Howdy folks, as threatened, I'm running an experiment today with two racks of baby back ribs sourced from Pederson's Farms out of CrowdCow from a single order. Not the same animal of course, but as close to equivalent as it's practical to get. They weigh in at a little over 2.5lb/1.1kg each and are not overly loin-y. One of them appears to have enough meat on top to hold a leave-in temp probe; of course I'll view those temps with caution, because bones.
My goal is to isolate the effect of wrapping in foil a la 3-2-1 technique by comparing with a rack left to its own devices (my usual procedure). I won't be adding anything to the wrapped rack like apple juice, honey, or brown sugar, we're not big fans of overly sweet outcomes, and I want to be able to unambiguously attribute any differences to the foil wrap.
Doing these on the Pit Boss Copperhead 5 vertical pellet smoker, which guarantees completely uniform and consistent temps throughout the cook (one less variable). Plus it's forecast to get a little blustery this afternoon, which usually means more tending of the kettle would be needed. I'll run one hour on the low-T "smoke" setting, then bump it up to 225F/107C for the rest of the way. After 2 hours, wrap one of the racks, then unwrap it after another 2 hours, and finally one last hour, or whatever it takes to reach probe tenderness (could be less, could be more). The PB is currently loaded with Cookin' Pellets Apple Mash, which is a blend of hard maple and apple wood (no filler/fuel wood like oak or alder).
Prep: racks had already had the membranes removed prior to packaging, nice! Dry brined overnight, then hit them with my special Jenni In A Bottle rib rub from my pal Jenni in Austin.
Here's the starting material. (The rack on top was folded over on one end.)
Before and after dry brining overnight:
After their generous dose of JIAB:
I'll be firing up around midday Eastern time, more then!
My goal is to isolate the effect of wrapping in foil a la 3-2-1 technique by comparing with a rack left to its own devices (my usual procedure). I won't be adding anything to the wrapped rack like apple juice, honey, or brown sugar, we're not big fans of overly sweet outcomes, and I want to be able to unambiguously attribute any differences to the foil wrap.
Doing these on the Pit Boss Copperhead 5 vertical pellet smoker, which guarantees completely uniform and consistent temps throughout the cook (one less variable). Plus it's forecast to get a little blustery this afternoon, which usually means more tending of the kettle would be needed. I'll run one hour on the low-T "smoke" setting, then bump it up to 225F/107C for the rest of the way. After 2 hours, wrap one of the racks, then unwrap it after another 2 hours, and finally one last hour, or whatever it takes to reach probe tenderness (could be less, could be more). The PB is currently loaded with Cookin' Pellets Apple Mash, which is a blend of hard maple and apple wood (no filler/fuel wood like oak or alder).
Prep: racks had already had the membranes removed prior to packaging, nice! Dry brined overnight, then hit them with my special Jenni In A Bottle rib rub from my pal Jenni in Austin.
Here's the starting material. (The rack on top was folded over on one end.)
Before and after dry brining overnight:
After their generous dose of JIAB:
I'll be firing up around midday Eastern time, more then!
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