Loin Back Ribs...Dry patch

[Beer/Meat/Victory]

Hey all - I had a nice little smoke yesterday. I'm typically a SLC spare guy so I almost never buy loin backs, however I say a decent deal on a rack at the store so I added one rack of Loin Backs to a planned cook for 2 racks of spares.

All rubbed with SM Cherry, and smoked naked until tender on my WSM. I have been playing around without using water and either going naked pan foiled or recently adding a clay saucer to the pan. The WSM was running a bit hotter than target but settled around 270-280 for most of the cook so I just let her ride until done. In addition I've always wrapped ribs, but this time I wanted to do them naked and just let them go until done with very little fussing around (no spritz, no sauce).

I put the spares on around 1pm, and the baby backs an hour later to try to keep finishing time close. I pulled the spares at 4.25 and 4.75 hours after passing the bend and probe test with flying colors (These were awesome eats - No pics due to hungry crowd). The loin backs still felt tough so I let em go a while longer but I did notice the last 3-4 bones on one side had a marked difference in tenderness to the other side. After about another 30 mins about 70% of the rack was perfect tenderness and those other 3-4 bones were still quite a bit tougher. I pulled at that time as I did not want to risk turning the rest of the rack into mush.

I've never had such a difference between one side of the rack to the other. The "tough" side was like eating an overcooked boneless pork chop, so not leathery, but more dry than anything else where the rest of the rack was juicy and tender with great bit and pull from the bones...just like the spares during the same cook.

Is this just an odd rib rack or is there something more to it or is it common in Loin Backs? Would wrapping have helped in this instance? I dug the naked unwrapped spares a ton, some of the best I've cooked in terms of bark, flavor, texture. (sorry no pics)

 

[tenpenny_05]

So yesterday I cooked St Louis style and baby backs next to each other. Because of the size constraint of my Kamado I had to cut the racks in half. After cooking for 3.5 hours, I had a hard time distinguishing the skinny end of the baby backs from the St Louis cut.

The fat end of the ribs is almost twice as thick as the skinny end, so I imagine what it take to cook one side would probably over do the other....

 

[dadsr4]

"I've never had such a difference between one side of the rack to the other. The "tough" side was like eating an overcooked boneless pork chop, so not leathery, but more dry than anything else where the rest of the rack was juicy and tender with great bit and pull from the bones...just like the spares during the same cook."

This is why I avoid baby back or loin back ribs. They are too lean to cook without elaborate wrapping in foil, or adding fat in some way, to overcome their lack of fat.
When I figure in my time and effort, anymore I only cook them when someone gives them to me to cook.

 

[Bigbears BBQ]

I'm guessing the more tender side was receiving more heat and cooked at the desired temp while the other side was slightly undercooked.

 

[dadsr4]

I'm guessing the more tender side was receiving more heat and cooked at the desired temp while the other side was slightly undercooked.

Using a WSM, the heat comes from below, so is even throughout the cooker. Without wrapping in foil, so the meat is basically steamed within the foil, there isn't the fat content that is found in spares or SL ribs to protect the meat from drying out.

 

[upStomp]

I've had similar experiences with baby backs when the narrower side of the rack has extra thick, lean meat on the bone. I mitigate the issue by cutting the racks in half and treating the thicker halves with a bit more care (spritzing more often, leaving on the smoker longer, positioning so that the fattier racks drip onto the leaner racks, etc.). It's not a perfect solution, but it does help.

 

[Beer/Meat/Victory]

Using a WSM, the heat comes from below, so is even throughout the cooker. Without wrapping in foil, so the meat is basically steamed within the foil, there isn't the fat content that is found in spares or SL ribs to protect the meat from drying out.

I kind of figured it was a fat content thing as the rack was dead center on top rack of WSM and other racks turned out great. I just wanted opinions since I almost never opt for Loin backs.