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Baby back keep drying out ?
- Thread starter cjmac
- Start date
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I honestly couldn't tell you a time or temp. Maybe @Rafter H BBQ could tell you, or others that have done them. I just light my kettle and go by looks. I think @BrianGSDTexoma has done them as well.
The 321 method was never for back ribs. It is for spare ribs.
If you want ribs done in 3 hours my only suggestion would be to cut them down into 1 or 2 bone segments and try it that way. I've always cooked them nekkid @ 250-275°F for 4 hours or more.
Of course, if you can find real baby backs( 1-3/4 lb or smaller) they might cook in 3 hours or less if you cook 'em hot enough.
I have done these many times with St Louis ribs. I use the vortex on the kettle running wide open. Go about 25 minutes and turn. Another 25 and usually temp 195. Sauce than 10 more minutes. These are bite threw. I really like them cold the next day. I tried this with Baby Backs couple weeks ago and they where tough. I pretty much done with Baby Backs. St Louis comes out great every time. I look for racks that have the most bones showing on the back. Search vortex ribs.
I new to both babyback and spare ribs.
So how does the the spare ribs come out with 321 ? Like fall apart . Or have to pull off bone . I like them soft but not to the point where thay just fall apart
So how does the the spare ribs come out with 321 ? Like fall apart . Or have to pull off bone . I like them soft but not to the point where thay just fall apart
Can't help with baby backs but as for spareribs, @SmokinAl did a thread on perfect ribs everytime... it's a very informative thread and easy to replicate. You can search for it and you'll find it.
This is my method. 4 or 4.5 hrs at those temps. No foil. Then char on the grill with some sauce.
I do baby backs on my pellet pooper frequently. I rub and toss them on at normally 250, sometimes a little higher. Let them run about 2 hours or so then keep an eye... looking for pull back etc. I don't spritz or anything. Once they probe tender I'll sauce or glaze, and then usually eat them off the cutting board.
Here's some I just did on the Bronco. They got a touch north of 200, but still juicy and tender.
Here's some I just did on the Bronco. They got a touch north of 200, but still juicy and tender.
Opinion alert/warning:
I'm in the camp of Sandyut and CompulsiveSmoker. Keep it simple.
Before I had a smoker I made baby backs in the oven double wrapped in foil. They were always perfect and done to the minute when I planned. If I wanted any bark I'd make that happen in the gas grill afterward.
For smoked ribs now that I have a smoker, I still prefer to smoke them 1-2 hours with a smoker temp of 140-160. Depends on how much smoke flavor you want and how much smoke your smoker makes. Mine has the external smoke attachment so it smokes like crazy. The low temp is to keep the fat from rendering and the ribs from drying out. I'm not even trying to cook them here, just smoke em.
Once done with that I take inside and double wrap with foil and bake in the oven at 315-325 for as long as you want to get the texture you want. For me that's 315F for 2:30. If I want that bark look/feel I do that on a blazing hot grill for a few minutes after they're cooked. Only after that do I add sauce (I make my own bbq sauce) and that's it. Smoke in the smoker, cook in the oven, sear on the grill... Always dead on the money the way I want them. Imho, ribs cooked in the smoker are dry as all get-out... That's why they invented foil.
I see sugar in the rub discussed a fair bit in the thread. A small amount of sugar in the rub that's applied in advance and allowed to sit for a while helps keep the rub attached so it isn't all over the floor of the smoker. Some folks pointed out that too much will cause a lot of browning and perhaps burn, and that's obviously not good when you're looking for a long cook. You don't need to remove it completely, but I'd say not more than 1 Tbsp in enough rub to do 2 racks.
I'm in the camp of Sandyut and CompulsiveSmoker. Keep it simple.
Before I had a smoker I made baby backs in the oven double wrapped in foil. They were always perfect and done to the minute when I planned. If I wanted any bark I'd make that happen in the gas grill afterward.
For smoked ribs now that I have a smoker, I still prefer to smoke them 1-2 hours with a smoker temp of 140-160. Depends on how much smoke flavor you want and how much smoke your smoker makes. Mine has the external smoke attachment so it smokes like crazy. The low temp is to keep the fat from rendering and the ribs from drying out. I'm not even trying to cook them here, just smoke em.
Once done with that I take inside and double wrap with foil and bake in the oven at 315-325 for as long as you want to get the texture you want. For me that's 315F for 2:30. If I want that bark look/feel I do that on a blazing hot grill for a few minutes after they're cooked. Only after that do I add sauce (I make my own bbq sauce) and that's it. Smoke in the smoker, cook in the oven, sear on the grill... Always dead on the money the way I want them. Imho, ribs cooked in the smoker are dry as all get-out... That's why they invented foil.
