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Offline skidog

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Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #-1 on: April 09, 2017, 01:57:39 PM »
So I decided to do some more St. Louis style ribs yesterday to see if my last cook was just a fluke or not. The only difference this time was i bought the whole spare rib and trimmed it down. I removed the membrane and trimmed any nasty loose or thick fat, applied Sweet Money and put them in the fridge for an hour or two. Put them on Davy at 250 on the rack I made and let them go for 4 hours. Checked them after 4 hours and not much bend so i left them. After 5 hours still not much bend but I was hungry so I pulled them. They sucked! It was like on the meat side it had a membrane. The meat underneath was okay but you couldn't bite through the top it pulled off in one piece. You could basically fillet it off like when filleting a fish. Totally opposite of the ones I did last week. These were Smithfield extra tender. Not tender at all!
So what say you guys and girls? What did I do wrong? Or do you sometimes just get **** ribs? I didn't take any pictures, I was too upset! :'(  ;D
Appreciate the responses and help.
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Offline sparky

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« on: April 09, 2017, 02:19:03 PM »
Sounds like they were pre brined before you got them.  Also, most rubs are salt based.  I never let my ribs sit with rub for very long.  I pull my ribs out, rinse them off, add rub, fire up smoker and let it come up to temp, have a FT.  Once FT is empty put your ribs on.  Spares @ 250° / baby backs @ 275°. 
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Offline hikerman

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2017, 02:23:59 PM »
Ok here's my two cents. My experience has shown me that virtually every piece of meat is different. You could have two identical butts, same weight, same meat to fat ratio, and they require totally different cook times to get to the same IT. More times than not, this doesn't happen, unfortunately it does happen when we are pressed for time or we are famished! But the bottom line is....Your cut of meat is done when it hits your predetermined IT or your toothpick test. You decided they were done because you waited long enough. Wrapping could have sped that up, but I prefer unwrapped. At 250F 6 - 7 hours is about the time a meaty rack takes on my Boone.

Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2017, 05:35:36 PM »
Sparky is so correct about the timing of the rub. I rub just before I get the grill going.  I have never like smithfield poke in any way shape or form.............
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Offline Pappymn

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Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2017, 05:46:37 PM »
Sparky is so correct about the timing of the rub. I rub just before I get the grill going.  I have never like smithfield poke in any way shape or form.............
What brand do you like? Not sure I have a choice here
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Offline skidog

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2017, 07:09:09 PM »
Thanks for the replies. I don't think my rub being on there for an hour or two had anything to do with what happened. I guess maybe they needed longer. Like I say though, the meat under that first layer was fine. It was just that outer part. Oh well, guess we'll see what happens next time. I've done lots of ribs so I get that they don't always get done at a specific time, just never had that jerky like layer on the meat side.
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Offline hikerman

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2017, 07:33:36 PM »
Skidog looks like you gotta get back up on the horse and cook some ribs that you're proud of. We all get bucked off every now and again!

Offline skidog

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2017, 01:00:21 PM »
Haha. Thanks hikerman. It was just weird, never had ribs come out like that. Sounds like I'll be getting back on that horse soon, brother just informed me that everyone is coming to my house to grill on Easter.  Hopefully it will be a nice day.

Like pappy I'm interested in what the smoke likes for ribs.
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Offline TentHunteR

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2017, 07:32:29 PM »
Along the same lines as what Gene (hikerman) said... 

Trust me when I tell you we've all been there!

Hey, it's a learning experience, and what you've learned first hand is the bend test and/or toothpick test never lies.  You should see some tearing in the surface of the meat fiber for the bend test, and a toothpick should slide in nice and easy with almost no resistance.  If there's no tear when they bend, or if there's resistance when you try a toothpick, they're not done, period.


Get back on that pony and ride! After you do a few more racks, you'll get the hang of it, I guarantee!  8)
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Offline Old Dave

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2017, 05:49:03 AM »
Mr Skidog,

You have some great tips above your rib problems and I will try to give you a couple more. I will follow along with your post and make some comments that I hope will help as you got to be on top of your game by Easter.

Trimming down those big spares to the St. Louis cut is a great way to do ribs. I usually save the trimmings until I have a big bagful and then have a nice “Rib Tip” party with all the scraps. By the way, the Smithfield Extra Tender is the Hot Tip in rib competition cooking as they are the best thing going at this time.

The Sweet Money rub has quite a bit of salt as it is listed as the second ingredient and in my opinion should not be left on the ribs very long before they go into the fire. I would suggest to just put it on and let them sit on the counter top until they sweat and then they need to go on the grill for best results. Probably take about 30-35 minutes to get to the sweat stage.

I would suggest that you lower the temperature on the DC to about 160-170 degrees for the first hour of the cook to be sure to get a little extra smoke into the ribs. About all pellet cooker are not very efficient at this lower temp and will smoke a lot more during this low temperature timeframe which will be good for your ribs. Your 250 degree after the first hour is fine for the balance of the cook. The DC runs a little hotter on the left side so it might be better to have the thicker or larger side of the ribs on this side of the cooker again for best results when you load it.

