2nd attempt at pork ribs

[snowfella]

Yup, I'm a newb that after years of using either a gas grill or Kettle knockoff just picked up a new Bunnings chargriller a few days before newyears. Only 2 cooks in on the new grill so far, first attempt at low & slow ribs on newyears eve that was less than stellar (the bits that still had moisture left in them were nice but half went way too dry) and a chook last week.

Plan is to start out bright and early tomorrow morning giving the ribs a dose of rub (not that I have much of a choice of a sleep in getting invaded by grandkids for a days worth of anclebiter sitting, damn you school holidays!) and some hours later run them slow for however long it takes. Expect lots of question from the little ones regarding why poppy is starting out fixing dinner before breakfast!
Changes from last attempt would be own rub and mop, pre marinated ribs I got from the butcher for last attempt still had the membrane on and that was a pain to remove with already coated ribs! Also set up a basic block of direct heat in the grill using some terracotta pavers.
Picked up a box of "proper" lump charcoal on the way home from work yesterday so it's going to be interesting to see how it differs from the regular heat beads. Wife thought the box was the side firebox for the grill that I've been drooling over, quick explanation that it just was a $20 box of charcoal and not a $120 firebox had her go "Oh, I wouldn't had a problem with it" so I think I'm safe in picking one up by accident on my way home from work soonish

Wish me luck guys, hopefully I won't fail again! Though if I do it's just another learning experiment I guess!

[Dogkarma]

Be careful with your cook times,unless your ribs are really meaty they don't need to cook for hours on end.
one of the biggest problems we face in Aus is our ribs aren't like the big juicy bad boys you see the yanks do,I've yet to find a good supply of meaty pork ribs.
If your recipe for them is from the states (most are) work out the weight of your rack compared to the recipe and alter it,I'm no rib expert but that's what I've found over time,We in Australia love short cut bacon and that round tough dry chewy bit of bacon is the very meat that they cut off the rib,the meat we want!
This is why Americans use streaky bacon (the other end) they know that the tough round bit is best kept on the rib for low and slow.

Another thing is make sure the butcher hasn't given you ones that have been frozen they dry out in no time,wrap them and spritz them with juice,water,beer what ever takes your fancy,I'm sure they will be fantastic either way but just don't cook those bad boys all day.
Good luck.

[snowfella]

Cheers for the tips mate.
Already planned on cutting down the cook time on these, last time was just way too long before I foiled them.
And trust me to pick the perfect day, 42 degrees outside with a thunderstorm rolling in at the moment

Lmao, looks like my cook time just increased. Absolutely pissing down with wind to boot, just lost about 50F worth of temp out of the griller in a matter of minutes.

[Dogkarma]

Ah well time for more beer mate,I'm actually testing theories at the moment when it comes to using foil I'm starting to use paper instead,foil can actually cause over cooking as it conducts a lot of heat regardless if it's shiny side out or not,I know there is a certain amount of truth in this and I've got some beef ribs going in my weber smoky mountain at the moment,I've got some wrapped in paper and some in foil and I'm curious about the result.

[snowfella]

Just took them out of the foil for a very last bit to get the surface seared alittle more. Still seem moist enough to me, lets hope they stay that way.

And as for frozen vs fresh, pretty sure these never have been frozen as I'm but one little cog in the chain that delivered them to the store. Sometimes it pays to work for one of the big 2 as I pretty much know how and from who the stock on the shelves come in....and when the deliver to my local store turns up

[snowfella]

Results are in!
Better than last attempt but still not perfect. Fall off the bone tender but a touch on the dry side. Another re-adjust of cooking time in order for the next attempt, least this time there were no bits that couldn't be eaten.

And as a hobby photographer I'm sad to say situations got ontop of me and no photos were taken

[Dogkarma]

Good stuff,so how long did they go for? Before and after you foiled them?

[mb403]

Who doesnt like eating ribs every weekend lol. Keep on trying..

I tried the beef rib paper and foil comparison couple months ago, paper ones came out alittle dry. But i think that was due to the paper i used. Officeworks kraft, became soggy. What paper are you using and where from?

