Still trying to get the hang of RIBS!

[smokedinvt]

Sheesh.... Try number 3 on ribs
first a vent session. Went to the local grocery store, and they usually have pretty good meats. But not today. No whole racks of ribs, only "country style" or individually cut ribs. What the heck?! No racks of ribs?
OK - so I bought the ribs. Brined them for a few hours in water, salt, and brown sugar. My standard brine.
After brining, rubbed only with salt and pepper. through them on the smoker over maple wood. In the drip pan was water, Old Dog beer, a splash of red wine, garlic and apple.
SMoked them for about 2 1/2 hours - and my fault, got a late start on them because of other stuff I had to do today. Pulled them off the smoker because a.) its really dark out now. b.) it's cold. and c.) it is getting late! So, memo to file, I HAVE to remember to start these guys earlier next time!
Pulled them off the msoker, mopped them with Q sauce, into the oven to finish off.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Sheeeessshhhhh.... the learning continues!
Suggestions - always welcome!
Thanks brethren!

[bbqchicken]

I'm learning too my friend. When smoking I try to get an early start. I search these forums a farking lot to avoid mistakes.

[ozlites]

Hang in there!

[Ron_L]

Went to the local grocery store, and they usually have pretty good meats. But not today. No whole racks of ribs, only "country style" or individually cut ribs. What the heck?! No racks of ribs?


I'm confused by this. What did you end up buying?

Also, what type of cooker and what temp did you cook at?

[colonel00]

Yeah, I am confused too. If you got country style ribs then you did not get ribs. Instead you probably got a pork butt cut into strips. Still good meat but very different. As far as a normal rib cook. I would suggest planning on a cook period of 6 hours to be safe. You shouldn't need to actually cook for this amount of time but it is a good window to do prep, cooking, resting, etc. As Ron requested, can you give us some more details about the cook? How did the meat turn out?

[Lake Dogs]

Sheesh.... Try number 3 on ribs

Sorry Dude.

first a vent session. Went to the local grocery store, and they usually have pretty good meats. But not today. No whole racks of ribs, only "country style" or individually cut ribs. What the heck?! No racks of ribs?
OK - so I bought the ribs.

Um, they're not ribs at all. They're butt's cut into chunks. Cooking them as you would ribs will surely give you bizarre results.


Brined them for a few hours in water, salt, and brown sugar. My standard brine. After brining, rubbed only with salt and pepper. through them on the smoker over maple wood.

Good start, but the brine is probably a little useless (on this cut of meat).

In the drip pan was water, Old Dog beer, a splash of red wine, garlic and apple.

I think it's been proved that anything other than water in the drip pan is unnecessary and wasteful.


SMoked them for about 2 1/2 hours - and my fault, got a late start on them because of other stuff I had to do today. Pulled them off the smoker because a.) its really dark out now. b.) it's cold. and c.) it is getting late! So, memo to file, I HAVE to remember to start these guys earlier next time!
Pulled them off the msoker, mopped them with Q sauce, into the oven to finish off.

Well, they're not ribs to begin with, so anything you do is probably not too bad...

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Sheeeessshhhhh.... the learning continues!
Suggestions - always welcome!
Thanks brethren!


Best of luck next time. These are just small butts. Some like them grilled like a hamburger... I dont, but that's because I really like pulled pork and/or real ribs.

[qapla]

Not sure about your neck of the woods, but around here "country style ribs" are not ribs at all. They are pork shoulder cut to resemble ribs.

They are usually meatier then most ribs that I have cooked. If you keep in mend that they are really shoulder and cook accordingly they come out just fine.

[Dave Russell]

Like Lake Dog said. You've gotta start with ribs.

We could give all kinds of tips for next time, but basically, find a place that sells decently marbled spares. For me, the best I've found recently have been Sam's. The packs are three packs of full spares with no breast bone, and they've done really well for me on a wsm cooking 235-250 with water in the pan and no foiling, no mopping or spritzing or brining. I keep the ends of the slabs out of my cooker's "hot zone" and simply cook til tender but not starting to falling apart.

[IamMadMan]

Sheesh.... Try number 3 on ribs
first a vent session. Went to the local grocery store, and they usually have pretty good meats. But not today. No whole racks of ribs, only "country style" or individually cut ribs. What the heck?! No racks of ribs?
OK - so I bought the ribs. Brined them for a few hours in water, salt, and brown sugar. My standard brine.
After brining, rubbed only with salt and pepper. through them on the smoker over maple wood. In the drip pan was water, Old Dog beer, a splash of red wine, garlic and apple.
SMoked them for about 2 1/2 hours - and my fault, got a late start on them because of other stuff I had to do today. Pulled them off the smoker because a.) its really dark out now. b.) it's cold. and c.) it is getting late! So, memo to file, I HAVE to remember to start these guys earlier next time!
Pulled them off the msoker, mopped them with Q sauce, into the oven to finish off.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Sheeeessshhhhh.... the learning continues!
Suggestions - always welcome!
Thanks brethren!

Country ribs are not ribs and the meat is more dense with less fat.

I too had problems when I stared BBQing wit country ribs. I quickly learned to cook these in a manner similar to thick pork chops. I also learned to use the rub sparingly here as it is not absorbed well like other meats.

