Instant Pot... How I got in the doghouse without really trying.

[JCGrill]

Spare ribs and sauerkraut in the slow cooker. Or SHORT ribs, those are dang good in the slow cooker. You can put them in before you go to work. Or pressure cooker when you get home. But if I've got time, I'll use the smoker every time.

[Lowjiber]

Okay... Here's the report.

Her ribs... Kosher salt and in the fridge for about an hour beforehand. Course black pepper afterwards and slapped on the Kettle/SnS at 250 degs for my standard 3-2-1 cook. Results were as "perfect" as I can make 'em and she loved them.

My ribs... Cut in thirds to facilitate fitting in IP with heavy black pepper and light Kosher salt. I put 1 ^1/4 cup of water, 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, and 2 Tablespoon of Liquid Smoke in the pan which just came below the trivet. Cooked on high pressure for 35 minutes with a 10 minute "natural release".

Ribs came out "probe tender", but really looking ugly (imagine). Next came a slather of No. 7 Original BBQ sauce on the concave side and into a 425^o oven until the sauce just started to caramelize. Flipped ribs over and applied more sauce to top side... back in the oven for another ten minutes.

Appearance: I had managed both cooks so that her ribs had "rested" for about ten minutes when mine came out of the oven. Her ribs looked like, well like they had been in a smoker. Mine, on the other-hand, looked more like what you'd see at a casino buffet... just okay. I'd say 60/40 with the edge to the smoked version.

Both racks were done pretty much the same... her ribs pulled apart easily, while mine wanted to fall apart. Perhaps cooked about three minutes longer than needed?

Taste: Perhaps the most subjective thing. I will say that both racks had good flavor, but the smoked ribs had what I call "depth" (umami?) whereas the IP ribs almost could have been a pork chop with some BBQ sauce added. 65/35 with the subjective edge to the smoked rack.

The major difference which surprised me was another factor that I'd not considered... juiciness. The smoked ribs were juicy, while the IP ribs were moist, but didn't leave that "melt in your mouth" feel after a bite. That's hard to describe, but strong edge to the SnS ribs.

The Better Half didn't gloat (much) when I had to admit that her ribs were overall better than mine. Was I disappointed? No, not really. This was after all a test... one that was won by the smoker. If I lived where it's snowing-and-blowing in the wintertime, I'd still do the ribs in the IP... but I'd have to be pretty hungry for ribs.

[Thunder77]

So I suppose you just imagined all of this, because i don't see any pictures?? :-P

[Lowjiber]

Quite frankly, I forgot 'em until half-way through the meal. Next time, I promise.

[Huskee]

Nuthin' wrong with a test, if only to reaffirm suspicions. My wife used to make crock pot pulled pork (and I still loved it), and I'd found taking the already-finished end product and putting it in shallow pie pans and smoking for an hour or two, stirring a time or two, gets an end result not too far from a fully smoked offering, sans the bark of course. Perhaps a trial of the IP ribs pulled out an hour early then smoked to finish? Of course, with all that effort might as well just smoke the dern things from the start.

[Gunderich_1]

Well that was a great report even without pictures Lowjiber . I will admit I still do crock pot ribs and oven ribs in the winter time when I don't feel like staying out on a deck in snow and cold. So sometimes the terrorists win I guess but I will have to work on toughening up, lol!

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

When I was out of the country, some of my friends and I used to par-boil our ribs. We were living on an island, somewhat... isolated. We could get a case of babybacks for cheap. I know it was 10kg, we would usually get about 20-25 racks out of that. I think initially it was about $15 a case (yes, for 10kg), by the time I moved on 2 ^1/2 years later, I think it was up to $20 or $25 a case.

So we all lived in apartments, and one neighbor had a nice little deck on the 3rd floor with ceramic tile, overlooking the lagoon in Sint Maarten. So we had 2 small generic round grills, about 15" each, maybe? So we had no choice... to cook that many ribs, we'd par-boil them in Grub Rub, then bring them out, slather them and sear them on the grills. We'd go through a case in a day, usually with 5-7 of us there.

I know now it was heresy, but it was really our only option to cook that many ribs. We still loved them, for what they were, but I don't think I'd go back to that unless I were severely restricted.

[fzxdoc]

It takes a real fine human being to admit that another rib method wins the day, Lowjiber . My Sunday church hat (if I wore one) is off to you. You're right, it's the umami of smoked food that usually wins the day. Thanks for the report.

Kathryn

P.S. As fair as I'd like to be, there's a secret little part of me that grins happily when a wife wins the argument!

[Willy]

And another little secret grin for the "terrorists" losing. lol

[fzxdoc]

Agreed Willy !

[richinlbrg]

Great report, Willy ! Nothing wrong with experimenting, testing and just playing around. Now you know.

thanks

[BriggsBBQ]

The experiment I wanted to try is throw the ribs on the smoker for 30 min. then pressure cooker 15 min then finish on the smoker another 30min.

For what you want to do probably does not help you at all with the winters you get. I was wondering if the split would get you closer to the real smoked rib flavor and save you the time in a crutch situation.

[kauffman214]

I would imagine the smoked ribs kept their fat in the meat and the InstaPot was more about water moisture and the fat floating/rendering out. That's why the smokes ribs were juicy and the IP were moist.