Southern Home Boy
is Blowin Smoke!
So, my local Costco had Spares on sale for $1.79 lb this weekend. Figured I couldn't pass that up and with a competition looming next weekend, I thought I'd try something a little different.
I always foil my ribs for at least an hour during the cook, but this time, I decided to see what the difference really was between foiled and non-foiled ribs.
I bought one cryovac of two slabs of Spares, trimmed them down to a St. Louis cut and rubbed 'em with my rub blend. I covered 'em with plastic wrap on a 1/2 sheet pan and stuck 'em in the fridge for two hours.
When they were about ready, I got the UDS up to temp using the last 3# of regular Kingsford I had laying around and a couple of hickory chunks. While the drum was getting up to temp, I pulled the slabs and let them come up to close to room temp and then dusted one more time with the rub.
Onto the drum at ~235-240 degrees.
Both smoked unfoiled for 3.5 hours and looked similar. At that point I foiled one slab and left the other alone. Cooked for another hour and unfoiled the second slab. At this point, they were radically different. The unfoiled slab had a nice mahogany bark with beautiful bits of spices spread over the outer layer. The foiled slab looked grey and slightly "sickly". However, as I mentioned, I've been foiling ribs for a long time and knew that wouldn't last long. Another 45 minutes to firm up and color up with a third and final dusting of rub.
I also added a second variable into the mix: I glazed the foiled slab the last 10 minutes on the smoker and left the unfoiled slab sans sauce.
I didn't start snapping pics untill I was about ready to pull them off the drum.
Here's what they looked like at that point:
Top slab is unfoiled, bottom slab has glaze and was foiled:
Next I pulled 'em to the cutting board and let them sit for about 10 minutes:
Then, I sliced 'em up and chose a couple of bones I thought were most representative of the two different slabs. The one thing I noticed the most difference in was how the foiled ribs seemed to pull up the bones more than the unfoiled slab and seemed a little more "plump". Both were quite moist and had a good smoke ring though:
Finally, the Bite test:
Both ribs came away cleanly from the bone, but the foiled ribs were slightly more "stringy" in the meat than the unfoiled ones. Both were moist and had a very similar flavor, though the glaze definitely had an impact I liked.
In the end, the test was inconclusive for me. As for the comp. next weekend, I'll stick with my Texas Crutch, but I may play without foil for a while at home.
Thanks for lookin'.
I always foil my ribs for at least an hour during the cook, but this time, I decided to see what the difference really was between foiled and non-foiled ribs.
I bought one cryovac of two slabs of Spares, trimmed them down to a St. Louis cut and rubbed 'em with my rub blend. I covered 'em with plastic wrap on a 1/2 sheet pan and stuck 'em in the fridge for two hours.
When they were about ready, I got the UDS up to temp using the last 3# of regular Kingsford I had laying around and a couple of hickory chunks. While the drum was getting up to temp, I pulled the slabs and let them come up to close to room temp and then dusted one more time with the rub.
Onto the drum at ~235-240 degrees.
Both smoked unfoiled for 3.5 hours and looked similar. At that point I foiled one slab and left the other alone. Cooked for another hour and unfoiled the second slab. At this point, they were radically different. The unfoiled slab had a nice mahogany bark with beautiful bits of spices spread over the outer layer. The foiled slab looked grey and slightly "sickly". However, as I mentioned, I've been foiling ribs for a long time and knew that wouldn't last long. Another 45 minutes to firm up and color up with a third and final dusting of rub.
I also added a second variable into the mix: I glazed the foiled slab the last 10 minutes on the smoker and left the unfoiled slab sans sauce.
I didn't start snapping pics untill I was about ready to pull them off the drum.
Here's what they looked like at that point:
Top slab is unfoiled, bottom slab has glaze and was foiled:
Next I pulled 'em to the cutting board and let them sit for about 10 minutes:
Then, I sliced 'em up and chose a couple of bones I thought were most representative of the two different slabs. The one thing I noticed the most difference in was how the foiled ribs seemed to pull up the bones more than the unfoiled slab and seemed a little more "plump". Both were quite moist and had a good smoke ring though:
Finally, the Bite test:
Both ribs came away cleanly from the bone, but the foiled ribs were slightly more "stringy" in the meat than the unfoiled ones. Both were moist and had a very similar flavor, though the glaze definitely had an impact I liked.
In the end, the test was inconclusive for me. As for the comp. next weekend, I'll stick with my Texas Crutch, but I may play without foil for a while at home.
Thanks for lookin'.
