Baby Back Ribs - Hard Bark

[brentman0110]

Question folks...I dont usually cook baby back ribs, but caught some on sale the other day. I was prepared to use the 2-2-1 method with Jeff's rub at 225-250. When I went to prepare my spritz of 50% apple juice 50% spiced rum, I found I was minus the apple juice. Too busy preparing other foods to take my lazy arse to the store, so, oh well, just spritzed with straight RUM. After, the 2-2, I unwrapped and stuck back in for the last hour. Here is where it went to shit. After the last -1 of the 2-2-1, the ribs did not seem to have pulled back enough , nor did they pass the bend test. So, I temped them and they were at 175. So, I left them in another hour until they hit 195. When I went to slice, they had an incredible bark - Too incredible. It was way too hard. The bones literally fell out, but the top side of the ribs were way too hard for me. The rest of the meat, middle and bottom was perfect. So, my question is, did I overcook them? Did the spritz of only alcohol play a part?

 

[buffalobbqpete]

Maybe the sugar from the rum caramelized? Or maybe your probe was off, measured to close to the bone? I don't know... I've only had that happen when I had the temp to high in the smoker and it caused the rub to harden up like a rock.

 

[fivetricks]

Baby backs generally contain a good bit of lean meat on top of them. This "bark" that you describe may have been more of a jerky effect on the loin meat portion of the rib.

Its generally a texture I prefer, but to each their own. If it's not for you then maybe you want to reduce your bark set time on bbr to 30 mins or paint with more sauce for the last hour.

Point being is that I always get a tighter "bark" on baby backs due to the fact that im/your barking on a leaner top meat.

 

[weedeater]

My experience has been that you should see a good bit of pull back from the bone after the first two hours. For sure the pull back will all pretty much have happened by the end of the two hours covered. I use the last hour ,usually less than an hour, to firm the ribs up some and set any sauce I use. I’m wondering if you were cooking at the temps you thought? We’re you using a therm at grate level or depending on manufacturers therm? Not sure about the straight rum and how much of a factor that could be.

Weedeater

 

[brentman0110]

I think my first mistake was treating these ribs like spares. I think I just overcooked 'em. I had all kinds of trouble with the temps fluctuating from 225 - 275, due to wind. I think that:
"This "bark" that you describe may have been more of a jerky effect on the loin meat portion of the rib."
I think this describes my problem - temp control. I hate it because my wife looked at me like I was a dumb ass...LOL

 

[fivetricks]

We all have those days :-) just this weekend I made wings in a uds and the thermo that I was using to track grate temps had slipped and worked it's way down into one of the holes in the fire basket.

So I was tracking the temp of the fire basket instead of the grates for most of the cook. We all have those days.

 

[SmokinLogs]

Sounds like the outer part of the baby backs did harden and dry up pretty good on you. Like fivetricks said, there is a lot of lean meat on the top of the baby backs from the loin. Which I guess is why they are also called loin back ribs. I don’t think the alcohol would have caused the issues. Sounds like a temp problem with how over cooked they were. I would double check you thermometers/gauges. Don’t let it get you down. We have all had cooks that just didn’t go right. Ive has my fair share from trusting faulty thermometers. The factory thermometers on grills/smokers are usually pretty junky. Even aftermarket ones need calibrated every so often. Hope the next cook goes better for you!

 

[hb99]

Rib Jerky......my "burnt ends" always come out more like jerky too.

I foil my ribs. When they are done I move them to the grill for glazing...2-3 minutes per side.