All About RIBS!

aquablue22 said:

I have using an idea I read about a while ago, sugars when caramelized form a blanket that do not allow anything else to penetrate, so I have been doing my ribs, butts, brisket directly into the smoker without any rubs and getting a good smoke into the meat and then about the three hour mark for ribs and a little more for butts and brisket I pull the meat and soak with apple juice and my favorite rub and than let it go until until, I don't know but it seams I get a better smoke flavor and a better defined rub flavor. Just my 2 pennies

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What tips do you have to get the spices to form somewhat of a bark before the meat is tender?

aquablue22 said:

I have using an idea I read about a while ago, sugars when caramelized form a blanket that do not allow anything else to penetrate, so I have been doing my ribs, butts, brisket directly into the smoker without any rubs and getting a good smoke into the meat and then about the three hour mark for ribs and a little more for butts and brisket I pull the meat and soak with apple juice and my favorite rub and than let it go until until, I don't know but it seams I get a better smoke flavor and a better defined rub flavor. Just my 2 pennies

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That does make a whole lot of sense... I guess how you address this problem depends on what you're looking for in your final results. If you're after a very distinct smoke flavor, I would do what you are doing.

I shoot for a well balanced flavor profile, so I think I might leave the brown sugar out of the rub for my next batch and go with a sweeter sauce instead of my usual.

That's the beauty of BBQ- you get to cook it the way YOU like it!!!

aquablue22 said:

I have using an idea I read about a while ago, sugars when caramelized form a blanket that do not allow anything else to penetrate, so I have been doing my ribs, butts, brisket directly into the smoker without any rubs and getting a good smoke into the meat and then about the three hour mark for ribs and a little more for butts and brisket I pull the meat and soak with apple juice and my favorite rub and than let it go until until, I don't know but it seams I get a better smoke flavor and a better defined rub flavor. Just my 2 pennies

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VERY interesting point. From what I've read and understand, I agree that sugar carmelizes and would form a sort of barrier. I also have read, though that meat gets most of the smoke penetration within the first 1/4-1/3 of the cook. (I think Paul Kirk says this in his book?....can't rememer). If THAT is true....then by the time the sugars in the rub carmelize to the point that they form that layer, the meat's already gotten most of the smoke it'll get.

Plus....I think it also may depend on the AMOUNT of sugars in a rub and the AMOUNT of rub that one applies to the ribs.

Not at all trying to debate your point, just adding my take on it.


As with all things BBQ.....if it works for you....do what you do!:thumb:

My contribution :thumb:

Beef


Spares

aquablue22 said:

I have using an idea I read about a while ago, sugars when caramelized form a blanket that do not allow anything else to penetrate, so I have been doing my ribs, butts, brisket directly into the smoker without any rubs and getting a good smoke into the meat and then about the three hour mark for ribs and a little more for butts and brisket I pull the meat and soak with apple juice and my favorite rub and than let it go until until, I don't know but it seams I get a better smoke flavor and a better defined rub flavor. Just my 2 pennies

Click to expand...

I don't know... I'm not saying you're wrong, but I think it depends a LOT on the temperature that you normally cook at.

Sugar doesn't officially carmelize under 320 degrees. Now, that may be picking nits and whether the sugar is carmelized or not may not have anything to do with whether there's a "smoke-resistant" coating created by it, but from a purely technical perspective (as far as my knowledge goes anyway) there are probably other things going on.

Still, I think I'll have to try that method and see what it renders.

Thanks Aquablue.

OakPit said:

Cool thread!

I'm a ribs on the flat - unwrapped style cooker. I usually use a BGE but have cooked a lot on live fire as well. I season with a Garlic/Salt/Pepper on the bone side and then something more interesting on the meat side. Of course I trim to a hard St. Louis line and remove both the membrane and soft bones on the end.

I do spritz with apple juice and some other sweet & savory ingredients several times during the cook.

I typically don't sauce backyard ribs, but absolutely do for contests.

Here ya go...

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These the most beatiful ribs I've ever seen wow :thumb:

some beef and pork. beef ingredients too.

I just put 3 racks of spares on this morning and thought that I would make a contribution to this thread. I like to rub ribs about 30 to 60 minutes before I put them in the smoker and let them sit on the counter uncovered. This gives them time to sweat and marinate in the rub. Here is a pic of what I mean. I like to make sure the rub is good and wet from the moisture of the ribs being circulated by the salt in the rub before they go in the cooker.

Also, if you notice in the pic, I don't rub the edges of my ribs. I have found that I don't miss it and I also use less rub.

I am cooking some ribs tonight, and thought this could be helpful to be back up front for some folks.
We had a lot of new members join up around the July 4th weekend, and they may indeed be able
to benefit from this awesome thread.

Thanks, Bob.

My favorite bbq

Nothing beats a beautiful rack...

I smoke the brisket in exactly the same way as I do the cut STL ribs, and the EAT 'EM!!

Half the brisket is at the top of the pick, the other half is on the right side.

My little contribution for the "resource challenged":

"Enhanced Ribs" - if you're like me, sometimes you're stuck with those supermarket slabs that are enhanced with "up to 12% solution". This solution tends make the meat pretty salty, so to combat this I tend to go with rubs that contain no salt, and cut my finishing sauces with a little citrus. This helps!

Kettle cooks, times and temps - getting a good low-and-slow in a kettle doesn't have to be hard, as long as you put some thought into it. I set my kettle up by arranging charcoal in the method in the photo, and control the temp by opening the lid vent 100%, and closing down the bottom vent while temps are on the way up. The foil ring are actually wood chip packets, which I find works better for this setup than using chunks because you don't have to worry at all about flare-ups.

With this setup, I can lock down temps of 225 for as much as 6 hours, up to 300 for as much as 4 hours, without even touching the kettle.

Good luck!