Baby back ribs!

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bevis621

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2015
10
10
So here is my question. When it comes time to put the ribs in foil and back on the grill for approximately 2 hrs is there any advantage to adding any juice? Does it help add more juice to the ribs or just a little flavor. I have been smoking for almost 3 hrs with apple and hickory wood. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

I have NEVER used foil for smoking ANYTHING they should be done in 3 1/2 to 4 hours at 225 degrees

these are spare ribs not baby back,  but this is what they should look like
 
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others will have different opinions but  as I said , I never use foil and I have been cooking ribs for 40 years , depending on how high of a temp and how long you cook them

determines how tender you ribs will be .

I never understood the need for using foil . I always cook em  the same way  . 3 1/2 to 4 hours at 225 degrees , once in a great while you will encounter a slab of ribs that came off a tough old  hog and it will take an extra hour , but that's rare
 
I cooked ribs nekkid for years. When all this TV cooking started, I started wrapping in foil. I was never really satisfied with the result. I would always have mushy ribs. About a year ago, I quit wrapping and went back to my original method. I have had great ribs since. I cook my baby backs around 250-275* for about 3 hours, depending on the pull back and bend. Then, I will sauce for around 30 minutes. Try this and see how you like it. Good luck, Joe.
 
Joe said : " I was never really satisfied with the result. I would always have mushy ribs."

that's a good way to describe what happens to them when you  use foil alright ...mushy.... kinda like eating mashed potato's aint it ...lol
 
I went ahead and just left them on the smoker without tinfoil. I had the heat at about 220-230 for 4 hrs. They turned out perfect.
 
The tinfoil in the picture was just used to transport them across town.
 
Im still fairly new to smoking but ive done ribs about 5 times and never wrapped them once. Everytime theyve come out good, nice and juicy not falling off the bone but bites off the bone very nicely. I cook baby backs at 230 degrees for about 5 hours. Put sauce on to caramelize for about the last 45 mins to an hour. Ive used strictly cherry wood 4 of the times and pecan the last time cuz i was out of cherry. Theyve been a big hit each time. I kinda wanna do some ribs this weekend now.

Heres a pic of actually my first time doing baby backs about 6 months ago. I didnt even sauce them the first time.



I cant really say if wrapping is better or not because ive only done it without. But like i said theyve always came out nice and juicy and everyone always loves them so im not gonna attempt the wrapping method.
 
I usually wrap my ribs in foil and i have gotten the mushy rib syndrome out of it. I have found for baby backs if i wrap for about 1:25 minutes after 2:15 smoke ( about 250 degrees) then sauce for like 25-30 minutes at 325 i get perfect bite through ribs without fall of the bone but very tender bite. when i foil i can add some flavor/moisture with what i wrap with. adds a real sweet note to go along with my tangy rub i have been using. I have some St Louis ribs in the freezer in a week or two when i smoke them i may try a no foil approach and see how they come out!

Happy Smoking,

phatbac  (Aaron)
 
Just a disclaimer that foil doesn't guarantee mushy ribs. I use foil sometimes and sometimes not but its the amount of time in the foil that produces the mushiness. Not a competition cook myself but the majority of them foil and the judges are definitely not looking for mushy, but instead bite through, stay on the bone tenderness with good bark. Most of them achieve that with foil. More than one way to skin a cat so I say try both ways and figure out what you like the best. Variety is the spice of life after all and what fun would smoking be if you made one meat one way and never experimented a little. Cheers!
 
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I have NEVER used foil for smoking ANYTHING they should be done in 3 1/2 to 4 hours at 225 degrees

these are spare ribs not baby back,  but this is what they should look like
Just curious if you notice any difference in doing a whole slab of spares over chopping them down St Louis style, I mean in taste, moisture, tenderness-not work involved. 
 
I have only eaten St Louise  style ribs a couple of times in my entire life , and no I don't remember there being any difference in taste when compared to spare ribs .

 I just never saw any sense in cutting out the middle of a nice slab of spare ribs just to get a " prettier " piece of meat  and while I do like baby back ribs , I have always preferred the taste

of spare ribs , I guess its just a personnel preference,

but for me I always stick with the spare ribs,   the few times that I ever bought and cooked baby back ribs they always seemed to have more fat on them

( maybe its just the way I trim spare ribs  i really don't know )
 
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