Baby Back Fail Post-Mortem

[trasmc]

Hi All,

I’m hoping to get a post-mortem on some Last Meal Ribs I tried on super bowl Sunday. They were…not good…to say the least. Here are the details:

Bought a single slab of baby-backs from a local butcher, 2.5 pounds total. There was a much thicker part of meat (fat?) towards the narrow end of the ribs, but other than that they looked normal. I tried to remove the membrane, failed miserably, cut as much off as I could, then salted for 2 hours. Meathead Memphis Dusted then onto the grill.

Grill is an older 3 burner (side-to-side) Weber. I had the top (farthest from me) burner lit, with an aluminum pan of water and mo’s smoking pouch (apple chips) over the lit burner. The ribs were over the closest unlit burner, and the whole thing was held very close to 225 (calibrated bbq thermometer) for the entire cook. Pulled the smoking pouch off at about 75 minutes into the cook.

At 3 hours I tried the bend test and there was no cracking. Tried again at 3.5, 4, and 4.5 hours. Still no cracks. At this point we had to leave for a super bowl party a few houses down (fortunately they weren’t counting on me bringing anything to eat)! I left the ribs on the grill and came back an hour later – now this single rack has been on for 5.5 hours. Still no cracks. I used an instant read thermometer and at 5-6 different places throughout the slab the meat was about 175.

At this point I was out of time (and patience) so I painted with sauce and held over high heat for a few minutes. The rub was very good in some places – very tough and hard to eat in others. The meat looked cooked, but was very tough, and didn’t come off the bones without a fight. The edges of the bones that were visible were burned.

So…other than probably really overcooking, where did I go wrong?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts,

Scott

PS – Wound up eating a few bowls of chili at the party.

[OneEyedJack]

Is your calibrated BBQ thermometer reading the grill temp or somewhere higher over the cooking surface? 4-5 hours should have been plenty, if the meat was really "feeling" 225*. Instant read thermometers are tough to use on ribs because of the small meat mass. Getting the silver skin off can be really easy or a royal PITA. Be patient and use a paper towel to help your grip. Left on membrane can make the meat seem very tough. Next time, maybe bump your temp up to around 240*-250*.

[trasmc]

Thanks OneEyedJack! It was clipped to the grill grate, pretty close to the smaller end of the slab.

[lonnie mac]

I would agree. Something is amiss on the temps. "didn’t come off the bones without a fight" pretty much means under-cooked I am afraid. The paper towel trick works fantastic for the skin. I usually leave it on. One of them crazy people. I love that stuff!

[Mosca]

Is this your first crack at them? Ribs on a gasser can take a couple tries.

First, that extra meat on the top of the small end. Ticks me right off, that is much harder to get tender than the rest of the rack. Next rack of BBRs I do, I'm cutting that son of a gun off and using it in the beans. In fact, part of the BBR problem I see is that they are getting meatier and meatier. Yeah, meat is good, but it screws with our knowledge. You can't use a cookbook from 50 years ago because ingredients have changed. BBRs are changing.

Second, I say bump your temp up even higher than OneEyedJack says, to 250-260. That's what I do them at on my Weber kettle, and I like them better than 225 on my kamado.

Third, I do the membrane from the middle. Slip a butter knife or the end of a spoon under a good looking spot in the middle, then get a finger under there and pull up, peeling it in both directions at once.

I've done racks for that long, 5.5 to 6 hours. In fact 5 years ago the recommendation was 3-2-1: 3 hours on the grill, 2 hours wrapped in foil, then the last hour out of the foil. Then it switched to 3-1-1 for BBRs.

I always wrapped ribs that I did on my gasser. Try wrapping in foil with a couple ounces of apple juice. There are those who say this steams the ribs, but I'm one of those who says, those ribs taste mighty darn good. The hour after wrapping firms them up just fine.

The bend test is just one test. the other is when the meat pulls back from the ends of the bones. If I can't get the crack (because of BBRs having too much meat sometimes) I look for the ends of the bones.

I hope this works!

[trasmc]

Yes Mosca, this is my first time trying them this way. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give them a try next time.

[SMOG MAN]

I agree with Mosca, wrapping for an hour or so and then unwrapped to firm up the bark again, and the BBRs with thick meaty parts don't crack with the "Bend Test" the same.

[MBMorgan]

With today's meatier BBR's, there is some good news: It's much easier to probe the meaty bits with a good digital thermometer to make sure you've got them above 190 deg. F. Any lower than that and you won't adequately render collagen and fat ... leaving you with tough rib-flavored shoe leather.

[DeusDingo]

your problem is you bought baby backs. that loin meat doesn't cook like St.Louis's do. that meat will be done at 145F and dry and tough after that. this is why i never buy loin back/baby back ribs anymore

[swong13]

I thought that I had read somewhere (here?) that the Bend Test doesn't work for baby back ribs. I expect BBRs to be done in 3-4 hours at 225 degrees. I start checking at 3 hours for probe tender.

[ecowper]

Baby backs won't crack like St. Louis cut. And you did read it here. I wrote it. :-)

[MBMorgan]

I thought that I had read somewhere (here?) that the Bend Test doesn't work for baby back ribs. I expect BBRs to be done in 3-4 hours at 225 degrees. I start checking at 3 hours for probe tender.

The bend test works fine for BBR's ... but only if there is not a bunch of loin meat on them that (as pointed out by DeusDingo ) can dry out, toughen up, and keep the bend test from working. I've been known to remove the loin meat before putting the BBR's in the cooker and reserve/freeze it for other purposes (like pork fried rice) to avoid the issue.

[EdF]

I like that idea. Thanks!

[ecowper]

Baby backs generally won't crack like SLC, though

[trasmc]

Great thoughts and suggestions - thank everyone!

[ribeyeguy]

Believe it or not it sounds like they were undercooked. If your head snaps back when the meat finally lets go of the bone it's an undercooked rib. If the meat falls off the bone when you touch it it's an overcooked rib. A perfect rib is when you bite into it and the meat pulls away with a gentle tug.

The bend test is one thing but a dead giveaway to approaching doneness is when the meat starts to pull back from the ends of the bones. You should see maybe a quarter inch or more of each rib bone exposed where the meat has "shrunken" back. Did you notice this at all with yours?

[trasmc]

There were a few bones that were exposed, but not every one and not on each side. The areas of the bones that were exposed were pretty blackened.