So, I'm no expert, but I have been avidly making BBQ now for a good 15 years, progressing from an electric MES to a UDS that I built (in 2007), a couple of GMG pellet burners, and most recently, primarily just using Weber kettles with Slow 'n Sear and Vortex add-ons (with my eye on talking my wife into a Weber Summit Charcoal). I've been a member of various BBQ forums throughout the years (including this one) and I tend to research things to death, so I've read a lot about techniques for cooking things. I used to cook a lot of ribs and pulled pork. The frequency of my cooks has slowed considerably over the past few years as I've gotten busier with life (work and kids' activities). One advantage of working from home via the social distancing protocols here in Montana is that I have time to char meat while I work. So yesterday I threw a slab of baby backs on the kettle with the SNS. I ran (on average) in the 240-250 range for temps (see image with Fireboard graph of ambient temps in 2 locations), and went with a 3-1-1 approach using the old Texas crutch the "middle" hour with some apple juice in the foil. Also attached is a pic of the finished ribs. The flavor was great, but for the third time in a row doing baby backs, I felt like they weren't "done" enough. I don't need them to be falling off the bone necessarily, but they were a pretty tough pull to get meat off the bone with your teeth. The obvious answer is more time on the grill, but am I wrong that baby backs are "suppsed" to only take 5 hours? I know that you can't cook based on time, but I still see people consistently talking about 6 hours for spares and 5 hours for baby backs even at 225*. Are baby backs just meatier now coming from the store? I typically get ribs from Costco, but these were pre-packaged from Albertsons. They did seem very meaty. I knew when I was taking them off that they probably needed more time, but the accompaniments for dinner were ready and with little kids in the mix, I didn't have the luxury of pushing dinner to 8 pm.
I clearly need some re-education here, so please fire away. Thanks in advance!
I clearly need some re-education here, so please fire away. Thanks in advance!
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