Smoking pork ribs help needed.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I do the same thing bakechef does. I think he means you don't have to buy a smoker. You can use gas grill. Most recently I did the ABTs (stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon) this way.

So do tell then... Coals on one side (lid on :ROFLMAO:) smoking chips wet and wrapped in foil (holes poked in it) smoked for hours... Obviously you have to keep adding charcoal... Anything else I need to know??? Don't hold back that wouldn't be nice... :angel::angel::angel:

P.S Andy I figured out how to get pix on thread so both the cakes I made are on now, along with the black stallion...
 
So do tell then... Coals on one side (lid on :ROFLMAO:) smoking chips wet and wrapped in foil (holes poked in it) smoked for hours... Obviously you have to keep adding charcoal... Anything else I need to know??? Don't hold back that wouldn't be nice... :angel::angel::angel:

P.S Andy I figured out how to get pix on thread so both the cakes I made are on now, along with the black stallion...

I do this routine with a gas grill, not charcoal. But you are correct, wet chips on coals to one side of the grill. Food on the other side for indirect heat. You don't have to have smoke for the entire cooking time.
 
ok ok, i'm back.

i have a perfect flame 36" gas smoker, uncle bob.

i made my ribs today, with mixed results. i cut the spare ribs down so i had a nice square rack (st. louis cut, i think it's called), the knuckle, and some leftover trimmed pieces of meat. it wasn't too difficult, but i was unable to peel off the membrane in one piece, no matter how hard i tried. so i just cut through the membrane on each piece of meat between the bones.

i rubbed 1 rack and some trimmed meat pieces with a mix of paprika, dark brown sugar, raw cane sugar, sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.

the other rack was rubbed with sea salt, black pepper, dark brown sugar, garlic powder, and lots of roughly cracked mustard seed.

i cut the racks in half and put them in a vertical rib holder in order to get them to fit on one shelf of the smoker, and i put the extra trimmed pieces flat on a lower shelf.

they were smoked over hickory and apple wood at around 230. ok, what i thought was 230 degrees. the thermometer in the door of the smoker turns out to be about 50 degrees off. after 3 1/2 hours, the meat still didn't seem cooked very much. i measured the temp with a seperate thermometer, and found they'd been cooking at around only 175 instead of 225.

i removed the trimmed pieces and doused them in bbq sauce to snack on. they were good but a little tough, partly due to the cooking temp, partly due to some sinew.

then i basted the first rack with kraft bbq sauce, and the mustard seed crusted rack was brushed with warmed honey. i found out the hard way that nuking a couple of tablespoons of honey turns it into a very liquid napalm. ouchie! i burned my left index finger pretty good, in a tasty sort of way.

the racks went back in, this time at a true 250 (reading 300 on the thermometer in the door) for another hour. i would like to have let them go longer, but everyone was so hungry that i just pulled them out and served.

the bbq sauced rack was good, but very tough as it needed at least another good 2 hours in the smoker at a proper temp. they weren't even close to "falling apart". the rub i used was good, but a little heavy on black pepper and paprika.

the mustard and honey rack was very good as they were a little less meaty. hence, it cooked faster in the lower temp. also, the rub is fantastic with the honey glaze. i will definitely be making this rub again, on ribs and other meats.

overall, the results were edible, even tasty, but very chewy. disappointing at best, but at least i learned something. need to look into getting an accurate thermometer to replace the one in the door.

i also learned that if i cover the bottom of the unit around the legs with aluminum foil, it was easier to get a steady temp (albeit too low) even on a very windy day.

thanks for everyone's help. i hope next time to finally nail down a decent rack of ribs.

btw, the knuckle pieces were browned with garlic in evoo and simmered in tomato sauce for 3 hours, to be served with pasta for lunch this week.

:chef:
 
...i found out the hard way that nuking a couple of tablespoons of honey turns it into a very liquid napalm. ouchie! i burned my left index finger pretty good, in a tasty sort of way
...in a tasty sort of way :LOL:
(sorry to laugh but that struck me soo funny...you okay?)


.
 
ya know, it's not normal to get burned and enjoy sucking on your wound.

and thanks, i still have all my digits.
 
ya know, it's not normal to get burned and enjoy sucking on your wound.

and thanks, i still have all my digits.

Wow BT didn't realize you enjoyed it, I believe there's a 12 step program for that...

Hi i'm Buckytom, and I enjoy sucking on my honey-basted wounds... :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
So do tell then... Coals on one side (lid on :ROFLMAO:) smoking chips wet and wrapped in foil (holes poked in it) smoked for hours... Obviously you have to keep adding charcoal... Anything else I need to know??? Don't hold back that wouldn't be nice... :angel::angel::angel:

P.S Andy I figured out how to get pix on thread so both the cakes I made are on now, along with the black stallion...

There are ways (like the minion method, google it) so that you can cook for quite a while without having to add charcoal. I could get a burn of about 250 in the installed lid thermometer in my Weber kettle grill off of one batch of charcoal for about 5 hours without much flux.

I did buy a new smoker and did 7 racks of ribs for about 5 1/2 - 6 1/2 hours at 225 on the lid thermometer with only opening the side hatch to beat the ashes from the coals once.
 
BT?... Did you save me at least one? :LOL:
You guys made me hungry for ribs I had to call the butcher and order 2 cases of beef and pork! Hope you guys are happy now.:ROFLMAO:

Munky.
 
yes. :chef:

i plan on picking up another coupla racks while they're on sale and trying again, this time with the extra thermometer the entire time.
 
Back
Top Bottom