On May 29, 2:17 pm, Bilz > wrote:
> On May 29, 1:57 pm, wrote:
>
>
>
> > On May 29, 12:18 pm, Bilz > wrote:
>
> > > Yesterday was a beautiful day for a barbecue. I am new to barbecue,
> > > but I have been very successful so far by following directions and
> > > having good results come out. So I invited 10 friends over, and
> > > barbecued up some spare ribs... and they were so tough and chewy that
> > > they were almost inedible.
>
> > > Here is what I did:
>
> > > I soaked the ribs overnight in apple juice. I then cured the ribs
> > > with a dry rub for 4 hours.
>
> > > I used an offset smoker (Silver Smoker from Char Broil). I cooked
> > > with hickory briquettes (from Royal Oak) and soaked Hickory chunks.
> > > In the firebox, I put a pan of apple juice for some added moisture.
> > > The temperature in the smoke box remained between 200 and 300 degrees,
> > > depending on how recently I opened the box.
>
> > > Every 1/2 hour, I opened the smoke box to liberally spray the ribs
> > > with apple juice. I flipped the ribs, and rotated them so they had
> > > equal time close to the fire box.
>
> > > I cooked the ribs for 4.5 hours, and a half an hour before we ate, I
> > > lathered both sides with my barbecue sauce.
>
> > > They TASTED pretty good, but they were so tough that they could barely
> > > be ripped apart. Overall, they were so tough that it was an
> > > unpleasant experience.
>
> > > WHERE DID I GO WRONG??????
>
> > You let all the heat out when you opened up the grill every 30 min,
> > just when you built the heat back up you let it out. try going 1 to
> > 1.5 hours in between the apple juice or just leave it out. you have
> > to give the heat and smoke time to work, and if these were spare ribs
> > you probably need to go 6 to 7 hours. I do baby back and grill them
> > for about 15 min per side and then smoke for about 3-4 hours and they
> > turn out great no sauce but a vinegar baste every hour or so..
>
> Thanks for the info. All of the apple juice was to keep the ribs
> moist. I did ribs once before, and they were a bit dry. I was
> actually following a recipe in the "BBQ Bible" cookbook. It told me
> to spray the ribs down every half hour. I will try again without ever
> opening the pit.
>
> What temperature is a good one to maintain?
>
> Someone also suggested that I bake the ribs in the oven at 250 in a
> braising bag for 3-4 hours before putting them in the smoker. Anyone
> with experience with doing something like this?


Nah, you shouldn't have to do all that. Meat dryness comes from losing
fat, not water. Someone here mentioned this, but have you ever had dry
meat out of a crock pot? It can happen.

I suspect your ribs just needed more time. They're done when they're
done, which to me means a fork twists easy in the meat. Others here
say the slab cracks when you bend it, and so on. Or, you might have
had some very lean ribs.

Buy another slab and give it another try without all the apple juice.
Cook until they're done, whenever that is. IMO ribs taste great with
little or no seasoning, maybe some sauce on the plate just for kicks.

I've screwed up a smoke in front of friends too. They get over it if
you cook something else that turns out good. :-)

-John O