Baby Back rib Smoke: Still not Where I Want Them

[jonobacon]

Hey All,

I have posted in the past that I have never been particularly satisfied with my rib smokes so far. Well, yesterday I decided to have another smoke and use the technique Myron Mixon outlines in his book.

I wanted to share the cook with you folks, and I hope some of you can help with my questions. Thanks in advance!

I started out with these baby backs from Lunardi's:




I asked the butcher to remove the membrane for me (hell, if I am the customer...they can do it ), and I rubbed it down with this:



I had a pretty good coverage of rub.

Myron also mentions that you should marinade your ribs: I didn't have time to do this, so I just applied rub.

Myron says you need to get your smoker up to 250 and to then smoke for 2 hours in a aluminium baking tray. He says to put them on for the first 30 mins and then spritz with apple juice, and then spritz every 15 mins for the remainder of the two hours.

My smoker (a Brinkmann Gourmet El-Cheapo-Home-Depot) struggled to get up to 250, and hovered between 220 and 245, with a single wood flare up that took it to 265 before I put it out. My wood by the way is hickory (which I soaked before the smoke).

After two hours it looked like this:



Myron then says you take the ribs out and put them in a new aluminium baking tray, put a cup of apple juice in the tray and then cover it in foil and smoke for another hour (with no spritz breaks).

After this hour (now three hours in) I figured it would be a good time to do an internal temp check, although I didn't expect it to be at temp as my smoker was running lower than 250 for pretty much the entire cook.

I jabbed the meat thermometer in and had a few different readings, which I know is common for ribs, but they seemed to be around 145 - 155. My presumption here was that they needed more time to get to the 165 safe eating level.

I threw them on for another 30mins, and then I noticed that one part of the ribs was at temp but another part wasn't. I was now getting really confused; the last thing I want to do is to give my six month pregnant wife food poisoning, but I also didn't want to dry the ribs out.

After an extra hour of cooking time in addition to Myron's guidance, I took them out and they looked like this:



While the flavour was delicious, the meat was overcooked and tough. To give an idea of how one of the ribs looked like, it looked like this:



You can see the meat hasn't pulled back much from the bone.

Every rib cook I have done so far has been great in flavor (I am quite happy with my rub/sauce selection, although there is plenty to explore to improve!), but I am really dissatisfied with the tenderness of the meat.

I have narrowed this down to a few likely causes:

* Spritzing every 15 mins - Myron's technique seems to be at odds with the "if you are looking, you ian't cookin'" mantra of BBQ. I suspect that opening every 15 mins means it slows the cook down while drying out the ribs. Does this make sense? How often, if ever, should I spritz?

* Cutting the ribs in half - my smoker is pretty small so I have been chopping the baby backs in half to fit them on. It struck me last night that by chopping them in half this means I can't do the bend test as I am trying to bend half a rack - am I right to presume the bend test won't work on a half rack?

* My fear of undercooking - I think I really need to get over my fear of undercooking ribs. I am pretty new at cooking in general, and BBQ is my first experience of being passionate about cooking, and I think my biggest challenge is trying to know when something looks done and when it is not done. Have you folks faced this before, and if so, how did you get over it? I wonder if I should just go and shadow someone who is smoking ribs in the local area.

If you have any other tips or guidance they are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, folks!
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[NAVET]

I would say first stop looking? I am thinking Myron's million dollar smoker works/reacts different than yours so his technique works for his smoker but may not necessarily work best on yours.

Second I would say figure out the sweet spot (temperature) your smoker likes and then go from there. Trying to get your smoker up to his temp may be a struggle and irritating to you. I would hate to see you stop because you can't do it like Myron. Try smoking at a lower temp for a longer time?

I don't wrap my ribs. Not saying wrapping or not wrapping is the correct way to do it, just saying I don't. And I don't spritz either. I rub them the night before, wrap in plastic wrap, pull straight from the 'fridge, unwrap and smoke. I let my pork butts come up to room temp (sometimes) but don't sweat my ribs coming up to room temp.

My smoker is big enough to leave the racks whole but an option is doing one rack as large as you can leave it so you can do "the bend test". Get them to the point you are happy with and then jab them with a toothpick. Remember how the toothpick test felt and then try smoking them the way you do now (cut in half). Jab with a toothpick till they feel the same. Just a thought. Some folks roll the racks in a circle and smoke them that way so that's an option as well. Course that kills "the bend test" too.
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[BluDawg]

This is how I cook ribs YMMV!

unwrap and rinse in cold water( leave the membrane it will cookoff and helps to retain moisture)
pat dry with a paper towel
wet the surface( I use woster or a little( about a tblsp) of my gold & bold sauce
apply the rub
put them on the pit at 270+/- 20 deg
maintain temp for 4 hrs
drink a few beers
open the pit and do a bend test

if they pass I eat if not cook a little longer.




