Ok ya'll I hope you enjoy this bit of information as much as I enjoyed getting it.
I had an opportunity to speak with the "ledgendary" Mike Mills today via the phone. While some probably aren't impressed and some others may not know who he is, allow me to shed some light on this topic.
Several weeks ago, while surfing the various BBQ sites that I do, I came across a post regarding pork ribs and basically how to know if they're done or not. Further into the post there was a lot of talk and technique and something about the ribs "sweating" a few times during the cook session. And then, the name "ledgendary" Mike Mills was dropped. I googled, read, googled some more and finally came across the Memphis-BBQ.com site where on the site itself under the recipes section for "The Perfect Ribs" it states the following:
After reading several more articles that I found through google with regards to Mike Mills and his ribs, I found more reference to 1 to 2 hours smoke time and ribs sweating. I spoke of these things a few times in chat with several people and while the consensus was that you CAN'T do ribs in 2 hours unless you're grilling them or BOILING (you Martin, you know who you are!), it can't be done. It was during this time that I sent a polite email to Mr. Mills requesting clarification of his technique for his award winning ribs. And now I know.......
Mr. Mills took a personal effort in contacting me directly today, and while it might not be such a deal for a lot of people, it really made my day. We spoke for almost 45 minutes and I can tell you that at the end of the conversation, I felt even more enlightened than when it started. Without releasing any of Mr. Mills' trade secrets I can honestly tell you this much for certain, his ribs take 6 hours, period. Whether he's cooking for a competition or for the restaurant, he strives to produce the exact same level of quality every time. Nothing in the way of procedure or practiced method changes. The only thing that changes are the types of smokers used given the situation.
I found the conversation with Mr. Mills very stimulating as he was very much willing to talk about his techiques, the magic dust he uses and just overall smoking in general. He was very open and honest with how he does what he does and he reiterated a point that is more often than not heard but forgotten,
I'll be calling Mr. Mills back in the coming weeks as he actually gave me a few challenges to try and asked that I get back with him so he would know the outcome and if he was right or not, but he nailed down some pretty solid numbers for me to shoot for. All in all, it was an honor and a pleasure speaking so candidly with him and look forward to doing so again in the future.
I had an opportunity to speak with the "ledgendary" Mike Mills today via the phone. While some probably aren't impressed and some others may not know who he is, allow me to shed some light on this topic.
Several weeks ago, while surfing the various BBQ sites that I do, I came across a post regarding pork ribs and basically how to know if they're done or not. Further into the post there was a lot of talk and technique and something about the ribs "sweating" a few times during the cook session. And then, the name "ledgendary" Mike Mills was dropped. I googled, read, googled some more and finally came across the Memphis-BBQ.com site where on the site itself under the recipes section for "The Perfect Ribs" it states the following:
After reading several more articles that I found through google with regards to Mike Mills and his ribs, I found more reference to 1 to 2 hours smoke time and ribs sweating. I spoke of these things a few times in chat with several people and while the consensus was that you CAN'T do ribs in 2 hours unless you're grilling them or BOILING (you Martin, you know who you are!), it can't be done. It was during this time that I sent a polite email to Mr. Mills requesting clarification of his technique for his award winning ribs. And now I know.......
Mr. Mills took a personal effort in contacting me directly today, and while it might not be such a deal for a lot of people, it really made my day. We spoke for almost 45 minutes and I can tell you that at the end of the conversation, I felt even more enlightened than when it started. Without releasing any of Mr. Mills' trade secrets I can honestly tell you this much for certain, his ribs take 6 hours, period. Whether he's cooking for a competition or for the restaurant, he strives to produce the exact same level of quality every time. Nothing in the way of procedure or practiced method changes. The only thing that changes are the types of smokers used given the situation.
I found the conversation with Mr. Mills very stimulating as he was very much willing to talk about his techiques, the magic dust he uses and just overall smoking in general. He was very open and honest with how he does what he does and he reiterated a point that is more often than not heard but forgotten,
I'll be calling Mr. Mills back in the coming weeks as he actually gave me a few challenges to try and asked that I get back with him so he would know the outcome and if he was right or not, but he nailed down some pretty solid numbers for me to shoot for. All in all, it was an honor and a pleasure speaking so candidly with him and look forward to doing so again in the future.
