I've posted a few times in the past regarding pork spareribs I've
smoked, usually w/ less than stellar results. Today, I smoked four
racks ($1.89 lb at Giant Eagle this week), and they actually came out
great- "falling off the bone" tender. I used Royal Oak lump and several
handfuls of Jack Daniel's wood chips made from their oak barrels used
to age their whiskey. The only problem was the BBQ sauce I made- the
wife likes it as sweet as possible, and I prefer it be not so sweet. It
was way too sweet for my tastes, but the wife loved it. The company
loved them as well- my cousin alone was good for about a rack and a
half himself! As for the ribs, I smoked them for 3 hours, then wrapped
them in foil for about 2&1/2 hours, and then took them out of the foil,
and cooked them for about 1/2 hour, during which time I applied the
sauce. I've never used this method before- I've always smoked them
directly on the grates w/o the foil. The other difference was how I put
them on the grates. Before, I always put them on the grates meat side
up. This time, both directly on the grates and in the foil, I put them
meat side down, except for the last 15-20 minutes, when I applied the
sauce. To what do you attribute the difference in quality (much better)
this time vs all the other times? Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

Either way, it seems I've turned the corner in regards to smoking pork
spareribs- thanks in no small part to all the expertise that is
represented here!

Thanks once again for your help/suggestions!!

Jim

wrote in message
I've posted a few times in the past regarding pork spareribs I've
smoked, usually w/ less than stellar results. Today, I smoked four
racks ($1.89 lb at Giant Eagle this week), and they actually came out
great- "falling off the bone" tender.
sauce. I've never used this method before- I've always smoked them
directly on the grates w/o the foil. The other difference was how I put
them on the grates. Before, I always put them on the grates meat side
up. This time, both directly on the grates and in the foil, I put them
meat side down, except for the last 15-20 minutes, when I applied the
sauce. To what do you attribute the difference in quality (much better)
this time vs all the other times? Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

Tell truth? Not knowing the cooker you're using it's impossible to tell
isn't it?

Me, I did two full racks of spares (and two chix) today on the offset
bone down with no sauce (never while cookin', only as a side) and they
turned out great as usual. Tomorrow I'm bringing in a few ribs for a poor
Texan missing 'Q who endeared me knowing that sauce is for covering up
mistakes and believes that meat is best cooked dry, sauce served on the
side. He's getting extra knowin' that. :-)


D
--

Duwop wrote:

Me, I did two full racks of spares (and two chix) today on the offset
bone down with no sauce (never while cookin', only as a side) and they
turned out great as usual.

Amen, bro'. Bone-down always in my offset.

Tomorrow I'm bringing in a few ribs for a poor
Texan missing 'Q who endeared me knowing that sauce is for covering up
mistakes and believes that meat is best cooked dry, sauce served on the
side. He's getting extra knowin' that. :-)

:-)

So I've been experimenting with sauces, and I've homed-in on my
own style; a decent cheap Zin-reduction with just enough sugar and
wine vinegar to add pleasant tang. I tried using a decent cheap
Cab once and my 10-year old told me to use Zin the next time.

So here's a little confession; I got curious and picked up an
ECB at Wal-Mart. $60 for a Brinkman's Electric Smoker. First cook,
I bought a pack of baby backs at Costco, figuring I wouldn't screw
'em up ;-), gotta think positive. I cut an oak barrel stave into quarters,
wrapped three of them in foil, pricked them a bunch of times to make little
holes on top, and layed them in between the element.

I was quite surprised how well the ribs turned out. I mean, really quite
close to the results I get in the offset with lump. I can tell the difference
but it's pretty subtle. Next time I'll probably use 4 quarters of the stave.

For the first cook, I even put water in the pan, though I got a bag of lava
rock to put in the pan at some point.

It's always fun to experiment, and the results were great as usual. Heat,
smoke, meat and rub.

Dana

Tell truth? Not knowing the cooker you're using it's impossible to tell isn't it?

-Char Griller Super Pro w/ SFB. True- sauce can cover mistakes, but it
can enhance a well cooked rack o' ribs as well. Why else serve sauce on
the side? The ribs I cooked were really good today. The sauce, in my
opinion, degraded the quality. I'm not trying to start a debate on ribs
w/ sauce vs ribs w/o sauce- I'm just trying to figure out the best way
to smoke them. I recently saw a program on Food Network about 2
brothers- I think in Texas. Each had his own BBQ restaurant, within a
few miles of each other. Each one served ribs- one w/ sauce, and one
w/o, and each claimed that their ribs were the best. They both had
plenty of customers to back their claims. It truly is a matter of
preference!

Jim

wrote:

Either way, it seems I've turned the corner in regards to smoking pork
spareribs- thanks in no small part to all the expertise that is
represented here!

Falling off the bone is a sign of overdone ribs. As to foil, it's just
another method of steaming the meat --- just like tony romas or applebees.
The sauce simply hides the meat taste.

--
Dave
Dave's Pit-Smoked Bar-B-Que
http://davebbq.com/

Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

It had nothing to do with meat side down. By wrapping them in foil, you
literally braised them instead of making barbecue out of your ribs.
Stay away from the foil, cook your ribs slow for 6 or 7 hours or until
done and see the difference. You basically made chain restaurant ribs.

Kurt

On 6 Sep 2005 06:08:22 -0700, "Chef Kurt"
wrote:

Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

It had nothing to do with meat side down. By wrapping them in foil, you
literally braised them instead of making barbecue out of your ribs.
Stay away from the foil, cook your ribs slow for 6 or 7 hours or until
done and see the difference. You basically made chain restaurant ribs.

