Wet or dry?

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bishop916

Meat Mopper
Original poster
May 24, 2008
195
10
Rio Linda, N. California
The eternal debate.

I was watching 'Man vs. Food' and saw a special on Rendevous in Memphis, TN. They apparently do a legendary dry rib. This got me to thinking about it and how it is prepared differently than a wet (sauced) rib. They do some sort of vinegar baste and then the seasoning. No sauce
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What goes into the baste and the rub?
Is it really the right way to do a rib?
Discuss.
 
lots of ways to do it, i am heading out the door but will post my basic method later for a great dry rib.

is it really the right way? in my opinion, it is best, but having said that, anything that produces a great rib is "the right way!"
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you can dry rub and smoke your ribs and at the last 1/2 hour or so just slather some bbq sauce on them. I have done them both ways and I always use a dry rub on my ribs. The sauce is up to you. I personally like mine dry.
 
I like a dry rub, however, I came across a wet rub I would like to try as it sounds good...
Here it is and if anyone has had any experience with it I would appreciate your opinions of it.

[font=&quot]Southwestern Wet Rub for Brisket[/font]

[font=&quot]Ingredients:[/font]
[font=&quot]4[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Cayenne[/font]
[font=&quot]2[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Paprika[/font]
[font=&quot]6[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Brown sugar[/font]
[font=&quot]2[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Salt[/font]
[font=&quot]2[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Onion powder[/font]
[font=&quot]2[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Black pepper[/font]
[font=&quot]2[/font][font=&quot]tsp[/font] [font=&quot]Cumin[/font]
[font=&quot]4[/font][font=&quot]x[/font] [font=&quot]Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce[/font]
[font=&quot]2[/font][font=&quot]Tbl[/font] [font=&quot]Tabasco[/font]
[font=&quot]6[/font][font=&quot]x[/font] [font=&quot]Cloves garlic crushed[/font]
[font=&quot]
Method: [/font]
  • [font=&quot]Mix all ingredients together. Pack all around a 10 pound brisket and refrigerate 24 hours before smoking. Place in smoker, careful not to dislodge the rub. Smoke for 8 hours.[/font]
 
Paul,

The Southwestern Wet Rub recipe will definately pack some heat to it. I just calculated the hot ingredients (cayenne/tabasco) at approx. 20-21% by volume.

Other than that, the flavor I think would be very good. It's a relatively basic blend of ingredients that all fit well with beef...maybe cut back on the cayenne to 1 measure or less if the heat is an issue, and keep the tabasco as is. The other ingredients would carry through as being stronger flavors, with the garlic/onion being most prominent, though these two compliment beef nicely.

That's my take...please, let us know if you give it a try, as it does have me imagining the experience as I write.
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Eric
 
^^^What PignIt said. I use a variation of Jeff's rub, and personally think my ribs are great without sauce. That being said, I always whip up some of my own sauce and serve it on the side for those who like 'em wet.
 
Bishop -

As promised, here's how i do it. The finishing glaze at the end is meant to glaze over and still produce a dry rib, and it works very well, in my opinion.

--------------------

TasunkaWitko’s Method for Spare Ribs

(These took 3rd in the 2008 Chinook Annual Rib Cook-off!)

Stuff needed –
· Plain, Yellow Mustard
· Durkee’s St. Louis Style Rub (get more than you think you will need)
· Low-sodium soy sauce (Kikkoman is good)
· Dr. Pepper
· Olive oil
· Apple Cider Vinegar
· Dark Brown Sugar

Before cooking:
· IMPORTANT! If necessary, remove membrane from bone-side of ribs!
· Brush with mustard
· Apply rub generously
· Cover and let rub work in over night in refrigerator
· Next morning, get smoker up to 225-250 degrees – sprinkle on a little more rub.

During cooking (225-250 degrees MAX):
· Brush or spray with mop (1/3 cup olive oil, 1 cup Dr. Pepper and 2/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce – mix well with hand blender before using) every 45 minutes or so.
· Turn and rotate ribs around on grates as necessary if using horizontal smoker (optional but not necessary, w/vertical water smoker).
· Keep a thin, almost-blue smoke. Recommended woods: apple, cherry, maple (or a 1:1:1 combination of these three) – or hickory.
· Cooking time can be anywhere from three to five hours depending on conditions.
· When INTERNAL temperature of ribs is just below 172 degrees and meat pulls away from bones a ways, they are ready for final stage.

Final Stage:
· Toward the end of cooking time for ribs, mix together in a small saucepan the ingredients for finishing glaze (1/3 cup mustard, 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/3 cup dark brown sugar) over low heat until completely dissolved and thoroughly blended. Cover and set aside.
· Moments before ribs are ready to be pulled off, brush with glaze (both sides)
· As soon as ribs are pulled off, brush with glaze again (oth sides).

BBQ sauce?
· Ribs cooked this way shouldn’t need any, but it is always good to serve some on the side, for those who don’t know that! ;)


-----------------

here's a pic of the results:

2008-07-26_161533_25-26jul08_rib_qview5.jpg


2008-07-26_161630_25-26jul08_rib_qview7.jpg
 
As good as they look I can see how they would be a winner...
 
i appreciate that, beerBQ - the best aprt is that the only thing separating first from 3rd was four votes, so that tells me i did somethng right!

bishop - i'm honored that youll give this a try - if you do, please let me know what you think and also if you tried any variations - the mop especially really lends itself to experimentation and variation according to the direction you want to push the ribs - i tried some variations for a floridian theme elariler this year that really worked well, etc.
 
Beer-B-Q :::

thanks for the tip as well; I'm always looking for new directions to take my Q - I'll definitely be drawing from your techniques as well - thanks again!


-Bishop
 
I like 'em dry, wife likes 'em wet.
We have 'em wet. She likes Stubb's Regular BBQ sauce.
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dry, my rub is the sauce

after an hour



after a few hours...see the crust building?



resting


beauty shot :)




Basically I make a brown sugar heavy rub and it caramelizes on the ribs.

The ribs then taste sweet, then salt, then savory and finally heat

Props to MrPinkDon'tTip on this effort, this was at his house
 
A question I have since i have only ever done my ribs dry is that i have read to glaze while still in the smoker (like quote above) but people I have talked to will glaze and hang with no type of heat other then the meat itself for a few min. Has anyone here done this and if so does it glaze well?

Also if you have done both is the flavor from done in the smoker any better then not? Seems it is not in there long enough for anything other then to thicken but you never know.
 
TS - ribs done as described above will come out either still dry or, for lack of a better term, slightly wet. the glaze is meant to be thin enough to only give the ribs a crackling skin, it is not meant to gob all over the place - so the heat from the ribs pretty much carmelizes and dries the glaze, providing an extra dimension, not to mention a deep, rich cherry-red clor. in short, the glaze i've described is designed to make good ribs just a little better and take things up just a notch.
 
GOT1 - feel free to steal it - i got most of it from reading posts here and also from reading the BBQFAQ - a buddy in tenessee gave me the idea of combining dr. pepper and soy sauce - the two flavors together go very well for meat.

the great hing about this method is that with a few small variations in any of the steps, you can really change the whole tone of the final product. the mop is the most obvious place to experiment, but there are endless possibilities.
 
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