I plan on heading out to Zion Ut next month and would like to take a couple pre-cooked slabs to finish on my BGE.
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So, my questions are these:
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I know time and temps, do I apply rub and or sauce before the sous vide bath or do I apply before I finish on the egg?
How long will the ribs hold in the fridge 4 or 5 days? Or should I freeze them?
When I finish on my egg, what temp and for how long or should I just sear and keep flipping?
Weber Kettle -- 22.5" (In-Service Date June 2015)
Slow-n-Sear/Drip-n-Griddle/Grill Grates (In-Service Date March 2016)
Pit Boss 820 (Retired)
GMG Jim Bowie WiFi (In-Service Date April 2017)
Maverick ET-733
Fireboard
Home-brewer
So, Tim, as I always say, you have to start with the end in mind. How you finish on the grill depends on what your expectation is. If you are doing a time/temp combo that is supposed to produce BBQ ribs like texture, then I wouldn't do a fast sear. I would reheat them low and slow until the bark is set somewhat. fzxdoc's recent pastrami experiment makes me think you will build better bark by rubbing post sous vide, but hours ahead of the reheat and finish. If practical, I would have them fridge cold on the morning of the cook, rub and fridge in the AM, fire up the grill and expect maybe a 2 hour slow to finish.
As alternatives, you could retherm to 130 with sous vide or just hot tap water, then sear or bake on a glaze. As I said, it's all about what you want the end result to be.
If you have a good vac seal on the ribs, and you are cooking them at a pasteurizing time/temp combination, they should be fine for 4-5 days in the fridge, as long as you don't open the bag. I keep things in their bags in the fridge for over a week, sometimes two... they are pasteurized by the SV cooking, so they're pretty shelf stable at fridge temps.
Ribs that turn out nice and tender are pasteurised by default, and pasteurised meat in proper vacuum can last 3-4 weeks in a cold (under 2 C / 36 F) fridge. It's very, very unlikely that they'll spoil.
There are, however, two things that can get you in trouble:
Improper seal on the bags or punctures.
Ribs are relatively difficult to bag: they have sharp bones that can puncture a hot plastic bag even though they looked ok when cold, and bits of rub can get in the way of a good seal. It should be pretty obvious during or right after the SV cook whether you have a bad bag on your hands, but there's still a chance of a slow leak that can reveal itself only after a day or so, and lead to oxidation and off flavours.
This is a problem whether you keep them in the fridge (spoilage/funkiness) or in the freezer (freezer burn and oxidation), so I'd keep an eye on those bags for the first couple of days post-SV.
Off-flavours due to long-term storage.
Even if your bags are perfectly sealed, pork that's stored in the fridge for a few days gets a characteristic hammy smell (from fat breakdown, I believe?).
Personally I find that it's completely gone after finishing on the grill, especially for ribs, so I myself don't worry about it, but I also have been brought up with funky European charcuterie, so my taste is probably not your guests' taste.
I prefer to freeze immediately and thaw when needed, just for peace of mind (and even though the fridge is perfectly safe).
As for technique, I like to dry brine first, then a little rub for flavour, bag immediately and cook, chill completely, then apply a light slather with lots more rub, and set my bark at 150 C / 300 F. In my kettle that takes just over an hour (definitely less than two), doesn't burn the sugars in the rub, and is just long enough to get the ribs nice and hot without having to rest them before eating. I don't sauce so I'm not sure if 300 F would work to get a nice sizzle going on that.
Of course that means that if your rub has sugar in it, you will be curing your meat with sugar (in addition to the salt in the dry brine step) while you cook it and as long as you keep it refrigerated. I like pork that's sweetish throughout, but if that bothers you, you could leave the sugar out of the rub you put in the bag.
I don't feel qualified to judge how my bark or smoke ring turn out with my technique as opposed to cooking "naked" so I defer to the more experienced members of the Swine Mind
I've never considered SVing ribs. Ribs are only a 4 to 6 hour cook usually and doing them low and slow at 225° just seems sacred. I don't mess with the BBQ God's when it comes to ribs!😬
I think that is a very good comment Breadhead, I have thought about SV ribs but the more I think about I have a tendency to overcook ribs so they fall apart anyway so I think to SV them they might be fall apart tender before I ever get them to the smoker. I don't want to upset the BBQ gods either! LOL
I've never considered SVing ribs. Ribs are only a 4 to 6 hour cook usually and doing them low and slow at 225° just seems sacred. I don't mess with the BBQ God's when it comes to ribs!😬
Here's the deal, I'm gonna be camping in a few weeks, my plan is to do 10 racks, the PBC will ONLY do 8 ... so I was gonna do a couple precooked and finish them at the river. I'm only too sure the BBQ God's would approve.
I'd trade a couple Tri tips to smoke up while the 8 racks of ribs are resting then you can get some variety and the same amount of people fed, or more! I'm just too lazy
Just out of curiosity, SoCalTim , what's your camping situation like? Because if your refrigeration is less than spot on, precooking the ribs sounds even smarter. Holding cooked ribs in a cooler during travel, and then at 4-5 C / 40-45 F for a couple of days is not ideal but no biggie; doing the same with raw ribs, even brined, would have me worried. So I guess I'm saying you made the right choice
Zion in July or August is HOT, lots of ice if you do not have an RV with a fridge. I agree pre cooked good idea. Used to live near Zion it's a beautiful place. Angels Landing and the Narrows are great hikes. Stay hydrated and eat great BBQ.
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