Smoking Today - Extra Meaty Back Ribs

[HotSun]

I don't have the luxury of smoking during the week while school is in session, so I am reserved to the weekends (not a teacher, but I shuttle my DS to school and work onsite close to his school, voluntarily).

Extra meaty back ribs were on sale for $1.99, which seemed about right. I did not pay attention to the 'extra meaty' part... guess I was too enamored with the price. I usually prep the night before, but I was exhausted last night, so I figured today would be fine. I don't get to do a lot of ribs, especially this year while my DW wraps up her master's degree (December 22 cannot come too soon, lol). Anyhow, let's go:

Software:

• 2 extra meaty back ribs
• My own all-purpose pork rub and seasoning (I use it on everything beef related); it has salt

Hardware:

• Char-Broil Kamander (kamado knockoff)
• Kingsford Pro Briquettes, a/k/a ash bombs
• Hickory - chunks or blend pellets in a maze or tube, haven't decided yet
• Rib rack - to be decided... see below
• Inkbird controller
• Thermo-Pro thermometers

The Plan:

• Get a good nights rest; I've earned it
• Rub and dry brine for 3-4 hours
• Crutch after a couple hours
• Brush one with some yet to be determined sauce, probably a KC - note: our ribs are almost always naked, as we like them

I pulled the ribs from the fridge, rinsed, and dried:


I pulled the membranes, which was really difficult today. I discovered a new technique (for me), which was to use the backside of my knife to get it started without slicing through. I'm thinking a butter knife would work, too.

I trimmed off some of the extra meat from the butt end. I decided to cut these in half, after the 7th bone from the loin (skinny) end. I generously added my rub on both sides, put them on a rack, and put them in the fridge:


The extra meat is at the top of the tray. I'll smoke those and munch on them when they are ready.

I got this nice circular rib holder for Christmas, but have not had a chance to use it. I have to decide on my standard holder (left) or this new device:


I am thinking the round device will be too narrow for the extra meaty (love saying that) ribs, which is a complaint about this type of holder. We'll see, but I'm not going to over think it.

Now we play the waiting game.

[LA Pork Butt]

Try the round one on some St Louis Ribs since the bones have less of a curve.

[HotSun]

LA Pork Butt , you nailed it and thank you! I have some queued up which I may do tomorrow. They are also on sale this week for $1.49, no brainer really.

[HotSun]

LA Pork Butt , the circular one worked great for the two spares I smoked Sunday. Thanks for the advice!

[DaveD]

Alright, looks like a fine game plan! Looking forward to your updates. 3-4 hours of brining should be just fine.

Using a butter knife to remove membrane is a longstanding, tried and true approach... plus grabbing the loosened flappy end with paper toweling to get a better grip, if you don't already do that.

Given that you have multiple pieces, you might consider trying the foil boat technique on one to compare with a full wrap. You're well set up for that experiment

Good luck and have fun - and big karma to your wife as she goes into the thesis home stretch, that is a Big Damn Deal!

[DaveD]

Forgot to add, if it's not obvious, for ribs, I put the bone side down in the boat, since you want the meat to remain exposed, not the bones.

[DaveD]

And here's another excellent vid, Chuds & Jeremy Yoder doing a side by side wrap comparison, with paper, boat, and full foil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-tXdMW1Z48

[HotSun]

Thanks for the references, DaveD . I'll probably do it.

[HotSun]

Update: about 90 minutes into smoking and as per usual, it has been interesting. I lost a couple photos I took, so I only have one I just took:


The setup was as follows (and what my phone's camera failed to save):

1. Setup a circle of briquettes around my pellet maze
2. Filled the maze about half with hickory blend pellets and ignited it
3. After about 5 minutes of flame on the maze, I lit my starter
4. After about 10 minutes more, put the heat deflector in place (no water)
5. Got the Inkbird setup and ready to regulate (set for 235F)

Here is one picture that saved.


I put the ribs on, and it rolled pretty blue smoke for a while, then the smoke stopped. I dropped a cherry chunk I had handy and that worked for short while. I'm guessing the pellets went out, which may be the nature of the low oxygen environment of the kamado, or my continued bad luck with pellets and such.

Smoke came and when, so I added some maple and some more cherry. Ugh, feels like amateur hour over here, but I was trying a new method with the maze.

It looks and smells good, but I'm not convinced. We'll see how it ends.

To be concluded...

[DaveD]

Those ribs are looking pretty good to me...

[HotSun]

I watched the videos DaveD shared, and found this one specific to this cook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnT6gfnb8RQ

I'll boat the ribs and see what happens.

[bbqLuv]

Let us know about the boated ribs. Pictures too, please.

[Mosca]

I’m sure those ribs taste great. But he discards 2/3 of a full rack! And, for not liking “fall off the bone”, he still lets them get to 205° before saucing, then gives them 10 minutes at 400°. 205° is actually where they become fall-off-the-bone. That’s why the bend test works; at 205°, they don’t bend, they fall apart.

