After going back and forth with Bear about how to do this I finally gave it a shot.
I pretty much followed Bears step by step for bacon on a stick, accept I did a wet brine using sodium nitrate pink curing salt #1 and he used TQ and did a dry cure. Most of my questions were about the curing times between the two different methods and how my MES 40" would be affected in below freezing weather. The one thing I was not clear on was the finish internal temp. I was treating them like a normal rack of spar ribs doing a 3-2-1 looking for a 195 internal temp which I never got to even after 71/2 hours at 225 degrees.
I started by washing the ribs in cold water and drying with paper towels.
Then I removed the membrane.
Next I mixed a gallon of Pop's brine in a larg stainless steel stock pot and placed the whole uncut rack in the pot with a 1 gallon zip lock bag to keep the rack submerged. Then in to the refrigerator they went. Sorry no pictures.
After 48 hours I remove the ribs from The brine and rinse them in coldwater then dried them with paper towels.
Then I sliced a couple thin slices for a fry test.
A little salty for my taste but I was using a salt free apple flavored Rub called Pig Out.
Next I let the rack dry on a wire rack in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The next morning at 8:30 am I gave them a coating of maple syrup and another liberal dusting of Pig Out then they went in the pre heated smoker set at 225.
After 31/2 hours of steady smoke with a competition blend of pellets in my amazing smoker, placed on the right side bottom rack with the chip tray pulled out a cupola inches I pulled the ribs and placed them in an aluminum pan with some apple juice and brown sugar. Sorry again no pictures. It was so windy and cold that I wanted to get it done and get back inside.
After another 21/2 hours in the pan, they went back on a rack in the smoker to firm up the bark for another 11/2 hours for a total of 71/2 hours trying to hit 195, 169 is where I ended.
The results were a tender juicy rib with a bit of bite that came off the bone clean, I think they tasted more like ham then bacon, but the boss says they taste like bacon. I would do this again they were really good.
Randy,
I pretty much followed Bears step by step for bacon on a stick, accept I did a wet brine using sodium nitrate pink curing salt #1 and he used TQ and did a dry cure. Most of my questions were about the curing times between the two different methods and how my MES 40" would be affected in below freezing weather. The one thing I was not clear on was the finish internal temp. I was treating them like a normal rack of spar ribs doing a 3-2-1 looking for a 195 internal temp which I never got to even after 71/2 hours at 225 degrees.
I started by washing the ribs in cold water and drying with paper towels.
Then I removed the membrane.
Next I mixed a gallon of Pop's brine in a larg stainless steel stock pot and placed the whole uncut rack in the pot with a 1 gallon zip lock bag to keep the rack submerged. Then in to the refrigerator they went. Sorry no pictures.
After 48 hours I remove the ribs from The brine and rinse them in coldwater then dried them with paper towels.
Then I sliced a couple thin slices for a fry test.
A little salty for my taste but I was using a salt free apple flavored Rub called Pig Out.
Next I let the rack dry on a wire rack in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The next morning at 8:30 am I gave them a coating of maple syrup and another liberal dusting of Pig Out then they went in the pre heated smoker set at 225.
After 31/2 hours of steady smoke with a competition blend of pellets in my amazing smoker, placed on the right side bottom rack with the chip tray pulled out a cupola inches I pulled the ribs and placed them in an aluminum pan with some apple juice and brown sugar. Sorry again no pictures. It was so windy and cold that I wanted to get it done and get back inside.
After another 21/2 hours in the pan, they went back on a rack in the smoker to firm up the bark for another 11/2 hours for a total of 71/2 hours trying to hit 195, 169 is where I ended.
The results were a tender juicy rib with a bit of bite that came off the bone clean, I think they tasted more like ham then bacon, but the boss says they taste like bacon. I would do this again they were really good.
Randy,