Unfoiled Spares

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

backcountry

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
164
10
Central Canada
Doing 3 racks of spares today. They're on the ecb right now with hickory chunks providing the tbs.

I was thinking of trying them unfoiled for a first time. Can someone lay down any method differences? How often would you baste them? At what point?

I would have liked to do a q-view, but my camera was left in a friends garage on Friday after our jam session turned (what seemed to be a) beer drinking contest...
icon_neutral.gif
 
Not too much in the way of method differences other than the foil/unfoil step. You can still spray them every hour with your favorite mix. Apple juice and Captain Morgans or Jack Daniels seems to be a favorite. I don't know that I would "baste" them as you don't want to wash off your rub. Just a light misting to add layer of flavor and moisten the outside of the rack will do.

After 5-1/2 or 6 hours start checking them. I do the "bend test". Pick up a rack in the middle with a pair of tongs. If the racks have good bend and the meat just starts to pull away from the bone, then they're done - to me.
biggrin.gif
If you like them to fall of the bone, then go longer, but without foil, that may take awhile.

Good luck and however you do it, I'm sure they will still taste great.

Dave
 
I just did 2 racks of bb ribs and 2 racks of spares yesterday. I started them at about 12 noon and pulled them off around 6:45 in the evening. Light rub on all of them, no baste, no foil, kept temperature between 215 -225 the whole time except for the last half hour when I kicked the temp up to 275 - 300 to caramelize the sauce I put on the last half hour. They were as moist with out being soggy and the texture of "gnaw on the bone" that I try to shoot for.

I used little rib racks to cook them up on end till that last half hour.

Don't use my timing as written in stone. I do this all the time and sometimes they are done in 5 hours.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=81570
 
Thanks DDave and danbury. I read about the bend test once upon a time, but forgot about that. Cool.

Been a bit of a bad start today... Dropped the display half of my wireless thermo in a full sink just after getting the smoker up to temp... No camera, no spritz bottle for a while, so I'm left brushing the ribs gently with OJ and rum.

Mrs. Backcountry is running out for apple juice and a spritz bottle though, so I should be ready to rock on that soon.

danbury, I was going to rip my temps up a bit at the end to get some sticky sauce too. Going to do a sweet & zesty Famous Daves and a Honey Chiplote Sweet Baby Ray's. Your's looked great!
 
So this was mostly a successful smoke. The ribs ended up being the absolute hands down best tasting ribs I've ever eaten. I attribute this to a few things. Most of all I think it was the fact that the TBS was going steady the whole time with no thick white at all (which I always end up with a bit of with my GOSM type unit). Charcoal with two wood chunks along the edge of the coal pan really works well and burns quite slowly.

The downside was that they were a little dry. The two racks that were on the top grill of the ECB were anyway. That top rack sure does have moisture loss issues.

Dutch's Baked Beans were amazing once again. I used skirt meat this time, which was awesome! I also added Habenaro sauce, extra dry mustard and cayenne pepper as I had no jalapeno's. It ended up being MUCH hotter than any other version I've ever had. Glad I made extra!!!

Lesson learned: Ribs on bottom rack of the ECB or if any are on the top, keep them in the centre and spritz them 2x as much...

Regarding foil vs. unfoil. If I can control the moisture loss issue, chalk up another for the unfoiled rib team. I prefer the "stick to the bone slightly" feel.
 
I know helljack doesn't want you to do anything too them, but the hottest spot on an ECB is the top rack. I would atleast give the ribs a spritz or two during your smoke. Sure can't hurt. That will provide some moisture to the meat. I use an apple juice/apple cider vinegar w/Makers Mark spritz.
 
>>>The downside was that they were a little dry. The two racks that were on the top grill of the ECB were anyway. That top rack sure does have moisture loss issues.<<<

one thing i do in order to deal with this is rotate the ribs about halfway though cooking. bottom to top, bone-side-up to bone-side-down etc. it helps quite a bit.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Hot Threads

Clicky