Disappointing Ribs

mavericksupersonic · Jul 25, 2008

Fellow smokers,

I decided to do some ribs today and since spare ribs were on sale at the butcher, I picked up two racks to do. I have always done baby backs before so this was my first try with spare ribs. I trimmed them up as St. Louis ribs, rubbed them the day before, brought them to room temp, and smoked them this afternoon.

I had good temperature (maybe a little high at points, 270 but generally around 250ish) and TBS for the whole first 3 hours of the 3-2-1 method. All the smoking went good and the last hour I applied some of my favorite BBQ sauce to them.

Well the consistency was really good and they were cooked to perfection. So what's the problem you ask? They just didn't do it for me. They seemed really fatty and didn't have as much flavor as I thought they should have had. I didn't taste too much of the smoke flavor even though I used hickory and a little mesquite which are supposed to be stronger flavored woods. It almost seemed like they didn't absorb much of the smoke flavor which i thought was odd.

Maybe I've gotten used the flavor and leanness of pulled pork so the ribs don't do it for me anymore? Anyone else ever have this happen?

For what it's worth, the wife liked them so it wasn't a total loss.

pineywoods · Jul 25, 2008

Could be many different things from a so so piece of meat to being spoiled by the butts. I find I don't do near as many ribs as I used to I'd just as soon do a butt

dadwith4daughters · Jul 25, 2008

The fattiness is the biggest issue with spares so it's key that when buying them you look for the leanest ribs. My indication comes from looking at the top side of the rib where at least 80% of it is "meaty" with scattered spots of fat. Would enjoy hearing others views on picking ribs.

Sorry you didn't have a good experience. I'm a believer in the spare over the baby back, but that only works if you've got the right piece of meat.

Don't despair! Get back on that grill and ride'er into the sunset!

mavericksupersonic · Jul 25, 2008

They actually looked pretty good from the top. These were from a high quality butcher not a grocery store so I figured they would be a good cut.

I had to cut the rack in half though for my ECB and when I did that, I noticed that they seemed really fatty from the side view. I would say it was more fat than meat from the side view. Wish I would have taken a picture. I cut two racks and the they were both the same fattieness. Maybe I was just expecting too much?

cbucher · Jul 26, 2008

I have had some where it was just the meat in my opinion. I had some chickens do the same thing a few weeks ago.

the_selling_blues_man · Jul 26, 2008

I usually have great results with spare ribs with a great smoke flavor. Probably the cut. Nothing like a good reason to pull the smoker out and try'em again!

capt dan · Jul 26, 2008

The perfect reason why I don't do spares If I am investing my time< i want the best! period> i ahve already proved what has the best value per dollar. Enough said!

pigcicles · Jul 26, 2008

Along with all of the above scenerios there is also the one that I deal with on occassion is my head in the smoke deadens my senses. Wait until tomorrow and try em again and report back... time makes a difference.

ronp · Jul 26, 2008

Happens to me all the time. It's usually late when I taste my smoke and am not impressed with the smoke flavor. Come home a feed wife and it's there!

I probably should not sit next to the smoker, but hey, it's my drinkin' buddy.

ron50 · Jul 26, 2008

I agree as well. After sitting in the smoke all day (or night) your body become acclimated to it. The next time I try it it always tastes smokier. Part of that is due to the meat reabsorbing and redistributing the flavors and the other part is what Pigcicles said about our senses getting use to the smoke.

waysideranch · Jul 26, 2008

I'm w/ Capt. Dan on this. We only do BB ribs by choice. Kids will eat them up. Dad eats'em up.

smoke freak · Jul 26, 2008

I agree with the Capt. BB's for sure.

I also agree with Pigcircles. Huffin smoke and drainin beers will numb your taste buds. Doesnt seem to slow me down though. Smoke on!

mavericksupersonic · Jul 26, 2008

I decided to take everyones advice and I tried them this morning. They definitely taste better than yesterday so that is good. I still noticed that they didn't have as much flavor as the butts or the baby backs. The next smoke will probably be back to the butts to bring back the good stuff. Oh well, thanks for all the comments and lets keep smoking!!

1894 · Jul 26, 2008

Arrgh ! I hate it when I try to edit a post and then a pic turns into a link

Trying again ,

One of my last racks was the thickest I could find ,I thought " more thick = more meat "
Turns out there was a big fat layer between the top meat and the ribs. I just did my normal 3-2-1 anyways . If I cut the rack I may have noticed the extra fat I paid for by the # and shortened the foil time or eliminated the foil so the fat would have render out better.

Thickest spares I've ever had :

1894 · Jul 26, 2008

I think the extra liq from the fat in the foil stage did seem to soften the smoke flavor.

krusher · Jul 26, 2008

how many rack did you do? I did 3 racks last week and on all three the bones just fell out but on two of the racks you had to use a knife to cut the meat and it was a little chewy, the other just fell apart with a fork.

I think that sometimes you just get a rack that is not that good.

I agree its easy to get spoiled on the but, wife just left to go get one for tommorow. YEAH!

nick · Jul 26, 2008

I also lean towards BB's even though I'll smoke and gobble up Spares too. The BB's are way leaner than the spares but it coulda been that you just had a bad cut of meat. This happened to me with steaks and pork chops already. The "choice" ribeye was bland compared to a "select" ribeye I had recently. Same thing with the pork chops....they were just bland. Even though those spares were fatty....they shoulda been plenty tasty considering you cooked them almost perfectly.

dennisdocb · Jul 26, 2008

Sorry about your experience..but i've heard this before and that probably why i haven't done spares yet just BB's

tasunkawitko · Jul 26, 2008

>>>I probably should not sit next to the smoker, but hey, it's my drinkin' buddy.<<<

that's the spirit!

as for the ribs, i agree with those who opine that the fat didn't render out as well as it should have for whatever reason; keep in mind that the urpose of BBQ is to go oe-n-slow in order to turn the fat to qlquid and the gristle to gelatin and then liquid, which renders out.

i am struggling a bit with this myself; my first ribs rendered out almost perfectly and i got spoiled. since then i ahve been having toruble with this due to many reasons. i think the main reason is that i am simply not cooking them quite long enough in order to give the extra fat time to render and become juicy goodness.

Disappointing Ribs

Newbie

SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

Meat Mopper

Newbie

Meat Mopper

Meat Mopper

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Master of the Pit

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Master of the Pit

Master of the Pit

StickBurners

Newbie

Smoking Fanatic

Smoking Fanatic

Smoking Fanatic

Meat Mopper

Smoking Fanatic

Master of the Pit

Similar threads

Hot Threads

Featured Blackened Rockfish...