I see sugar in the rub discussed a fair bit in the thread. A small amount of sugar in the rub that's applied in advance and allowed to sit for a while helps keep the rub attached so it isn't all over the floor of the smoker. Some folks pointed out that too much will cause a lot of browning and perhaps burn, and that's obviously not good when you're looking for a long cook. You don't need to remove it completely, but I'd say not more than 1 Tbsp in enough rub to do 2 racks.
Oh, and I'll add one more thing. When using someone's recommendations on cooking in a smoker, they are always right for their desires and their outdoor conditions in their area. However, if you live in Maine and the person telling you how to do the ribs lives in Florida, this throws a huge wrench in the works. The humidity alone causes huge differences in cooking methods, never mind the outdoor temps causing massive differences as well. Then one smoker to the next, and on and on. I like that cooking step to be bulletproof and the weather in my kitchen oven is quite predictable. Thus the numbers always work, year round.
voyager 663rd
Smoking Fanatic
TL : DR
300 way too high
3-2-1 way too long
MIne go 225 at 4 hr (if that long). Don't wrap and they turn out great.
NOTE: if the loin meat is really thick at the end, it WILL dry out whereas where the meat is thinner it does not. That's just my experience and I don't know why.
SHH==lately I'm just doing them in the Instant Pot and in a hour hour we're eating. After they're cooked, a minute or 3 under the broller to crisp up and they're perfect.
300 way too high
3-2-1 way too long
MIne go 225 at 4 hr (if that long). Don't wrap and they turn out great.
NOTE: if the loin meat is really thick at the end, it WILL dry out whereas where the meat is thinner it does not. That's just my experience and I don't know why.
SHH==lately I'm just doing them in the Instant Pot and in a hour hour we're eating. After they're cooked, a minute or 3 under the broller to crisp up and they're perfect.
Ill def cut back on the brown sugar .maby just a sprinkle on the butter , honey and apple juice in the foil when I wrap it ?
Well weird part is days that I just did on 300 were softer and juicier than any ones I've tried at lower Temps kind of weird
It is very true I didn't think about being different places
I would agree keeping baby backs simple. The other thing to note is if they have a large amount of loin meat on them which most of the "extra meaty" label ones do, they will be DRY DRY if cooked above INT 150.
I copied this from another post about dry BBs. Here is an example of two different BB size for cooking temp and duration.....
I'm just going to add another perspective on baby backs......
- point - baby backs do not have to be cooked for very long to be out of this world good. Example is cooking a Rack of Pork roast.... The roast below was just under a 2 hour cook at 265 to an INT of 145. you can see the center is still pink, ie perfect loin temp. The next thing is the section of bone is effetely a baby back rib...At an INT of 145 - 150... they are out of the world juicy and tender....Note the loin meat is perfectly cooked in this case
In the case of just ribs....and for a cook "above" 145-150 INT then remove the loin meat. The example below shows it removed. The rack on top comes that way the rack on the bottom I removed the loin. Stay away from the packages that say "extra meaty"... this is just more loin meat that doesn't want to be cooked to a higher INT temp....The exception here is you want to "grill" them and finish them at a lower INT around the 150 then they are tasty!
Next up is Baby Backs usually don't need more than 4 hours unwrapped to be cooked enough to be rendered and tender.... In the case of the two above the top is 3 hours total cook and the bottom is 3.5 hours total cook time. I cook baby backs at 235 chamber temp.
My steps.... I like to section them in portions to get serving size with two edge cuts per plate. I do use mustard to get a dropped in the sand rub coverage, but mustard isn't required.
Next I smoke them rib side down for the 2.5 or 3 hours depending on rack size, this is two hours in
then flip (the 2.5 hour mark for small and 3 hour mark for larger) and mop
Once that is set I flip over and mop the meat side....I plan on a 15 min set time so this takes a total of 30-35 mins.
Next I transfer to the kitchen oven and hold at 140 till dinner time if needed. I usually end up holding them for 30 to 45 mins. and then I glaze and broil finish them (I watch them like a hawk so they don't burn) Usually 5-6 mins of broil time. You can go right to the broil if you don't want to hold. You can also finish them on the grill to glaze them if you want a bit of char on them, you just may loose some glaze...
Perfect baby backs virtually every time
I will note that these are not FOTB ribs as I don't think baby backs are good for that (spares are if you like them that way) These will be 90 pull from the bone with a bite, but tender and juicy.
IE so my advice is to remove the loin meat, reduce the time of cook, mop at the end, and then glaze finish...
