Cooked a couple racks of baby backs tonight. I've been struggling with baby backs lately, especially when the loin section is extra meaty. The meat has been coming out dry when the rest of the rib was done. So I tried wrapping the ribs in foil after about 4 hours at 240 F. Cooked wrapped for about 2 hours, sauced, then finished with another hour in the smoker.
Net result was fantastic. Even in the thickest part, the meat remained moist and had a great texture. Tender but still wth a bit of a bite. Very happy with these results! I guess there is something to the old standby 3-2-1 method.
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A couple of weeks ago I bought a 3 pack of loin backs at Sam's when I couldn't find any spares to my liking. It dawned on me that since the thing I don't like about BBR's is the inconsistent thickness and lean loin meat, why not just trim off the stuff that I don't want to eat and won't cook the way I want? The results of my last 2 cooks have me reconsidering my dislke of BBR's.
I love the extra meaty baby back loin ribs and have always had excellent results. Always tender and juicy. I cook them around 250 on the stick burner and never wrap. Cook until the bend test says they are done usually around 5 hours. Also like them because the membrane is already trimmed off saving a lot of times.
Also when cooking for crowds which I often do they feed more people. I usually can figure 3 people per rack as I cut them in 3 bones per serving.
so you did 4-2-1 for 7 hours total? Those must have been meaty!
I made some meaty BBR's yesterday to! 225 for 4 hours and 250 for 1.5 hrs. Temp on one side hit 203 and other side was 190ish, the bend test took quite a shake to crack em, cut em up and served, my guests loved em! Only one end rib left for lunch today, shoulda made more!
That's correct. 4-2-1. Should have mentioned that this was on my smoke vault 24. Not sure if it's the smoker, but my cooks always seem to take a bit longer. Monitoring cooker temps with a Fireboard that I'e verified for accuracy. I didn't actually test the rib temps when done.
NO kidding, 7 hours for baby backs is incredibly long in my experience. I don't wrap, but if I go 5h, they usually are falling apart, I even think they're overcooked and maybe dried out a bit sometimes. I have some inconsistent heat in my Yoder from one end to the other, though, so it makes it tough. I gotta do something to get better control on that thing...
Yeah, it did seem long. I was going to wrap after 3 hours, but the ribs still felt very tight, so let it go another hour. Again, the ribs came out fantastic. Not overcooked - very moist in the thickest parts and with a great texture.
I put my ambient temperature probe towards the back of the smoker rack when I cook to stay out of the way of the meat. I suppose the front part may be a bit cooler, hence the longer cook times. May have to experiment a bit more.
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Great to hear that you made a break though! I pretty much just went to making St. Louis Style ribs so I would have to deal with that loin meat anymore. I like at SLS ribs cook more evenly that a baby back rib rack.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
Maybe the fact I’ve historically done the 3-2-1 method is part of why I like the meaty BBR’s better, but when I did a taste comparison for the family, I did 3 racks Saint Louis spares and 3 racks of the meaty BBR’s, no wrap, on the offset with oak, with MMD and Blues Hog original. Family chose the BBR’s like unanimously. I kinda liked the spares but was outvoted. I took advantage of the uneven temp gradient across the offset to get them all done at the same time, with some rotation a few times.
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