Your making it harder then you need to JM2C
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[Manana]

I've seen Myron cook on tv and he doesn't do all that stuff. I think he may have over done it a bit to sell a book.

I've done pretty much what the guys above have done and I've done the 3-2-1 thing where you leave unwrapped for 3, wrap for 2 and unwrapped and sauced for 1. But I do more of a 2 1/2 1ish 3/4's type thing depending on how the ribs look and feel. The ones I wrapped for a bit did turn out a little moister than the unwrapped but they were also done on the akorn as opposed to the offset so that might have made a difference too.

My advice and take it for what's it's worth: Stop reading Myron and read/ask here. After that change it to fit your needs and wants.
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[1buckie]

jonobacon ~~>
"I didn't expect it to be at temp as my smoker was running lower than 250 for pretty much the entire cook."

It's entirely possible that they're tough cause they're not cooked enough....

The pan, the wet wood, the spraying every 10 minutes, the lower temp, all these things ADD time to the cooking....

If I did all those things I would venture to guess I would be at about 5-1/2 to 6 hours for backribs....

Wet chunks just slow the cooking, the fire has to make up for exracting the extra moisture...
Low temp, not really that big a deal, but it may come up without wet wood & opening the cooker a bunch of times...

Try just spritzing once each 1-1/2 hours for a total of 3 times, cooking at approx. 235° -250°,for 4-1/2 hours if that's where the cooker will run comfortably....

That may even be a bit long, but if the 1st 3-1/2 hours go smooth & consistent, you can always pull off sooner ~~~>

PS: if you try dry wood, bury it down in the charcoal, less tendency to flare up that way....

Just some thoughts, play with it, I'm confident you'll get the hang of it soon !!!!
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It's gonna say on my tombstone: Died of thick, heavy sauces ~~~~>K
" The Creepy Guy Down the Street With All The Webers"

[k.c.hawg]

Ribs shouldn't be that much trouble! I do a light coat of grapeseed oil, a good dry rub, stick them in the smoker and expect them to be done around the 4.5 hr mark. I might look in at 3.5 hrs to look for pullback on the bones, lift them and see how much they are bending and see if I'm still on track, running behind or running ahead of the original time frame. In the end I want a toothpick to glide through between the bones and the ribs to bend 45 degrees without breaking apart.

I cannot see any reason for cooking ribs in a pan or on a sheet, a thermometer is worthless for ribs and marinating sounds like overkill. These guys are looking for something to differentiate their ribs from 200 other competitors and often times when I see what they have done it makes zero since. A judge might take 2 bites and pick up a multilayered flavor profile (marinating, rubbing, spritzing, saucing) and it might stand out more than some other rib but it is totaly unnecessary for putting out outstanding ribs at your home when you might eat a half side of baby backs rather than eating 2 bites.

If my smoker wouldn't hold a whole rack I would roll the ribs into a ring, use a skewer to hold the ring together and stand them on their edge.
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[1buckie]

"but it is totaly unnecessary for putting out outstanding ribs at your home when you might eat a half side of baby backs rather than eating 2 bites."
_________________
^^^^^^^^^^^^

That makes sense....
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Have Fun Playin' with Yer Food !!!
"Dam Silly Sumbitch"-- Myron Mixon
"I will prevail. No pig will ever get the better of me." ~~> Italian Skewer
It's gonna say on my tombstone: Died of thick, heavy sauces ~~~~>K
" The Creepy Guy Down the Street With All The Webers"

[k.c.hawg]

Here is a good way to make use of your space.


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Horizon Marshall 20"
Primo XL
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Weber 22.5 Silver Touch
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[Mish]

Stop over thinking it. Let your cooker get to temp wherever it settles in and make sure you dont use the stock thermo it came with. They are tough becuase they are not fully cooked, ribs have fat and connective tissue that breaks down during cooking making them tender and juicy. Go with what the others have said and just relax and make BBQ.
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[rygleason]

I have a modified Brinkmann gourmet smoker I cook on just like you--- well not sure what mods you have done, my mods are what daytripr did in his stickey.

Myron's book is overkill like the others have stated. Don't use a pan for your ribs. Cook directly on the grate for the first and last part of your cook and foil in between. As for cutting your rack in half---- i used to do that until I got better at trimming and prepping my ribs. Now I cut the ends of and make a nice uniform rack for the "sweet spot" and cook the rest in pieces and for the chefs snack.

This pic should help:

On the ECB:


Keeping a larger and uniform rack will allow the bend test much easier. Trimming the edges so they are straight allows you to get an accurate sight of the bone pull back.

Spritz every hour for the first 2. For st Louis ribs foil them at 2.5 hours. Add what you want to in the foil--- I use brown sugar, honey, and parkay squeeze butter. Cook in foil for another 1.5 hour or so. Pull the foil and cook on the grate until they are ready to sauce--- this is where the bend test comes in handy. Depending on how they are doing, spritzing may be needed to keep them moist until they are ready to sauce.

