ebijack
Babbling Farker
This past Wednesday, Diesel Dave and I did another cook for the Visually impaired Veterans. Dave smoked the briskets and beans. I smoked 12 racks of BB and potaotes. We were to serve at 11:30am at the Veterans hospital. A little over an hour drive for me. I didn't want to have to get up at 2am to get the ribs on, drive and then serve food.
I have never held ribs for long periods like brisket. I typically hold briskets a minimum of 4 hrs on up. So this was an experiment I had no idea if it would even work. I smoked the ribs at 250* for 6 hrs. Pulled and held the ribs for a total of 16 hrs till serving time. Pulled the ribs around 8pm.
I used to use a Cambro for food holding Diesel Dave is the owner now :thumb:. But after a few hand surgeries and getting older. I could not lift or man handle that heavy sucker even without food in it. It does take 2 folks to lift when full of food.
I have other coolers I use in place of the Cambro. Along with towels to take up dead air space. Which works almost as good as a Cambro. Like alot of the Brethren. But the coolers I have that are able to hold full hotel size pans. Are to hard to man handle alone when /full heavy due to length etc. I needed something lighter in weight, smaller size to man handle but still hold full hotel pans.
I came up with this idea, a cheap plastic box
https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Storage-Tote-in-Black-HDX27GONLINE-5/205978361
Some free styrofoam I had, and some 1/4 plywood for the bottom. On which I place an aluminum pan with 3 heated firebricks wrapped in aluminum foil in first. Heat the fire bricks in smoker or oven. Place cooked meat pans ontop of the fire bricks. First I heated the bricks to 170*. Those 3 bricks held the BB meat temp to 142* for a total of 6 hrs. I heated up another set of bricks to 250* in the oven prior to the swap, those held the temp till serving time. I can lift and transport much easier. And cost is great! I made 2 of those to hold all the pans I needed.
Yes there is styrofoam under the bottom plywood.
A notch in the foam lid to be able to open easily.
Again, use towels to take up an dead air space. The firebrick pan and 2 full size hotel pans fit with room for 2 large bath towels. For reference.
These works very well! If I decide to spend a few more $$, I'd buy aluminum sided foam board. It might reflect heat even better.
Now, for the long BB hold time. Everyone says they were the best yet. Juicy, fall off the bone tender. Much more so than just smoking and serving within a couple hours.
The color of the center rib meat was much more reddish than I have ever seen. Hope you can see in this pic. Compare the nice color of the brisket.
The comments are now to this should be my usual/typical method. Not sure I will hold that long for folks eating here. But I will be holding ribs for more than 2 hrs from now on. They were that much better.
If you really like fall off the bone tender. Ya might want to try to have a long hold time on your next BB cook.
I have never held ribs for long periods like brisket. I typically hold briskets a minimum of 4 hrs on up. So this was an experiment I had no idea if it would even work. I smoked the ribs at 250* for 6 hrs. Pulled and held the ribs for a total of 16 hrs till serving time. Pulled the ribs around 8pm.
I used to use a Cambro for food holding Diesel Dave is the owner now :thumb:. But after a few hand surgeries and getting older. I could not lift or man handle that heavy sucker even without food in it. It does take 2 folks to lift when full of food.
I have other coolers I use in place of the Cambro. Along with towels to take up dead air space. Which works almost as good as a Cambro. Like alot of the Brethren. But the coolers I have that are able to hold full hotel size pans. Are to hard to man handle alone when /full heavy due to length etc. I needed something lighter in weight, smaller size to man handle but still hold full hotel pans.
I came up with this idea, a cheap plastic box
https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Storage-Tote-in-Black-HDX27GONLINE-5/205978361
Some free styrofoam I had, and some 1/4 plywood for the bottom. On which I place an aluminum pan with 3 heated firebricks wrapped in aluminum foil in first. Heat the fire bricks in smoker or oven. Place cooked meat pans ontop of the fire bricks. First I heated the bricks to 170*. Those 3 bricks held the BB meat temp to 142* for a total of 6 hrs. I heated up another set of bricks to 250* in the oven prior to the swap, those held the temp till serving time. I can lift and transport much easier. And cost is great! I made 2 of those to hold all the pans I needed.
Yes there is styrofoam under the bottom plywood.
A notch in the foam lid to be able to open easily.
Again, use towels to take up an dead air space. The firebrick pan and 2 full size hotel pans fit with room for 2 large bath towels. For reference.
These works very well! If I decide to spend a few more $$, I'd buy aluminum sided foam board. It might reflect heat even better.
Now, for the long BB hold time. Everyone says they were the best yet. Juicy, fall off the bone tender. Much more so than just smoking and serving within a couple hours.
The color of the center rib meat was much more reddish than I have ever seen. Hope you can see in this pic. Compare the nice color of the brisket.
The comments are now to this should be my usual/typical method. Not sure I will hold that long for folks eating here. But I will be holding ribs for more than 2 hrs from now on. They were that much better.
If you really like fall off the bone tender. Ya might want to try to have a long hold time on your next BB cook.
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