Rib emergency

[smokyYank]

Hi all,

Saturday was going to be a great day, prepping and smoking a rack of ribs.

I usually do a 2-1/2 - 2 - 1 method. Partway through phase 2 (wrapped in foil) the smoker gave out due to the hopper being empty. I have no idea what temp was achieved since when I noticed it, everything had cooled down.

Question is, how do I resurrect these ribs? What's the best method? Temp? Time? etc.

Thanks in advance!

[Steve R.]

So, this happened on Saturday? I've never known ribs to rise again on the 3rd day. Probably just need to toss that one and start from scratch, since you don't know that they were fully cooked to a safe temperature.

[Draznnl]

Yes, smokyYank, I agree. Toss them and avoid potential illness.

[smokyYank]

I was hoping to re-cook them in the foil, maybe add some sauce to keep them moist, bring to temp? Or would they be tough as nails?

[texastweeter]

Biblical...

[Old Glory]

Save $20 bucks or spend 20 hours on the porcelain throne?

[Jfrosty27]

I agree with the guidance above. Just too risky given the unknowns. Trash them and be safe.

[smokyYank]

Guys, I thank you. I just wonder, if cooked till 165F, what's the danger? I'm missing something...

[tbob4]

I started an answer saying "toss" then realized you had them in foil and could not have gone more than an hour without chips because of your method. Given that, I would keep them and reheat uncovered in the smoker. My wife might answer otherwise.

[Caffeine88]

Nasty bugs grow the best under 140 and your post mentions that the fire went out somewhere along the way. The part that gives me the heebie-jeebies is that the time it took to slooowwwllly drift it's way down to cool, and what could be happening in there during that perfect combo of temp and plenty of time. In theory - you're probably correct (but way smarter people on here than I will chime in) -if you hold it at 165 for several hours, you could get rid of them. But, it's sure to be low quality meat coupled with significant risk.

I'll eat darn near anything, and I think I'd very reluctantly call that one $20 worth of stupid tax and move on. Best of luck!

[Hulagn1971]

I would definitely toss them. Not worth the risk of food poisoning

[Dr. Pepper]

If you know that they hit 165, then I would be fine with refrigerating and reheating in oven, or simply reheating in oven. On the other hand, if you don't know that the internal temp exceeded 140-ish, then risky. On the other hand (Is that my 3rd hand?), I am a dog, and will eat almost anything.

[jfmorris]

If you know they were under 140F for less than 2 hours, and you got them into the fridge, you may be ok. The problem is that you say you don't know how long they were not cooking, and they were cool when you found them that way. Was that 1 hour? 2 hours? 3 hours?

I would almost guarantee they got past 140F in the first 2 hours before you wrapped and before the pellets ran out. So if you hit the fridge, or finished in the oven, and know they didn't sit around for more than 2 hours like that, I think they would probably be fine, but that's just me.

[bbqLuv]

Personally, I really don't see a problem from what you posted, stage two wrapped in foil. My guess is the ribs were still plenty warm. Finish them to an internal temp of 195-205*F and probe tender. Really how long were the rebs in a hot grill, an hour or two?
But on the other hand, there are 4 fingers and a thumb.
Disclaimer: Only my opinion on information posted.

[shify]

I think what everyone was focused on was the line about "everything had cooled down."

Re-reading it, I think you are saying sometime in the middle of the 2 hours wrapped part of the cook, the cooker shut down and didn't continue cooking. So you have at most 2 hours of no heat being applied.

Assuming the meat was still warm and was cooked thoroughly when you went to wrap it, I think you are fine continuing to cook it through. Have no idea what a par-cook and then refrigerate and continue to cook will do as far as taste/texture though but it can't hurt to try.

To the extent the ribs cooled down enough to bring it into the danger zone, that's a different story and I'd toss them... same thing if I wasn't certain that they were cooked through. If its a guessing game I wouldn't risk it for a rack of ribs

[bbqLuv]

Ditto

[smokyYank]

Thanks, guys. All interesting info.

I could easily toss them, and perhaps I will. At the same time, I think this is a great learning experience.

Thank Meathead for suggesting a cook log. I just checked. They went in, from fridge to smoker at 220F at 12:45. Not quite 3 hours later (15:30) I foil wrapped and put them back in. Somewhere between then and 17:15 (when I checked back) the fire went out.

Does info this help? For learning purposes.

[IFindZeroBadCooks]

Since at max they were left not cooking for less than 2 hours, I think you are okay to eat especially since the smoker temp did not fall to zero immediately. The fact that you wrapped would also preserve temps somewhat. I would cook to finish and add sauce.

[smokyYank]

OK, here's what I found.

While heat will kill the bacteria, the staph bacterium may have made toxins which will not be killed off with heat.

Thank you again.

[Mr. Bones]

Ribs is relatively 'cheap'

Hospital bills is NOT...

[wu7y]

One of my more important "rules of life" is:

If I have to ask myself, "Gee, should I really be doing this", the answer, at least the safe one is just about always no. But that's just me.

[HawkerXP]

Right next to saying "Hold my beer. Watch this."

[Caffeine88]

HawkerXP and even odds which voice wins!