Which are your words, and which are the words you're replying to?
Please configure your newsreader so it quotes correctly.

"Chef Kurt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

It had nothing to do with meat side down. By wrapping them in foil, you
literally braised them instead of making barbecue out of your ribs.
Stay away from the foil, cook your ribs slow for 6 or 7 hours or until
done and see the difference. You basically made chain restaurant ribs.

Kurt


Maybe he LIKES chain restaurant ribs. Seriously, I agree on not using foil;
4 hours or so at 250 or so on my smoker gets the job done nicely for me. No
sauce, unless someone asks for it. With beer on hand (or on tap), that's
all the saucing I need.

Jack

"Jack Schidt®" wrote:

"Chef Kurt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

It had nothing to do with meat side down. By wrapping them in foil, you
literally braised them instead of making barbecue out of your ribs.
Stay away from the foil, cook your ribs slow for 6 or 7 hours or until
done and see the difference. You basically made chain restaurant ribs.

Kurt


Maybe he LIKES chain restaurant ribs. Seriously, I agree on not using foil;
4 hours or so at 250 or so on my smoker gets the job done nicely for me. No
sauce, unless someone asks for it. With beer on hand (or on tap), that's
all the saucing I need.

Jack


You know some regular restaurants like J Alexander's cook their ribs
with a cooker similar to a cookshack. Low and slow smoking.

Some people like smokey tender ribs to fall off the bone. So in that
case finishing with foil is the way to go. It just depends on the
people. Kinda like me overhearing someone order Prime Rib end cut- well
done, yuck.

On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 07:53:28 -0600, Kevin S. Wilson
wrote:

Which are your words, and which are the words you're replying to?
Please configure your newsreader so it quotes correctly.

Headers suggest he was posting from Google groups.
--
-denny-

"I don't like it when a whole state starts
acting like a marital aid."
"John R. Campbell" in a Usenet post.

On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:08:31 -0700, Denny Wheeler
wrote:

On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 07:53:28 -0600, Kevin S. Wilson
wrote:

Which are your words, and which are the words you're replying to?
Please configure your newsreader so it quotes correctly.

Headers suggest he was posting from Google groups.

There's a way to make google quote properly. Don't recall what it is
though.

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:04:59 -0600, Kevin S. Wilson
wrote:

There's a way to make google quote properly. Don't recall what it is
though.

Or, you could just use Outlook Express with OE-QuoteFix:

http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

Or, you could really go for broke and use Agent, which quotes
correctly, but costs $.

Of course, both options require a news server, which also usually
costs $$

EZ from St. Louis

On 6-Sep-2005, "Jack Schidt®" wrote:

"Chef Kurt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Would you say it was the method I
smoked them, or the way I put them on the grates- meat side down this
time instead of meat side up?

It had nothing to do with meat side down. By wrapping them in foil, you
literally braised them instead of making barbecue out of your ribs.
Stay away from the foil, cook your ribs slow for 6 or 7 hours or until
done and see the difference. You basically made chain restaurant ribs.

Kurt


Maybe he LIKES chain restaurant ribs. Seriously, I agree on not using foil;
4 hours or so at 250 or so on my smoker gets the job done nicely for me. No
sauce, unless someone asks for it. With beer on hand (or on tap), that's
all the saucing I need.

Jack

I foiled some ribs just one time and I'll never do it again. Neither do I put any
sauce on them. I use my house rub the night before if I happen to think of it,
otherwise I apply the rub just before putting them in the pit. I cook at 250° to
275°F and it usually takes about 4 hours to get them where they'll crack when
I bend them. At that point they are almost, but not quite falling off the bones.
They are juicy and tender with all of their natural flavor intact. There's sauce
available on the table. Nobody ever uses it.

--
The Brick said that (Don't bother to agree with me, I have already changed my mind.)

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On 6-Sep-2005, wrote:

Tell truth? Not knowing the cooker you're using it's impossible to tell isn't it?

-Char Griller Super Pro w/ SFB. True- sauce can cover mistakes, but it
can enhance a well cooked rack o' ribs as well. Why else serve sauce on
the side? The ribs I cooked were really good today. The sauce, in my
opinion, degraded the quality. I'm not trying to start a debate on ribs
w/ sauce vs ribs w/o sauce- I'm just trying to figure out the best way
to smoke them. I recently saw a program on Food Network about 2
brothers- I think in Texas. Each had his own BBQ restaurant, within a
few miles of each other. Each one served ribs- one w/ sauce, and one
w/o, and each claimed that their ribs were the best. They both had
plenty of customers to back their claims. It truly is a matter of
preference!

Jim

I saw that show. In that town anyway it's like pitting Ford agains Chevrolet
for brand loyalty. It can actually get bloody. I definitely wouldn't fit in. I
cook without sauce, but serve it on the table and I just switched from GMC
to Ford. (I can't pull houses anymore, but I can pass gas stations sometimes.)
--
The Brick said that (Don't bother to agree with me, I have already changed my mind.)

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

You are the only one who can't seem to follow a thread without ""'s.
Try really hard, pro. I posted on top so I hope that doesn't send you
crying to your boss, chuckles.

Now go back to alt.cult.kiblogody

Kevin S. Wilson wrote:

On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:08:31 -0700, Denny Wheeler
wrote:


On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 07:53:28 -0600, Kevin S. Wilson
wrote:


Which are your words, and which are the words you're replying to?
Please configure your newsreader so it quotes correctly.

Headers suggest he was posting from Google groups.


There's a way to make google quote properly. Don't recall what it is
though.