Holding ribs for serving later

[Killa J]

I’m making ribs for a birthday party this weekend. I’ve been asked to smoke individual ribs instead of by the rack (I did this for the 4th of July and they were a hit). The only problem is that they take up a lot of room when cooking them already cut up, so I’ll have to cook in 2 batches. Can I just throw the first batch in a stainless pan covered with foil and keep them warm in my insulated food carrier? I’m pretty sure they’ll stay hot enough, I’ve just never kept ribs warm to serve later. Do they hold well?

The cook only takes 2.5-3 hours per batch, so I planned on finishing the first batch around 3.5 hours before the party.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Wrap them in foil or use a foil pan and cover with foil and into a standard cooler. They will keep easy.

 

[kruizer]

You can cover and put them in a low (170 degree) oven.

 

[Killa J]

Wrap them in foil or use a foil pan and cover with foil and into a standard cooler. They will keep easy.

Thanks. That’s what I figured, but I haven’t tried it with ribs.

 

[thirdeye]

You are going to cut ribs into individual rib portions? Are these beef (back or plate) ribs or pork ribs?

I've seen people cut spare ribs into 'Hollywood' portions which are double rib sections after cooking, so I suppose that would work before cooking, but keeping them moist might be a problem. Can you sort of fool the host and cook them normally and then slice for serving?

 

[Killa J]

Babyback ribs. It’s this recipe:

Blasphemy Ribs Recipe - blasphemyribs.com

Normally we smoke a whole rack of ribs, low and slow, for 5-6 hours. Then we cut them apart to eat them. For Blasphemy Ribs, we slice the rack into individual ribs before we cook them. The ribs cook in half the time and have more flavor.

blasphemyribs.com

They come out surprisingly good, but I’ve only tried serving them pretty much immediately.

 

[SmokinAl]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I love ribs the next day cold out of the fridge. So if your ribs are not super hot or even room temp, IMHO they taste better when they cool down. But again that’s just me. If you like them hot then as said above wrapped in foil & put in an 170 degree oven they will stay FOTB hot ribs.
Al

 

[Killa J]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I love ribs the next day cold out of the fridge. So if your ribs are not super hot or even room temp, IMHO they taste better when they cool down. But again that’s just me. If you like them hot then as said above wrapped in foil & put in an 170 degree oven they will stay FOTB hot ribs.
Al

That makes sense. Half of the bday party is kids, they might even prefer them warm instead of hot.

 

[Killa J]

I ended up getting frozen riblets from Restaurant Depot that were cut into 3-4 bone portions. Because of how small the riblets were, I ended up being able to fit 11 pounds of them on my smoker. Didn’t have to cook in 2 batches, so I only had to hold them at temp for around an hour in my food carrier. It was the first time I cooked for a party where I had literally zero leftovers, so food was either a big hit or I made too little. Everyone was happy though, so no problem either way.

I almost didn’t get any pictures the ribs went so quickly. They turned out really good.