Cambro and Baby Backs
 

I recently cooked for my nephews graduation party and did some baby backs as a personal request from him. The issue I ran into was when the ribs were done I put them in full sheet aluminum pans and covered with foil. I poked a few holes in the foil to vent the steam. They were done to perfect texture when I put them in the Cambro. When I reached my destination about 20 minutes away they had steamed and now were overcooked to the point they were literally falling of the bone. I also cooked 40 lbs of pulled pork and 20 lbs of pulled chicken which were delivered the night before and reheated.

My question is do I need to let them rest longer to cool before I lock them away in the Cambro for transport? They were still gone within 15 minutes but I was not happy with the product I was serving to his guests. Approximately 80 to 100 people. everyone said they were good but who's gonna knock free BBQ.


Any tips would be appreciated.


Thanks,


Greg

I was mortified the first time we did exactly this for a church luncheon service, sometimes you learn from a mistake or maybe more appropriately what you consider a mistake and other people look on as an improvement.

That was the day I learned the masses really prefer fall off the bone, slide the bones right out of the rack tender ribs so long as they are still moist and juicy.

I heard about those ribs for months afterwards and that's all anyone has wanted since.

Try a people's choice taste test sometime and serve them up a firm pull from the bone and fall off the bone and see what they say.

I think you'll be surprised at how overwhelming most folks preferences are just so long as they aren't dry.

A Cambro hot box is very efficient. I usually let meats cool to 170° before going in to the box, and if I'm holding meats for several hours I'll crack the door once an hour to allow some of the heat to escape.

Did you pan & cover the ribs right away? If you're at your desired doneness, it can be beneficial to let the meat cool a little bit before covering and holding. If you put 'em in the Cambro right away, there'll be a good amount of carryover cooking.

If I'm not holding for very long, I won't even cover the stuff before I put it in to hold. But that's if 'm stationary - I totally get wanting to cover something when you're on the move so as to keep down the possibility of a mess.