Baffled in MD

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mdque

Newbie
Original poster
Hello Everyone.  Im a resident of Central Maryland.  I am an avid cook,( I have a culinary degree), and I think food gets no better than BBQ.  My current smoker that I am using is a CharGriller Duo 5050, with the smoke box attachement.  It seems to be a really good setup.  I have been using it now for about 3 years.  Here is my dilemma.  Every time I try to cook St Loius Style ribs, or brisket, they never end up as tender as I would like.  Flavors are awesome, color is good on everything.  I maintain a temp of 220 degrees throughout the cooking process.  An example would be the last brisket I tried, was a msaller piece, maybe 3lbs.  I had it on the smoker for 6 hours.  SMoke ring was fantastic, flavor was on point, but it was chewy.  The exact same thing with my ribs.  They were all the same things, and extremely juicy, but tough.  The ribs I had on for 5 hours.  Any tips or advise would be much appreciated!  Thanks in advance for your time and help!
 
Hi MD!

I'll give you some info on your dilemma first then get to the official welcoming!

Don't cook a brisket by time...you have to go by internal temperature and good tender brisket is done at about 200 to 205 F.  Or, use the toothpick test...if it slides in and out like through warm butter it's ready.  Same test applies to ribs but you could also do a bend test - lift the ribs with tongs at one end, if they bend 90 deg and start to break they are plenty tender. It's hard to get a good IT on ribs because of all the bones!  Good luck!

Now...
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 to the SMF, the best BBQ site on the web.  Whatever you need to know about the fine art of BBQ you can find it right here, from recipes to technical knowledge.

One thing you need to know about us is that we like to see pictures of your creations and your gear.  We call it Q-View and its basically the 
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!!!

So, don't just talk about your food, show it!  Otherwise you may get a gentle reminder, like this...

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  or this...
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Good Luck and Get Smokin'

Bill
 
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to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! Would you mind updating your profile to show the other SMF members where you are located?  Might meet a few neighbors!

You might want to check out Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course, it has great information to use no matter your skill level!

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. 

If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per Jeff. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
:welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 50,000 members who just love to share their experience and over 1,000,000 posts describing it! Yea that’s right over 1,000,000!

The search bar at the top can be your best friend when you are trying to find answers to your questions but you can still ask too if you want!

We have an Articles section that is full of great information about smoking to include a lot of recipes and instructionals. Check it out there is a lot to learn in there!
 
Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

Happy smoken.

David
 
Welcome aboard!  Bill has already given you great advice on getting your meat more tender.  It sounds like both your ribs and brisket are slightly under cooked.  Get a good meat probe to monitor the internal temp of that brisket until it nears an IT of 200*...and browse through a few threads in the Pork Forum on "3-2-1 ribs" for the basic procedure to make the most tender ribs you've ever had!  

You've found a great place to share ideas on our favorite pastimes...smoking and grilling great food!  There are plenty of friendly and knowledgeable people here who really enjoy helping one another.  Any time you need help, just ask and you'll get plenty!

Red
 
Welcome! I'm smoking out of central md too (Frederick County). I agree with SeenRed on checking out the 3-2-1 method. That's what I do. You can tweak the timing to your liking til you find what you like.

Brisket is one of those meats that you gave to give a lot of TLC to. As long as you keep it at a good temp and get to that 200° mark it should be good to go.
 
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