I tried No foiling this afternoon....

[bame]

I'm doing 8 racks this weekend for my roommates and their parents for graduation and have been debating the merit of foiling. I've always done my ribs without foil in the past because i like the smoke and bark. My question is really how much smokey flavor and bark will i lose in the 1.5-2 hours they spend in foil?

 

[erain]

nice job on the ribs and kudos on your first qview!!!!

 

[richoso1]

Well, I can't say to foil or not, but i can say that those a some good looking ribs! Thanks for sharing the Q View my friend.

 

[roksmith]

..not much, if any
Just did 3 slabs of babybacks this weekend 2.5/1.5/1 and they were smokey to the bone..pretty much all smoke ring..

To prevent the foil from leaking.. always double foil.. use the heavy duty stuff.. and be very gentle with them once they are foiled. I try to move them only once once wrapped.
I especially recomend the giant commercial roll of foil that they carry at a Sams Club or other warehouse stores. Sure they're $40, but I've had mine for years and done several large smokes..still about half there.

Foil or no foil...both are good and each have their little tricks to making the"just perfect" rib.

 

[gnubee]

I found that the foil wrap I was using was not very strong and tore a lot. Which lets out the steam. So I went to cosco and got some really heavy duty aluminum foil, the widest size they had. With the heavy duty wider foil all my leak problems went away. Much cheaper than the turkey bags.

 

[old poi dog]

I think last 2-3weeks ago someone here talked about foiling in those large disposable aluminum pans. Someone chimed in about putting muffin tins on the bottom of the pan so that the ribs are raised a little off the bottom of the pan, preventing the bottom ribs from sitting in the liquid. All thats left after arranging the ribs in the pan is to seal the top with aluminum foil. It worked for me. However after reading the foil / no foil threads, I tried the no foil. I am going to no foil a few more times before I decide which I prefer......

 

[melleram]

I usually put mine in a re-usable metal pan instead of foiling. I put ribs meat side up and put a couple oz of beer in the bottom of the pan then put heavy foil tight over the top. Somtiems I sauce them at this time too. The beer creates alot of steam. I mainly do them this way because I am always done before its time to eat so they can just hang out in the pan stay moist and just keep getting more tender.

 

[blacklab]

Ribs look great!

 

[waysideranch]

When smoking ribs for my kids i foil because it falls off the bone. I like to pull the meat off the bone a bit. Nice job.

 

[coachin&smokin]

Very Nice looking ribs. I am still torn between smoke them all the way or foil part way.

What was the temp throughout?

I usually mix 1/3 dark or spiced rum and 2/3 apple juice and spritz twice. I tried Jack Danials and apple juice but didn't like it. Not a burbon fan I guess.

Jack Daniels isn't bourbon. Bourbon is only made in Kentucky and Jack is a Tennesee Whiskey. Bourbon mixed with Apple juice would be a good mix. It has a mellow flavor that has a slight smokiness already. Some brands of bourbon are: Makers Mark, Early Times, Woodford Reserve (personal favorite), Jim Beam, and several others. Unless it's made in KY it ain't bourbon.

 

[mauismokemeats]

das some ono looking ribs braddahs!

I still only smoke with kiawe wood here in Vegas, I never see any apple or cherry wood yet, I see Hikory but never try um yet, I should to see what the difference is.

I did only a few rib smokes and beef rib smoke and I like the 3-1-1, longer on the smoke, foil um up for an hour with some rum/apple juice, and finish an hour, turns out great, I like that almost falling off the bone, when you start getting older you no like waste time chewing off da bone you like just chomp on a piece of rib and it just comes off clean off the bone maybe you gotta take a few bites at it but you get the picture.

It's all good either way, the ribs looked awsome and I bet tasted winnas.

Nice pics.

 

[old poi dog]

Aloha Mauismokemeats,

I'm going to try doing the beef ribs soon. Right now I want to get my technique for smoking baby backs down. I thought I was on my way with the foil method, until I ran into the no foil threads. So...I don't mind taking a side trip. Its all Ono (good) anyway. I'm gonna try no foil a couple of times more before I decide which is better.

But I think it may come down to preference: Like you said some people don't want to waste time chewing on the bone, and theres gonna be others who want the chew and gnaw (just like gnawing on mango seed to get the last bit of flavor out).

..I like keawe for grilling beef steaks. When I start doing the beef ribs I'll do it with keawe. The hickory has a more mild flavor which I think is better for pork rib smoking .....but then what do I know...all the old time pig hunters use keawe. And you cannot beat that Hawaiian smoked wild pig meat flavor. And smoked billy goat ono brah!!

Take care...

 

[mauismokemeats]

Yea that hickory sound good, gotta try that wood. Nice smoker you get, I saw that same one at Sams Club, I already had the brinkman smokenpit with side box last year from Walmart, did some mods to control the charcoal heat and stuff, but you gotta always watch the fire and temps etc. no more time for cold ones (well there's always time for cold ones)jk.
So I just did the propane conversion and love it, you start up the smoker just like a gas grill, when get to temps, start your smoke and bam!! throw in the meats or whatever, temps are set and have some cold ones.

Last year was the 1st time I had smoked turkey for Thanksgiving and I tell you brah by far that was the juiciest and best tasting turkey I ever had, I worked as chef for years and was banquet chef at the Hyatt Maui before moving to Vegas and of course eat turkey every year, but dam, that was so ono, my sister and family was here and she couldn't believe how awsome that turkey was, I was blown away by how ono that was that I made another one for Christmas. You know I'll be smoking it for the holidays this year again.

Good luck with the smokes, I'll give the no foil and sritz a shot soon. Speaking of mango, cannot believe I gotta pay for it, I miss my mango tree back home.

Aloha Old Poi Dog, take it easy....

 

[bignick]

Try a disposable aluminum pan and tightly foil the top. Good steam bath and the bones won't poke any holes.

 

[gnubee]

What is that strange accent I hear? ONO ....... the Hawaiians are taking over.

With apologies to Old Poi Dog and Mauismokemeats

PS I know what you mean about paying for mangos....I used to live on an island where the prawns, crabs, abalone and all kinds of fish and octopus lived. We just had to walk 100 feet to the beach to collect it for free. Now I need a mortgage to get just a couple of oysters that are no where near fresh.