As for temp--- I your ECB is like mine it likes to cruise along between 220-250 depending on how hot/cold outside it is. As long as your temp stays consistent you are fine between 220-275. The ribs will be done when they are done
Please let us know how your next cook goes!
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[1buckie]

jonobacon, rygleason is using your same cooker so will have a handle on the particulars...
Others' have all offered great ideas too
Thought of 2 more things that might help ~~>

1) If Ray ( Hell Fire Grill) were to write in, he'd probably suggest: "Relax, drink a few beers & Have a good time"

& 2) Try to get 'em to bend like this ~~>



Then you know they're done, probably...
_________________
Have Fun Playin' with Yer Food !!!
"Dam Silly Sumbitch"-- Myron Mixon
"I will prevail. No pig will ever get the better of me." ~~> Italian Skewer
It's gonna say on my tombstone: Died of thick, heavy sauces ~~~~>K
" The Creepy Guy Down the Street With All The Webers"

[SoEzzy]

Too much information, not enough practice!

Myron cooks a whole lot of his competition meats hot and fast, so he can get a good nights sleep and still turn in championship winning meats an a regular basis.

You are not Myron Mixon, so learn the jonobacon style of cooking.

The chances are you ribs were not overcooked, even with all you did, I suspect they may actually have been under cooked.

It takes me between 3:40 and 4:15 on a UDS running at 250° I don't spritz as it slows down the cook IMO, for loin back ribs, with larger St Louis cut spares they take another 15 minutes or so, just under 4 hours to about 4 1/2 hours, full spares will cook on the same cooker at between 5 1/2 and 6 hours.

To get them fully cooked you are at 190° - 215° internal, a pork loin would be medium rare at 140° internal, and I'd be happy to eat it, and a couple of my kids will eat this, (though my wife and daughter won't, as it's still has a 1" circle of pink in the middle), at 150 - 155° its medium, no pink left, (the kids are ALL happy to eat this, though the daughter will ask for it a little more cooked), at 165 - 170° I wont eat pork loin at this temperature, it's too much like eating shoe leather, (though my wife loves it cooked as much as this, and my daughter is a little happier too)!

If your ribs do not have a lot of fat, you will need to learn how your cooker cooks ribs and I suspect you need to spritz less and turn more. On fatter ribs you may be able to leave them unturned an extra 5 to 10 minutes on a side, as the fat renders out.

Buy some more ribs, and cook another practice run, put them on and leave them the hour as Myron advises, then instead of spritzing them, turn them over every 15 minutes, meat side down, then meat side up, do that for another hour, (with full spare ribs I'll often go 2 hours bone side down before turning them), you won't get pull back on every rack of ribs, I'd go so far as to say that it doesn't happen at all on at least 33.3% of all the ribs I cook, it only happens partially on 33.3% of them, and happens to the point I'm happy to point it out, on less than the whole 33.3% that are left.

She's still alive, so cook some more and get better at it.

The first time the training wheels came off your bike you still crashed... it took time to hold the bike up, it takes time to not crash on the BBQ too!

Relax, practice, pay attention, eat, ask questions, repeat!
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[jonobacon]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks all for the advice; I really appreciate it. I am certainly not giving up, I am determined to master BBQ, one dry set of a ribs at a time.

So it sounds like a summary of all the advice is, don't try to over-complicate matters, stick 'em on the smoker, just stick them on the rack, don't spritz as often, and they are done when the bend test works.

A few of you said they were likely not cooked enough (as I am going for that fall off the bone experience). The color of the meat had no pink in the middle of the meat and looked quite grey. Kind of a bit like this (I found this pic online):



Also, the meat seems quite dry. Does this still sound undercooked? I would have thought it lacking redness on the inside of the meat and lacking moisture would mean I cooked it too long. Do I need to cook it longer to let the connective tissus break up?

I plan on doing another cook soon, I will post another report and summary. Thanks again!
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[Mish]

[edskull69]

[GF]

jonobacon, aren't you cooking on the electric? If so I don't think your gonna get the same smoke ring on the and adding in the pan and foil doesn't help.

You may be in "information overload".

Start with getting down a flavor and texture profile you like, and figure out how your cooker likes to run, don't fight it, you'll lose.

Take things from there, keep it simple to start, don't even sweat smoke rings and pull back, doesn't make em taste any better.

If you have any doubts, follow HFG's advise, relax and have another beer.

[Oregon smoker]

[Utah Jake]

Three things:
Myron's smoker is a water smoker with tray of water between the heat and food. This cooks very different from yours.
If you are relying on a lid mounted thermometer, don't. Go right to the rack.
Finally, Myron hates baby backs as many of us do. They are very fussy and dry out fast. Very narrow success margin, try spare ribs or St.Louis cuts until you get your rib cook together.
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