First try on Baby Back Ribs and Smoked Mac & Cheese

[donegotfat]

I have cooked spare ribs ones, and they turned out great, I wanted them to be more fall of the bone per my preferance, so these Ill cook a bit longer

I also wanted to try my first on smoked mac and cheese. Done get to exited, as i did not delve overly into the mac & cheese. I did not need to try and re-invent the wheel, so I went with pre made mac & cheese for the first try.
I did zing them up, added shredded chedder cheese to the top, and crushed ritz crackers over the cheese. I put them on the smoke the lats hour and half that the ribs were on hoping for a good cook on them

Here is the before hand on the mac & cheese

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

I am following the 2-2-1 for the baby backs.

I used mustard as a binder this time, the first try i did not use a binder.

Smoked with mix of apple and hickory.

Set them to cook at 225, ran for initial 2 hours, then foiled with brown sugar, butter and touch of apple juice.

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

Sprayed them with a bit of apple juice at 1hr mark, took a quick shot

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

This is after 2 hours in foil

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

Thanks for looking, Ill update soon with the final pics

 

[donegotfat]

NOW FOR THE TROUBLE SHOOTING PORTION

All help and comments will be super appreciated

Have an issue with final IT taking much longer than the 1-ish hour of the 3-2-1, or 2-2-1

When I pulled them after 2 hours in foil, the IT was already at 195 in center, and 200 towards end.

This time it happened just as it did the first time with spares, I got a big temp drop after putting them back on the smoker after I took them out of the foil.

I don't know if this is normal, or if I am doing something wrong. IT close to 200, then back on smoker, and after 1 hr when I probed it for temp, it was only at an IT of 170

The same happened on my St. Luis spare ribs.  Does this always happen, or am I missing something when reading others topics?

I am trying to see why there is such a big temp drop after I remove from the foil, There isn't a loss of heat on the smoker side.

This time I bumped the heat up to 250 after the end of the 1hr stage of the 2-2-1

I am at I am at 1.5 hours already for the 1hr portion of the 2-2-1 and my IT is only 193 (shooting for 205)

 

[donegotfat]

Regardless of the wonderment on the above questions, the end goal of mouth watering, lip smacking, super tender and juicy, fall off the bone ribs and that is exactly what I got.

I kept them on till the IT was 205 (will pull at 200 IT next time).

Cooked at 225 for 5.5 hours, them bumped it too 250

Total cook time 6.5 hours.

It was dark by the time I went to bring them in, and I asked my wife if she could come out and hold a flashlight for me so i could get a good look at them and check for how well they bent and to see if they gave a crack in the skin when I bent them.

Well needless to say i did not need that flashlight, LOL I picked them up to test the bend, and it broke!

Many would think this was over done, but its what I was shooting for as this old man has bad dentures, and wants that FOB tender.

Mac & Cheese tuned out grate, wife didn't care for the crackers as much as me (so I ate hers!)

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

Had good pull back this time, so I was happy. Kept hitting the bone on every angle and every try.. just a bad day for knife skills.

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

Dang bones on these not only bowed as they do from being baby backs, but they had a curve in them on the side as well. No matter were I cut them or what angle I tried I couldn't get a clean cut to save my butt. Finally got one semi clean so I could get a good pic.

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

Sorry, the plated picture is a bit off for the norm on the ones I post or see posted, as my wife was already several bites into her ribs before I could get one and mine was a hot mess from the get go, so I did not include the final plated meal

Thanks for looking

 

[b-one]

Looks tasty! If you stand the ribs up and just cut down the bone it should work better,unless there just falling apart from being to tender.

 

[donegotfat]

Looks tasty! If you stand the ribs up and just cut down the bone it should work better,unless there just falling apart from being to tender.

Thanks for the tip, Ill stand them up next time for sure.

 

[donegotfat]

These were definitely some crazy bones for me. They had the normal ridge from being at the top of the pig, but they also hooked left and right..Joy was to be when trying to cut

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

Granted, I have only smoked baby back ribs 1 time, but I have ate hundreds of them.. I know that don't count!

So thanks to the tip from b-one, I did stand them on end and was able to make a semi good cut.

Normally leftovers in this house make it until the next day.... Not today!

I was feeling a bit hungry for something, so I decided to bust them out, this time I was a bit better with self control and got a pic before I ate it all

So FINALLY the money shot

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• donegotfat
• Nov 12, 2016

One of these days I'll put some vegetables on my plate!

Thanks for looking

 

[tropics]

Nice job on the ribs,I have never made baby backs or even eaten them. Points

Richie

 

[SmokinAl]

Your ribs look great!

I only smoke BB's, and occasionally you do get some weird shaped bones.

But as said above if you stand them on end it makes it easier to cut.

The other thing I do is instead of the final 1 hour, just a couple of minutes on a hot grill, bone side down will finish them off & give you a nice crust.

Great first try & a point to you!

Al

 

[donegotfat]

 
Nice job on the ribs,I have never made baby backs or even eaten them. Points

Richie

Thanks for the points. I may stick with the baby backs as they had a lot more meat on them.

 
Your ribs look great!

I only smoke BB's, and occasionally you do get some weird shaped bones.

But as said above if you stand them on end it makes it easier to cut.

The other thing I do is instead of the final 1 hour, just a couple of minutes on a hot grill, bone side down will finish them off & give you a nice crust.

Great first try & a point to you!

Al

Thanks for the points, I will for sure be standing them for the cut from here on out.

I will have to try the last our at the higher temp on a grill.