Those look good ! I havent tried any by not wrapping yet .. i didnt realize the loin would make it dry out ! Just slice it off ? Mine definitely did not look like yours in the picture they had a big old hunk of meat on one end of it on topI would agree keeping baby backs simple. The other thing to note is if they have a large amount of loin meat on them which most of the "extra meaty" label ones do, they will be DRY DRY if cooked above INT 150.
I copied this from another post about dry BBs. Here is an example of two different BB size for cooking temp and duration.....
I'm just going to add another perspective on baby backs......
- point - baby backs do not have to be cooked for very long to be out of this world good. Example is cooking a Rack of Pork roast.... The roast below was just under a 2 hour cook at 265 to an INT of 145. you can see the center is still pink, ie perfect loin temp. The next thing is the section of bone is effetely a baby back rib...At an INT of 145 - 150... they are out of the world juicy and tender....Note the loin meat is perfectly cooked in this case
In the case of just ribs....and for a cook "above" 145-150 INT then remove the loin meat. The example below shows it removed. The rack on top comes that way the rack on the bottom I removed the loin. Stay away from the packages that say "extra meaty"... this is just more loin meat that doesn't want to be cooked to a higher INT temp....The exception here is you want to "grill" them and finish them at a lower INT around the 150 then they are tasty!
Next up is Baby Backs usually don't need more than 4 hours unwrapped to be cooked enough to be rendered and tender.... In the case of the two above the top is 3 hours total cook and the bottom is 3.5 hours total cook time. I cook baby backs at 235 chamber temp.
My steps.... I like to section them in portions to get serving size with two edge cuts per plate. I do use mustard to get a dropped in the sand rub coverage, but mustard isn't required.
Next I smoke them rib side down for the 2.5 or 3 hours depending on rack size, this is two hours in
then flip (the 2.5 hour mark for small and 3 hour mark for larger) and mop
Once that is set I flip over and mop the meat side....I plan on a 15 min set time so this takes a total of 30-35 mins.
Next I transfer to the kitchen oven and hold at 140 till dinner time if needed. I usually end up holding them for 30 to 45 mins. and then I glaze and broil finish them (I watch them like a hawk so they don't burn) Usually 5-6 mins of broil time. You can go right to the broil if you don't want to hold. You can also finish them on the grill to glaze them if you want a bit of char on them, you just may loose some glaze...
Perfect baby backs virtually every time
I will note that these are not FOTB ribs as I don't think baby backs are good for that (spares are if you like them that way) These will be 90 pull from the bone with a bite, but tender and juicy.
IE so my advice is to remove the loin meat, reduce the time of cook, mop at the end, and then glaze finish...
So should I just try to slice the loin off the top because mine has had some pretty big meaty top pieces I didn't realize it would cause it to dry out
Yes just lay a large kitchen knife flat and trim that meaty section off. The loin is very noticeable by look and feel. IE it has very little to NO marbling in it
The highlighted area shows the very thin remaining loin area on the two ribs.
you can season the trimmed loin and smoke till 145-150 and they will be a nice mid cook treat. In general if the package says extra meaty, pass and look for ones with minimal loin on it. It will reduce the trimming ammount.
If you look close at the pics above when I flip the ribs you can see a slight scalloped edge forming with a dark spot at the end of the rib bone. This tells you that you are approaching the doneness time...IE The scalloped edge is caused by the fat and such rendering, since BBs have less of this than spare ribs the pull back is less pronounced and should be or they will be over cooked. The dark spot indicates that the marrow in the bone is hot enough to render out.....so the meat next to the bone is also hot enough.
I cook BBs to color and bark vs INT. I look for the markers as noted above then adjust. This is why I hold them because then they are ready for dinner and no stress. Oh and if you pull them early.... they will still be very tasty and tender.
I also don't spritz BBs because that drops the temp of the rib considerably and increases the potential of making them dry. spritzing is for bark formation and I do that with the glaze, this also helps soften the surface to make it very tender.....
Here is another post with some good pics and step by step of the CS way.... :-)
www.smokingmeatforums.com
I will note that you can see the clean knife cuts....IE an indication that they are NOT FOTB tender, they still have enough texture to slice clean and have they have the right "bite"
Baby Backs Again!
The boy was asked about some ribs so picked up a couple of salmon creek baby backs for the task order! Just love the provider of these baby’s….no loin meat and membrane removed! Split them, yellow mustard and dropped in the sand seasoned (modified Jeff’s rub) my go to! On the RT 1250 @ 235...
www.smokingmeatforums.com
I will note that you can see the clean knife cuts....IE an indication that they are NOT FOTB tender, they still have enough texture to slice clean and have they have the right "bite"
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