every rack is a little different. I do seem to get more tenderness when I wrap. I just try to watch my timings.
BTW the only thing that looked better in those pics than the ribs was the green stuff in your yard. I’m more than a little jealous.

 

[Richard.Koonce]

Yea there is not much green stuff in my yard either.
Your ribs look great and "nailing it" is the best we can hope for! Nice job.
I prefer competition style. I used to cook baby backs over direct heat on my kettle. Since I got the smoker I do them there. Followed a method from Matt Jost on Weber.com. Amazing ribs! They were very tender, not fall off the bone and had a good bite. I also use Adam's Rib rub.