CTO First Cook: Ribs (Pron)

Decided that I just couldn't possibly wait any longer to get some meat on my new cooker. Stopped by my local grocery store this morning and was very disappointed at the rib selection that they had so I asked one of the guys if they had any in the back still in the cryo. Luckily for me they did! I believe the packaging said they were Hormel Natural (no solution added).

I owed one of my neighbors for helping me out this week so I picked up a rack for him and his family as well.

I did very little prep for these ribs as I don't have time to do a full on comp practice today, so I just pulled off the membrane and trimmed the flap off. Put on a thin layer of seasoning salt and good coating of Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub.

I think I should have bought about 18 more racks because I have plenty of space!


I will try to remember to get some shots of the final product!

BRBBQ said:

I alway liked my CTO for ribs. Did you decide to use gas, charcoal, or Lump on this cook?

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Decided to use gas with one oak split and one maple split. Cooking at 275, no foil, planning to start checking for doneness at 4 hours. I am testing a flavor profile for comps so I will glaze these ribs. We will see how that goes because my own personal preference is for no glaze but I have to make the judges happy :tsk:

TTNuge said:

Well how were they? Do I need to stop over and finish up the leftovers? Lol

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They were delicious! I couldn't resist the urge to check them at 3.5 hours and I'm glad I did because they were almost done. I think there is going to be a learning curve for me with this cooker. Most of my spare ribs take about 5.5 hours on the stickburner without foil.

They did dry out a little bit because they were finished an hour before supper time, but still delicious. And the neighbors said if this was the standard payment then they would watch our boys anytime we wanted!

Next time I will try mixing Simply Marvelous's Cherry Rub & Sweet Seduction.

Trent, for some reason we never have any leftovers when ribs are involved!

TTNuge said:

Those looks great. Thinking a Costco or RD trip is in order ASAP.

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Let me know if you are stopping by RD at anypoint this week and I'll have you pick me up a choice brisket so I can give comp style brisket a shot.