What went wrong ??

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john c

Fire Starter
Original poster
Sep 26, 2007
53
10
The Big Smoke ,Toronto
I receive Jeffs news letter monthly and look forward to getting some great tips.
This last month I got all fired up about his beef ribs smoking recipe. So I got 3 massive racks of beautiful beef ribs and rub them down with spices.
I got the Brinkmann humming at 225 degrees and I put the ribs in on a wire rack all individually cut from each other.
Jeff says that he goes for about 5 to 6 hours of smoking time, but I had a look see at about 3 hours and cut into one. It appeared juicey and tender and looked awesome and ready too be eaten.
But I thought well Jeff is the grand smoking master so I let them go to 5 hours.
At this point they appeared very dried out and over done, so since dinner wasn't for another hour or so I got out my favourite Q sauce onto them and wrapped them in foil and blankets and let them sit in a cooler. I thought this would probably soften them up again.
Well dinner was a real bummer, they were like wood, very dried out.
The only difference I did from Jeffs recipe was he put his into a aluminium pan sitting on racks out of the drippings and mine were on wire racks.
WHAT HAPPENED P.S. I still love you Jeff.
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Well, from what you posted, I think you answered your own question. Jeff's basically get braised.......the longer they sit in the juices in that pan the more tender they are going to be.........without the juices, they just get over cooked.

My 2 cents anyhow.
 
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I managed to make some serious rib jerky last weekend myself
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Had great intentions but the smoke gods were angry at me for some reason that day. I'll try the 2-2-1 method next time and if they look ready before the final hour is up , they are comming off the heat.

Phil
 
When the rib starts to shrink and expose the bone, they are done in my book. If I was baking a cake and the tooth pick came out clean I'd pull it out regardless of the timer. There are several threads on here that talk about plateaus that take for ever to get through. So my point would be that cooking times are pretty worthless other than a very crude reference.
 
Go by temp and look.. not time. Time is only a rough estimate.

You and I could go to the same exact store, buy the same exact cut of meat, cook it at the same exact temp in the same exact smoker, and mine could still get done an hour before yours.

You said yourself they looked perfect 3 hours in. Shoulda pulled em off then.
 
In answer to some of the replies I got:

I seperated the ribs just like Jeff did.
Jeff did not let the ribs cook in their juices but had them sit on a metal rack on the bottom of a foil tray, I on the other hand let the juices drip to the bottom of smoker.
I guess next time I'll pull em out when I see their done instead of going for 6 hours.
 
Times are always estimates. When possible go by temperatures which is not always easy or possible when smoking ribs.
 
If you want some more tender out of them, you could foil them once they are JUST about finished as well.. Also, I tend to add a little oil or butter to my mops when I do ribs or thinner meats.
 
I kind of agree. On ribs, I don't go by time at all. Once that meat pulls back from the bone about 3/4 of an inch, they're done. Get some more of the beef ribs and go by this and I'm sure you'll be more than happy.

I don't personally care for wrapping ribs. I like mine a little on the drier side, not too moist. Just a personal opinion. Experiment a bit and you'll find what you like. But, post q-views along the way and maybe we can help. Take care, Greg
 
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