I sometimes use a "cure" brine, then rinse them before soaking in a weaker amount of salt / water ratio and smoking to make these like turn out with a mild ham flavor, then glazed with an apple BBQ sauce just to have a change every now and then.

[speedrcer1]

Hey bud,
Some confusion as far as what this was does not matter. Don't give up!
As far as ribs, watch the posts.
For full cut pork ribs, trim them to St Louis cut. (look on youtube)
Cook them 3-2-1. 3 hours in smoke at 225, 2 hours foiled with juice, 1 hour sauced.
For baby backs go 2.5, 2, .5.
Did BB Backs tonight and they were awesome. And don't forget to pull the membrane.
Remember, this is not rocket science. have fun with it.
Be well!

[smokedinvt]

Thanks guys!
Yeah - so I have to admit, I threw away the packaging before I looked carefully. They LOOKED to me like they were individually cut ribs, but seeing the comments about pork shoulder they could have been that.
But let's skip to the end - after being on the smoke and then finished off in the oven, they really were tasty! So, chalk this up to a BIG learning experience, but a tasty one in the end.
I will definitely be asking for RIBS when next I venture into the store. And I will be following the 3 -2 -1 method of smoking those babies. Looking forward to it.
By the way, in all of my experiments, I can not say that I have had a "bad" meal come off of the smoker. It's a great way to experiment.
Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions.

[caseydog]

It seems like you are doing a lot of work that you may not need to do.

When you do get a real rack of ribs, check the label to see if they are "enhanced." If so, they are already "brined," by injection.

All that stuff in your drip pan won't add any flavor. Plain water is fine.

When I do ribs, I simply rub them, and smoke them over charcoal and apple wood chunks at 250 until they pass the bend test -- about 5 hours for spares. Simple, and they turn out great.

CD

[smokingj]

I started doing the Mike Mills method. Rub em down, smoke em at 210-225 over apple wood and pull em when then bone starts to pull back. Results are great. Keep practicing. It's the only way you'll get good.

[El Ropo]

I'd rather smoke 'em @ 300-325 naked all the way, no peeking, no foil, no spritz, no mop. Let 'em rip for 3.5 or so hours, then start checking for doneness (bend test). Ribs cooked @ 225 have always turned out a tad dry for me, prefer hot n fast.

[jcpetro97]

Keep at it.. you will get the hang of it. I had some early success this summer, followed by a few weeks of things that just went wrong. Then i was forced to take about a month off after having surgery on my wrist. Since then, my ribs have been almost perfect. For me, I was over-thinking it. Find a process that works, and keep at it. You will get it...

[VoodoChild]

Not to be ignorant , But can someone explain the bend test ?? also the differance in Ribs ? The differant types ...:becky::roll: Thanks in advance for your explanations !!!

[BradB41]

Not to be ignorant , But can someone explain the bend test ?? also the differance in Ribs ? The differant types ...:becky::roll: Thanks in advance for your explanations !!!

Regarding the bend test, I think (this is my opinion only, but it definitely works for me) it is when you pick the ribs up in the middle with a set of tongs and the meat starts to "break" in the middle. In other words, until they're done, you can pick them up in the middle and the rack will hold together. When they are done, they will start to break apart. I've seen pics online before of the break test...just look around if you need a visual, but again...if you can pick the rack up in the middle and it starts to break in half, they're ready to come off the smoker.

As for the difference, I personally don't mess with country style ribs like the original poster mentioned. I like baby back ribs (you can get these in most places) and St Louis style ribs. St. Louis style ribs are spare ribs that are trimmed. Hopefully the URL below will work:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98483

The other cool thing is that after trimming the ribs, you take off a lot of meat that can be used for other purposes. I'm going to grind up all my frozen trimmings and use it for pork sausage or to add to my deer burger/sausage, or I might just use it for chili meat...who knows...but I definitely will find a good use for it!

I like to cook my ribs about two hours at 225, wrap in foil with apple juice for an hour (the Texas crutch), then unwrap and finish for another hour or so. About 20-30 minutes before I plan to take them off, I'll start painting them with sauce. I typically will mix two spicier sauces with a smoky-sweet sauce to taste. I'll also add some rub to the mix. For the most part, I like to mix up some Stubbs regular with some Cairo BBQ sauce (a nice, somewhat-spicy, local, vinegar-based sauce), and then something like a KC Masterpiece hickory smoked sauce to taste. As for the rub addition, I will typically add Stubbs rub and some Memphis Dust to taste. Blues Hog is a great sauce, but maybe a little on the sweet side for me.

Sometimes I just cook dry ribs with nothing but Memphis Dust rub and sauce on the side. Either way, it's great. It's really all in what you and your guests prefer.

[SirPorkaLot]

Not to be ignorant , But can someone explain the bend test ?? also the differance in Ribs ? The differant types ...:becky::roll: Thanks in advance for your explanations !!!

Spare ribs: these are the big slabs you see in the store. They are also cheaper per lb than baby backs. (typically).

St. Louis ribs (As mentioned above) is a style of cutting spare ribs. (also Hollywood cut)

Baby backs: These are actually Loin back ribs, but better known as baby backs. They tend to be more tender, but not as meaty as spares.

Country Style Ribs: are not ribs. See above

All above are pork ribs, there are multiple types of beef ribs as well.

[VoodoChild]

Ok Got it ... Thanks very much for the Explanations ...Mucho appreciado !!!:thumb: