Hey folks, my cook tomorrow is a rack of pork back ribs, ostensibly "baby" back ribs. My very first smoke last July was a set of racks of what was billed as baby back ribs, but now that I've learned a heck of a lot more than I knew back then, I question whether they really were. That cook was disappointing; the meat was dry and overcooked at a little under six hours at 225F/107C. I didn't yet have my instant-read, but those ribs were thick enough to use the leave-in that came with the smoker. I've done six cooks with pork spare ribs since, which all came out great, but have not attempted pork back ribs since that ill-fated first cook.
Here's what those first ones looked like compared to what's on tap for tomorrow. Dig the brand spanking new shiny metal box!
And here's tomorrow's rack:
Those first ones look for all the world like loin chops, and in reviewing my notes I think that's just what they were. Tomorrow's rack is from Wild Fork at ~3.2lb/1.5kg, and although they're plenty meaty, they're nowhere near the towering mountains of meat on those first ones.
One mistake I made in the first try was trying to rely on the "bend test" for doneness, which I now can see was almost laughably hopeless with pieces like that. Tomorrow's rack is much more conducive to that, but of course now I'm much better equipped with temp probes, so it'll be much simpler to know when it's done.
So my question today: I'm going to guess that these won't take more than about 3 hours to get done; what's your experience in pork back vs. spares in terms of cook time? Should they be done a little quicker in general? Thanks for all advice, as usual I'll be documenting the cook tomorrow right here in this thread.
Here's what those first ones looked like compared to what's on tap for tomorrow. Dig the brand spanking new shiny metal box!
And here's tomorrow's rack:
Those first ones look for all the world like loin chops, and in reviewing my notes I think that's just what they were. Tomorrow's rack is from Wild Fork at ~3.2lb/1.5kg, and although they're plenty meaty, they're nowhere near the towering mountains of meat on those first ones.
One mistake I made in the first try was trying to rely on the "bend test" for doneness, which I now can see was almost laughably hopeless with pieces like that. Tomorrow's rack is much more conducive to that, but of course now I'm much better equipped with temp probes, so it'll be much simpler to know when it's done.
So my question today: I'm going to guess that these won't take more than about 3 hours to get done; what's your experience in pork back vs. spares in terms of cook time? Should they be done a little quicker in general? Thanks for all advice, as usual I'll be documenting the cook tomorrow right here in this thread.
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