Spliting smoke time over two days?

[kevin_frisch]

Can I smoke my baby back ribs for 2.5 hours tonight, fridge them overnight, and then finish smoking tomorrow morning? Or does in need to be one continuous 5 hour run?

[Breadhead]

Hmmm... I've never tried that idea. It seems to me it could be done but I think it will extend the total cook time some. 2.5 hours on day 1, then probably 3.5 to 4 hours on day 2. Putting your rack in the smoker out of the fridge will slow it down some, I think.

[kevin_frisch]

Good point on that it would take longer... basically get it back up to warm on day 2! .... but still would love to hear if anyone has actually tried this.

[AZRedneck]

Be careful about the time in the danger zone for bacteria growth. Maybe Jerod Broussard could offer some advice. I myself don't know.

[Jerod Broussard]

Typically the cooling down period is where the main concern lies. Generally you want to go from 130 degrees to 80 degrees in one and a half hours or less, and from a 80 degrees to 40 degrees in 5 hours or less.

[DWCowles]

Or maybe Huskee can chime in on this subject.

[Butterman]

I can't quantify it but this scares me a bit from a food safety perspective. Here is what the USDA thinks

http://askkaren.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/852/~/is-it-safe-to-partly-cook-pork%3F

[Huskee]

You could, as long as the temp transition isn't long & drawn out. And even though sticking them right in the fridge may seem the quickest way to do it, I wouldn't do that. You might find your fridge warms up. Fridges are designed to cool room temp goods to 38, not 225 degree goods. I'd let them cool at room temp to 150-145, or even in the freezer for a while (which has more oomph to cool things), then fridge them. Then heating them up the next should day be easy peasey. You want to minimize the time the meat is in the range of 40 -140F. Zip through that range ASAP.

Meathead regularly gets his ribs done in 3 hrs. If your ribs are small/thin, to where they could be done at 3 hrs too, they may be close to done at the 2.5 hr mark. Surely rib meat is 165 by then, although they may not be 'ready' at that point.

[Jerod Broussard]

If they are small ribs and are going to take a few hours, as mentioned above, it may only extend things between the cooling and the reheating.

If it is some thick St. Louis ribs you can smoke until they almost past the bend test, then chill, and then finish in the oven in foil and sauce and caramelize.

[ecowper]

if you have 3-4 hours available on the second day, do it all then. Unless I am cooking the Costco baby backs, I allow 4 hours for baby backs. The Costco ones have enough more meat that sometimes I need almost 5 hours for them. But that is when I'm running the smoker at 225-250. If I run the smoker at 275 +/-, I could finish baby backs in 2.5-3 hours. And no one but me would ever know I did that. Honestly, since my WSM and my Hasty-Bake both like to run 235-250 I've found that temp to be great and turns out great food. Pork butts and ribs do great at 275, even.

Or you could do the ribs Rendezvous style. I've done this and they are great this way, too. Not the same as Last Meal Ribs, but really good Memphis style ribs. Rendezvous style, you're going to cook at 350 and mop to keep the ribs from drying out. They'll be done in about 90 minutes.

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/rendezvous_ribs_in_a_hurry.html