Well I ran into an interesting experiment yesterday. Boneless baby back ribs... kinda.
Here's the story :D
So I was smoking 2 racks of baby backs with the intent on doing a 275F smoke to try and see if cooking hotter and reducing overall cooking time would result in more Mahogany/reddish looking ribs rather than the Blackened looking ribs I've been getting lately.
My color experiment took a wild turn. I heard some mysterious sound from my smoker when I initially turned it on but couldn't figure it out and thought it might just be my installed convection fan doing a little fighting to break up any smoke sticking to it or something along those lines. Well I discovered after about an hour that the sound was a plug outlet on my homemade controller box heating up, melting, and fusing to my MES plug!!!
I discovered the issue once my LOW temp alarm went off showing that the smoker had gotten to like 250F on a 275F smoke. I went out and started checking and found that the cheapo Chinese project box outlet had melted plastic and had fused with the MES plug that I have plugged into it... CRAP!!!
I looked in the garage and found an outdoor AWG 16/3 extension cord I have never used that was gifted to me and So I promptly cut it up so I could use the female end to replace the busted outlet (a better design in the end anyhow) and the male end to replace my MES plug since one of the prongs was now ruined due to the melting/fusing with the outlet.
I did all the repairs in about 2 hours while leaving the ribs in the smoker, the AMNPS still going, and inhaling a bunch of smoke hahahaha. This fixed the issue and I was back in business.
I let the meat smoke for another hour and a half and decided to just go ahead and pull the ribs because my initial color test was shot, my meat probe placement was not done well, the ribs had nearly 5 hours of smoke on them and I was getting hungry for dinner!
What I got were ribs that were of a texture of not too tough but not bite off the bone texture. My best guess is that they were REALLY an IT of about 175-185F. Completely edible and still very good but not the softer texture we try and get with ribs. Actually the best description is a texture like that of a 1.5inch thick brined boneless Pork Loin chop grilled to about 145F (though the rib was way over 145F). If this was a pork loin chop it would have been perfect texture!
I sat there thinking, well hell I wonder if I can pull the bones out and have a good chunk of meat that than just gets forked and knifed. The idea worked out PERFECTLY!!!!
I took a knife and quickly and easily ran it down both sides of the bone. I then grabbed the bone with one hand and put my other hand on the meat and started pulling the bone up and it came loose from the meat with relative ease. Anytime there was any sticking or assistance needed I just hit the spot with a knife and the bone and meat separated again easily. There was a little tiny bit of meat left on the fat end of the bone but I made sure to eat that before throwing the bone in the bone pile :D
What I was left with was an amazing chunk of wonderful boneless baby back rib meat!!!!!
Needless to say that after deboning both racks of ribs I pulled up a plate and starting eating 4-5 rib chunks of boneless baby back meat with a fork, a knife, and Rudy's BBQ Sause.
I was blown away at how amazing it was and how I managed to learn something completely amazing even though I had a botched rib color experiment and had to spend 2 hours repairing my smoker to finish the cook!
After eating boneless baby back ribs for late lunch and dinner yesterday I vac sealed the last 3 sections (1 whole rack) and put them in the fridge.
If I get a chance/remember when the boneless ribs get broken into again, I will take a picture of the top and bottom of the boneless ribs and post it here so people can reference it.
I hope this goofy experience is helpful to someone out there. I figured I just had to share, and since I had no pictures I figured I would do the post in "story teller" fashion that way I could annoy you all rather than just getting to the point :D
Enjoy!!!
Here's the story :D
So I was smoking 2 racks of baby backs with the intent on doing a 275F smoke to try and see if cooking hotter and reducing overall cooking time would result in more Mahogany/reddish looking ribs rather than the Blackened looking ribs I've been getting lately.
My color experiment took a wild turn. I heard some mysterious sound from my smoker when I initially turned it on but couldn't figure it out and thought it might just be my installed convection fan doing a little fighting to break up any smoke sticking to it or something along those lines. Well I discovered after about an hour that the sound was a plug outlet on my homemade controller box heating up, melting, and fusing to my MES plug!!!
I discovered the issue once my LOW temp alarm went off showing that the smoker had gotten to like 250F on a 275F smoke. I went out and started checking and found that the cheapo Chinese project box outlet had melted plastic and had fused with the MES plug that I have plugged into it... CRAP!!!
I looked in the garage and found an outdoor AWG 16/3 extension cord I have never used that was gifted to me and So I promptly cut it up so I could use the female end to replace the busted outlet (a better design in the end anyhow) and the male end to replace my MES plug since one of the prongs was now ruined due to the melting/fusing with the outlet.
I did all the repairs in about 2 hours while leaving the ribs in the smoker, the AMNPS still going, and inhaling a bunch of smoke hahahaha. This fixed the issue and I was back in business.
I let the meat smoke for another hour and a half and decided to just go ahead and pull the ribs because my initial color test was shot, my meat probe placement was not done well, the ribs had nearly 5 hours of smoke on them and I was getting hungry for dinner!
What I got were ribs that were of a texture of not too tough but not bite off the bone texture. My best guess is that they were REALLY an IT of about 175-185F. Completely edible and still very good but not the softer texture we try and get with ribs. Actually the best description is a texture like that of a 1.5inch thick brined boneless Pork Loin chop grilled to about 145F (though the rib was way over 145F). If this was a pork loin chop it would have been perfect texture!
I sat there thinking, well hell I wonder if I can pull the bones out and have a good chunk of meat that than just gets forked and knifed. The idea worked out PERFECTLY!!!!
I took a knife and quickly and easily ran it down both sides of the bone. I then grabbed the bone with one hand and put my other hand on the meat and started pulling the bone up and it came loose from the meat with relative ease. Anytime there was any sticking or assistance needed I just hit the spot with a knife and the bone and meat separated again easily. There was a little tiny bit of meat left on the fat end of the bone but I made sure to eat that before throwing the bone in the bone pile :D
What I was left with was an amazing chunk of wonderful boneless baby back rib meat!!!!!
Needless to say that after deboning both racks of ribs I pulled up a plate and starting eating 4-5 rib chunks of boneless baby back meat with a fork, a knife, and Rudy's BBQ Sause.
I was blown away at how amazing it was and how I managed to learn something completely amazing even though I had a botched rib color experiment and had to spend 2 hours repairing my smoker to finish the cook!
After eating boneless baby back ribs for late lunch and dinner yesterday I vac sealed the last 3 sections (1 whole rack) and put them in the fridge.
If I get a chance/remember when the boneless ribs get broken into again, I will take a picture of the top and bottom of the boneless ribs and post it here so people can reference it.
I hope this goofy experience is helpful to someone out there. I figured I just had to share, and since I had no pictures I figured I would do the post in "story teller" fashion that way I could annoy you all rather than just getting to the point :D
Enjoy!!!
![DSC_9230[1].JPG](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='1000' height='562' viewBox%3D'0 0 1000 562'%2F%3E "DSC_9230[1].JPG")
