Peteg
Full Fledged Farker
Bingo, As in I should stay away from Farmland and Hormel? I understand Hormel, but everyone seems to like Farmland. Did I miss something.
Bingo, As in I should stay away from Farmland and Hormel? I understand Hormel, but everyone seems to like Farmland. Did I miss something.
Enhanced ribs? Never knew there was such til this thread. Had to Google it. Why in the world would somebody want to "enhance" a rib? Mother nature made the perfect food and here people go screwin it up.
I get all my stuff from a local meat market. Never in a vacuum pack or anything. Just lots of slabs ready for the taking! Enhanced ribs?!?! Blasphemy!
My 2cents?
I think it's a combination of factors, enhanced ribs and the Guru. My reasoning?
Enhanced Ribs: basically brined (salt, salts, oh and some salts)
Now add your favorite rub? Sauce? (more salts)
All that salt is probably pulling moisture out of the meat during the cook (foiled or not). I'm sure enhanced ribs foiled for an hour or more appear plenty juicy and moist, in fact I'm betting they are swimming in liquid. The problem is that the brine/salt helped pull all that moisture out and there is no putting it back in once the meat is setting up/cooked.
I've used enhanced ribs a few times when my other sources weren't available and every time the ribs (no matter my cooking method) turned out much drier than non-enhanced ribs.
IMHO ribs are plenty fatty and don't need a brine to add moisture. As well, the meat left on most racks is thin enough brining could easily be working against you. (when I say "brining" I am refering to the "enhanced" mixture being a brine)
As for the Guru on a UDS? IMHO Over-kill.
Forcing air through an already efficiently designed, sealed smoker system like the UDS is just going to chase your moisture out the exhaust. Increased air-flow is probably helping with consistent temps, sure. But it's also likely pushing heat and moisture out the exhaust much faster than a natural flow.
In my experiences with UDS smokers as long as you keep the exhaust open more than the air-intake the natural flow of hot air rising will create a pull/updraft that naturally provides oxygen for the fire. I find that a 150 to 200 ratio works (exhaust = 150 to 200% of open air-intake) Example: 1" air-intake with 1.5 to 2" exhaust.
Beyond all that, when I smoke ribs on my large reverse flow trailer I use a modified 3/2/1 method (more like 2/1/1) at 230 degree and I almost always have a wet-smoke set up using apple juice or cider. Since using UDS smokers I've found them to be sealed and efficient enough that moisture hasn't been a problem with any meats yet. With the UDS I still used my 2/1/1 method at 230 degrees, IMHO the foiling for 1 hour provides steamy/moist tenderizing.
Anyways, I'm guessing it's the combination of enhanced/brined and forced air-flow (guru) pulling moisture out of the meat and chasing it out the exhaust.