Second smoke on spare ribs. Not quite getting the tenderness I want.

[brendontw]

Hey folks. Tonight I smoked some pork spare ribs for the second time. First time I used Jeff's rub. While the flavor was great, it was a little spicy and a little fancy for me. The ribs I cooked for about 5 hours. 3 hours on the smoker, little over one hour in foil on the smoker, and about 45 minutes in the oven. Towards the end of the smoke the inside temperature was around 155, which is why I stuck it in the oven at 250. Needed them to finish as it was already a late dinner. Got it up to 175 inside temp for a while then let them rest and then ate them.

Results; Rub was a little spicy and fancy, hardly tender, and dry on the outside.

I will tell you that I was pretty steady at close to 250 for the first 2-3 hours. Then it kept going up to 275, even 300 for a few minutes, and then down to 200. This got quite frustrating as I was worried that something was going wrong, so I did all I could to keep it between 225-250. (Opened the lid temporarily, cook large coals out, etc.. Quite the newbie I know) This is why I used the oven to finish them off. So given all this, I wanted to try again this weekend and try to be a little more consistent with the temp and such.

Now, between that smoke last weekend and this evenings smoke I went to eat at my favorite bbq place to closer observe their meat and ask some questions. There is no spice to their meat, it is EXTREMELY TENDER and tasty even with no sauce. The rub they use is ONLY coke and brown sugar mixed, they use no foil, and they smoke for 4 hours at 250. Pork spare ribs. I will also say their ribs are very big, I can only eat 3 of them and I can definitely put away some food. They don't apply the rub (mop) until the third hour of the 4 hour cook. I love that their ribs are so tender, sweet, and simple.

So this weekend I did things a tad bit differently. I decided not to rub the meat initially. I was able to keep the smoker at 250 MUCH better than last weeks. I mopped the ribs with ginger ale every 30 minutes to keep the outside from drying out for the first hour. Then I applied the coke/brown sugar concoction twice before wrapping with foil. Cooked for another two hours in foil at 250, they were at temp.

The ribs had a flavor more to my liking this time. Probably could have used quite a bit more brown sugar, but that's not what this is about. The ribs weren't dried out on the outside, but not as tender as I would have liked. They were a bit more tender on the inside, but not even close to what they were like from the BBQ joint I like so much. So they were smoked for 4 hours.

My questions;
1) How do they get their ribs so tender in only 4 hous?
2) Even though the ribs were at temp (actually at 175 when I pulled them off), should I have kept smoking them for much longer? I believe that this is why I'm not getting the tenderness I want. However the first smoke was longer and LESS tender. Just more temp fluctuations.
3) Should I try a different butcher? I'd like to find a rack of ribs that are a little bigger. The place I like has ribs that are about 6 -7inches long. The ones I've been buying are only about 4-5.
4) Any other input or suggestions?

 

[daveomak]

Brendon, morning..... I think your thermometer is not reading correctly....  Calibrate it or get a therm you can calibrate....  

I will tell you that I was pretty steady at close to 250 for the first 2-3 hours. Then it kept going up to 275, even 300 for a few minutes, and then down to 200. This got quite frustrating as I was worried that something was going wrong, so I did all I could to keep it between 225-250. (Opened the lid temporarily, cook large coals out, etc.. Quite the newbie I know) This is why I used the oven to finish them off. So given all this, I wanted to try again this weekend and try to be a little more consistent with the temp and such.

I cook ribs at 210-225 and they are done in 4-5 hours...  I leave the smoker closed...  No peeking.... You aren't cooking if the door is open and you can lose up to 10-15 minutes of cook time depending on recovery....  

Dave

 

[rippinntearin]

Brendon,

I just did a slab of spares yesterday and in my opinion they were too tender.  I utitlized the 3-2-1 method and cooked them the whole time around 225-235 degrees...didn't peak once until I had to foil.  I rarely pay much attention to temp of the meat since I feel the bones give a false reading.  When I foil, I usually add some sort of juice (apple, whisky, or bourbon or sugar) as well as butter, parkay, or honey.  Make sure to double wrap with some thick tin foil, you don't want the steam to escape which can dry them out.

Quick question, did you remove the membrane off the back of the ribs?

I'm no expert as well, but trial and error goes a long way in this game...

And like Dave said...no peeking.  "if you're lookin...you ain't cookin..." 

Rip

 

[brendontw]

Thanks folks. On the thermometer, you may be right, because it is reading zero degrees before I start, and it should be reading the outside temp of about 50. Can't believe I didn't think of this. Any suggestions on brand?

I had only been opening it to mop them, and I did apply a lot of the mop when I put them in foil, I did wrap them twice too, once from underneath, once from over top. And yeah I did remove the membrane. However, both racks of ribs now have had an obvious membrane on the bigger side of the ribs, and then that little meat flap (forgot what it's called) and then on the small side it's very hard to tell if there is a membrane over there or not. I spent 20 minutes picking at it trying to get a piece to pull back but couldn't ever find anything that resembled the membrane that was on the other side so I just went ahead and stuck them in the cooker. Didn't have any problems eating them though.

I'll definitely try a different thermometer. It was around 50-60 degrees outside yesterday and the therm said 0 when I started, meaning this thing could be reading 50 degrees colder than the actual temp. Right?

 

[chef willie]

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/133529/when-are-baby-backs-done  Well, this question can be kicked around all day...it's very subjective to the guy running the smoker. However, I did pull up something off the search bar for you that seemed well put together. Now when I 'foil' I really put the ribs in a disposal aluminum pan, add some juice (apple) or the caught drippings from  below the ribs, wrap tight with foil over the top and 'steam' the ribs for the next two hours of the 3-2-1. I just did a case of ribs at work for dinner and while no pics I did all in a electric hot box of 230 degrees spritzing with apple juice every 30 minutes or so after the first few hours and I could smell them then foiled in pans with more juice and did not need the last hour of the 3-2-1. They were literally splitting in two when doing the sag test after 5 hours and I removed them from the pan using a long spatula. They were so tasty with just a bare SPOG seasoning I didn't sauce them, serving sauce on the side. Keep at it, give them time to cook at low temps, allow yourself more time, quit cranking up the heat in the oven. IMO 175 is way past done for ribs, they're pretty thin. I get my ribs at Costco...big, meaty and I trust them. Have found cheaper ribs but didn't like the outcome. Maybe use your coke/brown sugar mix in the foiling.

 

[brendontw]

Will cooking them too hot cause them to be tough? Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[va_connoisseur]

Brendon,

Welcome to the fun! Yes, cooking them too long will dry them out. As it's been said above, if you're lookin', you ain't cooking. Chef gave some excellent advise. Don't get discouraged and keep at it.

 

[cliffcarter]

It is difficult to use temperature as a "doneness" test for ribs because the bones are so close to the temp probe which will tend to give you false readings.It is much more reliable to use the "Bend Test", here is a link to the  "Articles" section with a description of it-

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/the-bend-test-for-ribs

Here is the article on foiling ribs-

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/smoking-ribs

IMHO your ribs were undercooked, temp probe problems notwithstanding. First it has been my expeirence that four hours at 250° total cook time is not long enough for spare ribs, unless it is a small rack , cut St. Louis Style. From your post I gather yours were untrimmed.

Second all that mopping means you are opening the cooker and letting the temp drop, so now it has to get back up to temp before the ribs start cooking again thus extending the cook time. If you must mop you must also be sure that the temperature of the mop is hot, so keep it in the cooker with the meat. Applying a cold mop is another way to bring down the temp of the cooking meat and extend the overall cooking time.