Rib Cure Conundrum

[LOW_IN_SLO]

On my eternal quest for BBQ perfection I decided to tweak my baby back rib process. I was picturing my usual baby backs with a slight cure infusion. I scoured my trusted book and internet resources and decided on using Marianski's pork butt wet cure formula. My thoughts were to limit the cure to 48 hours and use no salt in my usual dry rub. Bottom line, way over salted/cured. This brings me to believe that bone to meat ratio needs to be taken into account when executing a dry or wet cure. So, Eg., if one were to have 10 lbs of ribs, how would you formulate your wet or dry cure? Interested in seeing if there's anyone out there that has an adjusted methodology for ribs or other high bone to meat ratio cuts. Thanks in advance!

 

[mr_whipple]

I know this has been discussed here before in threads referring to cured ribs as bacon on a stick among other things. I've yet to do the cured ribs, but I'm sure I bookmarked a thread or two.

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

I know this has been discussed here before in threads referring to cured ribs as bacon on a stick among other things. I've yet to do the cured ribs, but I'm sure I bookmarked a thread or two.

OK, So what's the answer? I searched for a solid hour with one hit ending with the questionnaire still in experimentation. There doesn't seem to be any concrete guidelines on high bone to meat ratio curing.

 

[mr_whipple]

I know this has been discussed here before in threads referring to cured ribs as bacon on a stick among other things. I've yet to do the cured ribs, but I'm sure I bookmarked a thread or two.

Here's one... https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...using-cure-1-dry-or-brine-and-amounts.311909/

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

Here's one... https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...using-cure-1-dry-or-brine-and-amounts.311909/

Yeah, that's the only hit I was referring to. No conclusion, just jibber jab about hypothetical brines and cures, no results.

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

I was thinking there might be a rule within curing that takes high bone ratio into consideration. Upon my experience, I would guess half strength salt/cure/sugar would be suffice.

 

[smokerjim]

I've only made them with pops brine they did come out good. as to formulating I'm no help pops is just a simple cure.

 

[DRKsmoking]

I have had this talk with others on here and with Bearcarver ( RIP ) and When I did bacon on a stick i was also worried about the bones.

Had lots of input , so went with the totall weight and came out very good not too salty

Here is 1 of the posts of mine, I used it a few times

I wanted to try, " Bacon on a Stick " so here it is

I wanted to try, " Bacon on a Stick " so here it is First , thanks to everyone for the input as I was concerned about the meat to bone ratio. I did a search and I was not the first to ask this. I used my recipe for the way I make my Back Bacon, Per pound of meat = 4 teaspoon Brown Sugar, 11/2...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

David

 

[mr_whipple]

I have had this talk with others on here and with Bearcarver ( RIP ) and When I did bacon on a stick i was also worried about the bones.

Had lots of input , so went with the totall weight and came out very good not too salty

Here is 1 of the posts of mine, I used it a few times

I wanted to try, " Bacon on a Stick " so here it is

I wanted to try, " Bacon on a Stick " so here it is First , thanks to everyone for the input as I was concerned about the meat to bone ratio. I did a search and I was not the first to ask this. I used my recipe for the way I make my Back Bacon, Per pound of meat = 4 teaspoon Brown Sugar, 11/2...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

David

Thats the one I was looking for.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Thats the one I was looking for.

Yes you posted the other one of mine also. I have also done them in pops brine . Both ways worked good for me.
And I did not find too salty at all. No more than anything else I have cured.

David

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

Thanks for the links. I honestly looked through the forums for an hour or so not wanting to repeat an answered question. Didn't see the "Bacon on a Stick" post but I had seen the other one.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Didn't see the "Bacon on a Stick" post but I had seen the other one.

No problem, hope it helps with your questions.

david

 

[JckDanls 07]

I'm thinking Pops cure brine as well... No need to worry about meat to bone ratio...

But... just to try and cure (pun intended) the curiosity... Save ALL your bones from your next slab of ribs and then weigh them... That will give you an in the ball park figure... Won't be exact but a slab of the same size will be mighty close...

 

[chopsaw]

I had the same thought about weighing the bones .

slight cure infusion.

I've done this with Tender Quick applied to the ribs for just an hour or so . Rinse and season without adding more salt . Then cook as you would . Adds that hammy flavor .

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

Yeah, maybe I'll weigh the bones on this batch. One would think there would be some type of gold standard formula to cure ribs by weight. Pops cure sounds great but would not work if you were limited on time or wanted to do a dry cure. Only thing I found from Ruhlman or Mariansky's books was a venison rib marinade. Closest recipe seemed to be smoked pork butt wet cure with bone in. Mariansky states that boneless or bone-in does not alter the wet cure recipe. What I've found is this rule is not universal and there's a threshold of bone to meat ratio that requires a reduction in salt and cure.

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

This batch I'm sticking with my usual yellow mustard slather and dry rub that I'm always tweaking then hot smoked around 275 degrees with pistachio wood:
2 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp Hungarian half sharp paprika
1 Tbsp spanish smoked sweet paprika
1 Tbsp Home made Mexican chili powder
2 Tsp Coriander
1 Tsp Cumin

Spritz:
2 Tbsp of rub above
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup avocado oil

 

[Fueling Around]

Pork butt the weight of the bone is negligible compared to a 6-8# total. I measured the bone once and it was around 5 oz. The problem is getting the cure to turn the corner around the bone shape. Injection is your friend.
Ribs I estimate the bones is 1/4 to 1/2 which really depends on the cut.
Curing meat is not spur of the moment consideration. It takes some time.
Pop's universal pickle is ok, but I don't use it. I don't use tender quick as it is way too salty for me.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Just thinking out loud.
If I were to consider bone weight I’d think a 60/40 or 70/30 meat to bone ratio would be close enough, but that call would be based on the ribs I was looking at, ribs vary a bunch from source to source.
Next thought about any brine or cure recipe from Marianski, he is heavy handed with salt. His brines are “hot brines” there are reasons for that but for playing around in the kitchen that’s not what I would use.
I would mix 1.5% salt to meat weight add water weight in so maybe a couple cups at 16oz. Add cure at 1 gram per pound, sugar if you like, but this will get you playing on the right field.

 

[KillerNoms]

... if one were to have 10 lbs of ribs, how would you formulate your wet or dry cure?

I've found this to be instructive, subtracting bone-weight from the equation:

nitrite curing calculator

 

[LOW_IN_SLO]

I agree completely. Injecting bone-in pork butt is even mandatory for food safety in certain situations. At what point does the bone to meat ratio demand a change in the salt and cure percentages? I'm not sure.
Pops cure is lighter and slower and won't give you that deli meat texture and I'm glad it's working well for a lot of people on here.
Marianski does tend to be heavy handed with salt and being lazy and trusting the book without utilizing the calculator was my mistake. I tend to prefer 2% both salt and sugar and 0.25% cure by boneless weight in a dry brine.
Oversalting and soaking definitely has it's place, it's linearly faster and I find it somewhat denatures the meat giving a more desirable texture to things like lobster tails or Jambon de Paris.