Meat up / meat down

[FireMan]

I don’t compete or wrap or warp meat. So where does that put me?

[EdF]

I've just never had a motivation to wrap. But I guess it's a matter of personal taste.

[Oak Smoke]

I smoked 2 racks of St Louis yesterday. Following Arron Franklins advice, I wrapped meat side down for 2 hours. They were moist and delicious, but they were very close to falling off the bone. I don’t compete either, but I don’t think they would have done well if judged. I will probably try a shorter wrap next time. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll just go back to not wrapping.

[tbob4]

Hahaha. I was going to say "I have never wrapped meat side up but I don't compete".

[Nate]

+1 on what Huskee said...

My thought (although maybe wrong) has been that if you add moisture to the pack in addition to the natural juices you would be putting the rub and meat into a pool of liquid which could degrade the quality of your bark and wash the rub off.

[Huskee]

When I used to wrap it was always meat up bone down. I wnated to maintain as much of the bark layer as I could, instead of having my only bark be sitting in the juices. But I don't compete either, this was just my thought process when I did wrap.

[JGo37]

I've never competed with ribs, but I think my ribs are great. I even temp thru the whole process until I faux Cambro. I don't wrap until then - I indirect as seen here with a STL cut. I do a last radiated sear for serving.

Or am I missing the question?

[Jerod Broussard]

I've never tried meat down.

DISCLAIMER- I've never competed.

SmokeyGator my "dis" beats your "dis"

[SmokeyGator]

Honestly, I don’t think it matters.

DISCLAIMER: I use a ceramic cooker with exceptionally even temperatures.

[Danny Mac]

For so many years when its time to wrap up the ribs it was always meat down to help cook and tenderize. With the invention of the internet and youtube video there are so many ways and opinions on how to cook ribs. My question is and please explain your answer why to warp meat down or why to warp meat up. I'm trying to up my game in my area amateur cook-offs in the rib category. I have been in the top 10 a few times but now looking to be in the top 5 a few time.