Bend test..he he, not a very good way to test for doneness in ribs!! Use your Thermopen if you have one or if not, get one. Ribs are done at 204-208 degrees measured between two of the middle bones in the center of the slab right in the middle of the meat. Practice with a slab of ribs and you can learn this in about two minutes.

I think the problem with your ribs was the harder bark associated with not foiling your ribs and you will have to live with this if you are stuck on this practice. The larger or heavier the slab, the more crunchy the outside layer will be. Your rub was on the meat too long and probably pulled some of the moisture out of the outside layer of the meat as well. I really doubt if your ribs were done enough for the best results.

Ok, if you are not locked in to not using foil, here is how I would handle your cook.

Cook your ribs using the above tips until you get to an internal of about 155-165 degrees or when they have that great dark red color and pull them off of the DC. Using heavy duty foil, make a boat and pour 1-1/2 to 2.0 oz of apple juice on the foil, then sprinkle about 2-3 TBL brown sugar on the foil, and then add 3-4 lines of either honey or one of the Agave syrups to the foil, then place the ribs meat side down on top of this, run a few more lines of the syrup or honey to the backside of the ribs and then add a couple more TBLs of brown sugar to the backside, (no more apple juice here) and then wrap your ribs and place them back on the cooker meat side down. Start checking them in about 45 minutes and again using the Thermopen stuck right thru the foil being careful to not got too far and poke a hole in the bottom and let all the goodies out. This process is called braising and will make your ribs much better in my opinion. When you get them done (204-208 degrees), take them out of the foil, and let them cool for about 10 minutes and place them back on the cooker for the glaze. Apply your favorite glaze to the meat side of the ribs and cook them for about 20 more minutes until the glaze sets up to a kinda sticky stage and pull them off and  enjoy.

You can probably find some more information on my site in these two articles.

http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/2014/10/bronto-spare-ribs-and-rib-tips.html

http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/2014/05/spare-ribs-in-davy-crockett.html

Hope this helps...
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Offline skidog

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2017, 01:18:55 PM »
Thanks Tent and Dave. By the way Dave I made my rack per your instructions, would have been really cool to find a rack that was 15X15. I guess the reason I was confused was because the week before I made St. Louis ribs the exact same way and they turned out perfect, no tough layer, perfect bend, just turned out great. That's why I made them again this way to see if my rack the week before was just a fluke, seems it was.
I did use my Pop to check the temp on these last ones and they were around 190.
I'm not against using foil I just never did it much before. I used to make BB ribs on my charcoal grill and just never foiled and was happy.
I did foil some BB ribs I made on the DC and honestly they were too fall apart for my tastes, obviously they were in foil for to long, I'll adjust next time. That's why I tried the first St. Louis ribs without foil and lo and behold they were perfect. But next time I'll try the foil again.
Yup, I found my DC runs a little hotter on the left as well so I do put the thicker side over there.
I know about the Smithfield extra tender being the hot ticket lately, that's part of the reason I bought them, plus only a 1.80lb.
So just got word that my brothers and dad are coming over on Easter, pulled 3 racks of BB ribs and a 7lb Boston Butt out of the big freeze. Figured I would do the butt and food saver into 5oz packs to send home with them for later and eat the ribs on Sunday. Oldest brother likes dry ribs with no sauce so I'll try to accommodate him.

Whew! That was allot of typing for me! lol.
Thanks for all the tips and comments from everyone I really appreciate it.
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Offline akruckus

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #10 on: April 12, 2017, 05:13:00 AM »
Sparky is so correct about the timing of the rub. I rub just before I get the grill going.  I have never like smithfield poke in any way shape or form.............

I'm going to second the dislike of Smithfield.  Hatfield is way better if you have it in your area.  They are based in Hatfield, PA so local to me but I'm not sure how far they reach outside of the Mid Atlantic.

I will also say, they are done when they are done. If you are running out of time you can always wrap them in butcher paper or foil until you like how they feel.  I always try not to wrap, but there is a point where it is getting late and they aren't coming along as you'd like and you need to wrap to help speed things up.
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Offline skidog

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Re: Made horrible ribs yesterday!
« Reply #11 on: April 12, 2017, 10:37:19 AM »
Sparky is so correct about the timing of the rub. I rub just before I get the grill going.  I have never like smithfield poke in any way shape or form.............

I'm going to second the dislike of Smithfield.  Hatfield is way better if you have it in your area.  They are based in Hatfield, PA so local to me but I'm not sure how far they reach outside of the Mid Atlantic.

I will also say, they are done when they are done. If you are running out of time you can always wrap them in butcher paper or foil until you like how they feel.  I always try not to wrap, but there is a point where it is getting late and they aren't coming along as you'd like and you need to wrap to help speed things up.
Never seen Hatfield around here.
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