[DaveD]

One difference I see in that vid is that he rolls the foil toward the ribs. Chuds rolls the foil *away* from the meat, so that there are no edges near the meat or juices. Helps keep the juices inside the boat, and also helps make for an easier to use set of "handles" around the margins of the meat to make it easier to pick up and move. It may seem counterintuitive at first, but after a couple times doing it you get the hang. Particularly when using more than one sheet of foil, which I do instead of just one as in this clip. I'd never want to trust a single ply of foil, too easy to punch through it if there's any rough handling. Good luck!

[HotSun]

I'll post pics of the boats in the morning, too late...😴😴😴

[HotSun]

Sorry for the delay...been busy with more stuff. Here is the conclusion.

Firstly, I'll say that I got off to a late start, thus everything wrapped up late. Overall, it took about 7 hours to smoke these ribs. Anyhow....

Here is a boat:


I saw DaveD 's post a little late, so I didn't really pay attention to the method of boating, just wrapped around the sides snugly. Four boats, and the boneless bits crutched, but I cranked the heat to 250F at this point:


Folks were getting peckish, so thankfully the boneless bits that I smoked were ready early, so we munched on those:


This is the first half rack I pulled. It was at about 190F, so not quite ready and still a bit firm:




My DW noted the smoke ring was about 4mm. It tasted pretty good to us. She did question the blackness of the crust, so I told her not to worry (should I worry?).

The others took a full two hours to get to temp and flexibility. I don't have a pic, as it was too dark last night.

Post-mortem:
I took this picture this morning of the pellet maze to see what was going on under the heat deflector. The Kamander was very efficient with fuel consumption, as per usual. The pellets kept burning, but I lost smoke at multiple times during this, thus my need to add wood. The fire starter was used on the lower left side and the coals burned counter clockwise:


Leftovers were very good today, fall off the bone, tender, and surprisingly juicy, considering the tops were nearly like jerky. I didn't user water in the deflector as I usually do, but I am doing it with today's spares that I'm smoking.

Plating pic over on SUWYC.... thanks for reading!

[Bkhuna]

Those look wonderful. I've never seen any beef ribs like that for sale.

[HotSun]

Thanks Bkhuna ! I like ribs, but the DW and DS love them. So I really make ribs for them.

[jfmorris]

Hmmm. While you do find beef back ribs, they are normally pretty thin. These however were extra meaty pork back ribs (aka loin back or baby back ribs) based on what I read in the thread - maybe that's why you haven't seen beef ribs just like them for sale?

Beef back ribs typically only have 7 bones, and are part of the prime rib if you buy the full roast. Your other options are the big plate ribs, chuck ribs or short ribs.

[HotSun]

Where are my manners... a special thank you to DaveD for the guidance on the boating!

[DaveD]

Hopefully you liked the outcome! They sure look good!

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Nice post....The Plan, The Process & The Product...all good stuff

I will be smokin' 12 racks on Sept 10th so it is always good to read & reread posts like this one to keep everything fresh in your mind

Thank you

[HotSun]

Thanks! Good luck on the 10th Bad Hat BBQ .... it would take me 6 days to smoke that many racks on my setup, haha.

[Bad Hat BBQ]

I can do 14-16 if I am laying them flat...more with standing racks

10-12 is good with a little space between racks; I do rotate the racks so they cook evenly
( or at least that is the plan to cook evenly!)

[jfmorris]

So the question is, will you do the boat thing again on ribs? Just curious, since you mention they were a little tough (like jerky?) on top? I smoked 8 racks of baby back ribs for my mother's 80th birthday recently, and did the foil wrap for 1-2 hours of the cook, because I know the 15 folks coming would mostly expect the tender, fall/pull off the bone type results, and I was pretty pleased with them. I've yet to try the boat on anything, but probably should...

[HotSun]

Thanks for the input jfmorris and ifican . I did two racks of spares Sunday, water in the deflector, but at 250F. I got perfect blue smoke throughout and they took about 5.25 hours end to end (see: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...17#post1474417 ). I'm thinking 225F is not only too slow, but it also didn't provide enough oxygen to keep the pellets smoking consistently.

[jfmorris]

HotSun I don't use a pellet smoke box, but use wood chunks and lump charcoal, and find I get a better smoke ring and bark at the higher temps on the kamado. It's totally different than on my kettle or offset. I think the high efficiency and low airflow work against you at 225...

[HotSun]

jfmorris , this was the first time I've used pellets for slow smoking meats (used them for cheese earlier this year and shorter 'burst' smokes), for me it is almost always chunks because that is what I have. I wanted to see if the pellet maze would work in that configuration. I think you nailed it with the low temps/low oxygen. Thanks as always for sharing your experience and knowledge!

[Alan Brice]

HotSun These are exactly the vids I was referring to. If you watch and do even half the methods they refer to, you will be producing food that is better than most. Even if you do not agree with everything, it will give you a better perspective. Have fun.