[Dogkarma]

To be honest I couldn't tell much of a difference between the two,the paper I used was just butchers paper nothing fancy I got a heap from kings storage for packing as we are moving house soon and thought I'd give it a crack,I wonder if using an offset smoker would be the deciding factor,in my WSM like I said I couldn't see any difference.

[Davo]

In my WSM I don't wrap the ribs anymore, I don't even spritz them anymore as I'm sure any surface moisture will soon evaporate by the heat and besides, I always use a full pan of water in the WSM when doing ribs as that will keep some moisuture in the cooker mixed with the smoke and heat gives me good results with a nice crispy bark on the ribs even if I decide to lather them with a sauce before the cook finishes in the last half hour.

By foiling or papering them, you're just steaming the ribs which will generally make any dry rubs soggy so I think there is not point.

I find that a good 1kg slab of ribs has a reasonable amount of meat on it, carefully get rid of the membrane using a handful of paper kitchen towel to grab onto one end and slowly peel back..sometimes it snaps off so keep going with it.

I find that either 2 or 3 slabs of those ribs will take 5.5-6 hours to be ready using the WSM @ 225F average.....maybe an hour quicker at 250-270F but I prefer the lower temps.
When it gets to 5 hours in, I lift up 1 end of the ribs to a 90 deg bend almost, and have a look underside and if the meat is tearing at the underside at the bend, then they are ready if not...do it again another half hour.....at this time, I start the painting of the sauce on the ribs until I get the tear at the under side of the bend...I know they are ready.
Take them off and let them rest for at least 15-20 minutes if you can keep everyone's grubby little mitts of them long enough Give them another good lathering of sauce just after you take them off the cooker but don't go overboard with the sauce as you want to taste the spice rub you put on.

Another way is don't sauce them at all and just place a couple of bowls of sauce on the table for those who wish to have sauce to dip them.....careful of the double dippers

Anyway.....that's how I do 'em.....have a go and see if it works for you.

Cheers

Davo

[mb403]

That sounds pretty text book davo, nice. Old man who never showed any interest in low n slow bought a cabinet smoker, will try this same method instead of wrapping like on the weber this weekend.

[Davo]

Yeah while it does sound a bit text bookish and i'm not sure if it is or isn't as I never got that technique from a book, instead like many I got this info from a forum TVWBB (The Virtual weber Bulletin Board) which talks about cooking on the WSM that I have and it kinda sounded the way I would like it so I tried the method I explained a few times coming to the inclusion that it works for me and I have never misjudged any rib cook since using this method.
I guess too it depends on how you like your ribs, I like em with a bit of bite and NOT mushy fall off the bones with no texture to them....each to their own....I also like to taste and feel the crunchy of the rub on the outside so I don't always sauce them...depends on the Mrs

Cheers

Davo

[mb403]

Yeah while it does sound a bit text bookish and i'm not sure if it is or isn't as I never got that technique from a book, instead like many I got this info from a forum TVWBB (The Virtual weber Bulletin Board) which talks about cooking on the WSM that I have and it kinda sounded the way I would like it so I tried the method I explained a few times coming to the inclusion that it works for me and I have never misjudged any rib cook since using this method.
I guess too it depends on how you like your ribs, I like em with a bit of bite and NOT mushy fall off the bones with no texture to them....each to their own....I also like to taste and feel the crunchy of the rub on the outside so I don't always sauce them...depends on the Mrs

Cheers

Davo

Same here mate. All this rib talkin has got me hungry lol

[snowfella]

Good stuff,so how long did they go for? Before and after you foiled them?

Going from memory it ended up something like 2 hours before foil for another hour, followed by 30 odd minutes uncovered when I put some sauce on.
Temps were all over the shop at one stage, some might of seen on the news what hit Sydney's west yesterday afternoon. At one stage I thought the grill was going to take off with the wind and had rain driving in under the awning that cooled things down even more. All in all a memorable afternoon at the bbq I'd say!

[Dogkarma]

At Costco at the moment and picked up some of the best pork ribs I've ever come across,I'll post pics of these meaty big boys later when I get home,got two racks and very,very happy with them.