Rubbery ribs in foil

[Eggspert]

We just finished competition #4 and have gotten calls in everything but ribs. I always thought our team rocked at ribs until we starting doing competitions. We use St. Louis Ribs started with 3-2-1, brown sugar and parkay in foil during 2. I didn't like the texture of the meat with that method. It gets mushy, dry. Then we went to 3-1-1, same goodies in the bag. Still mushy, dry ribs. This last week we did 3-1-15 minutes. We changed the goodies to a runny bbq sauce in the foil. This made the meat rubbery and they were too tough. I made them prior to competition and they were awsome. I used really fatty meaty on the longer bone side ribs for my practice run. On competition day our butcher sent us very lean ribs, with shinners on the racks!!! How do I get a good texture with the ribs. Do fatty ribs give you better finish texture. We cook on BGE, by the way. Also, I smell a lot of Cherry wood at comps. I often have ribs turn dark with cherry.

Thanks in Advance! Really hoping to get a rib call to match all the others.

Jennifer Amundson
Eggspert BBQ
3 LG BGE
Stoker

[Ron_L]

Well, mushy ribs are overcooked and rubbery and tough ribs are undercooked.

What temp are you coking at and are you consistent on the size of the racks? I like to cook racks that about about 2.5 lbs each (after trimming) and mine generally go a total of 4 1/2 hours at 260-ish. That's 2.5 without foil, 1.5 in foil and then out of foil to finish, usually 30 minutes or so. But, your cooker may be different.

[Fat Freddy]

I am afraid any advice I would try to give is useless because your ribs beat mine. Mine was way over cooked. Sorry we didnt get a chance to meet each other. Congrats on Pork and brisket calls.

[Eggspert]

Thanks Oversize Load. I didn't know you were a Brethren member until I got back home. Great job on your first comp! This is our first year and it is so challenging to do well! Still trying to tweak our recipes to figure out what scores well with judges.

Jennifer Amundson
Eggspert BBQ
3 Lg BGE
Stoker

[Eggspert]

Ron,
We cook ribs similiar size, I guess I never weighed them to check weight. That is a good start. We cook at 250. We increase temp to 275 if ribs are more firm then we like when we foil. If they are getting soft already we decrease to 225. I know they needed more time to cook. Would you recommend more time in foil or out of foil? My experience is that after foil when you take the ribs out and return the to the heat they start drying up. So my gut says more time in the foil.

Jennifer Amundson
Eggspert BBQ
3 Lg BGE
Stoker

[Alexa RnQ]

I'd agree with building on this experience by selecting consistent racks, cooking them open to the color you like, and giving them more time in foil. Absolutely the one thing you learned was never to leave meat selection up to your butcher! We got burned that way early on. Get nicely marbled slabs and trim them down yourself.