... I used spare ribs (they look like ham-on-a-stick don't they?)
I bought a full slab of Prairie Fresh spares, and cut them down to a St Louis rack so they would fit into my 2.5-gallon brining bucket. I used my version of Pop's Brine, which is lower in salt, and has traditional corning spices and even some beer.
My cure time was 7 or 8 days, followed by a 6-hour soak-out, then an overnight drying time. I used 3.5 hours of smoking followed by 1.5 hours wrapped with some beer for the liquid.
Here is the corned rack ready for seasoning. There was a slight pellicle, so I opted for a squirt of mustard for a binder.
Here is an early pit shot. With Cure #1 on board, I kept the pit temp close to 225°.
Here we are going into the wrap. Internal temp was around 150°. Ribs were meat down while wrapped in a 175° convection oven.
After the wrapped step, the meat temp was 200°-ish, and we rested them for 30 minutes.
They were tender, but the corning prevented any fall-off-the-bone action. However, the bones ended up clean. The color speaks for itself, and the moistness was really good. The characteristic "twang" from corning stood out, and I wished I would have spritzed with apple cider vinegar, or used ACV in the wrap instead of beer.
Bottom line is..., I will do this again.
And, in case anyone is wondering...... On day-one, the rib tips and end pieces, and scraps that I trimmed off of the slab were oven roasted and added to a pan of kraut and onions.
I bought a full slab of Prairie Fresh spares, and cut them down to a St Louis rack so they would fit into my 2.5-gallon brining bucket. I used my version of Pop's Brine, which is lower in salt, and has traditional corning spices and even some beer.
My cure time was 7 or 8 days, followed by a 6-hour soak-out, then an overnight drying time. I used 3.5 hours of smoking followed by 1.5 hours wrapped with some beer for the liquid.
Here is the corned rack ready for seasoning. There was a slight pellicle, so I opted for a squirt of mustard for a binder.
Here is an early pit shot. With Cure #1 on board, I kept the pit temp close to 225°.
Here we are going into the wrap. Internal temp was around 150°. Ribs were meat down while wrapped in a 175° convection oven.
After the wrapped step, the meat temp was 200°-ish, and we rested them for 30 minutes.
They were tender, but the corning prevented any fall-off-the-bone action. However, the bones ended up clean. The color speaks for itself, and the moistness was really good. The characteristic "twang" from corning stood out, and I wished I would have spritzed with apple cider vinegar, or used ACV in the wrap instead of beer.
Bottom line is..., I will do this again.
And, in case anyone is wondering...... On day-one, the rib tips and end pieces, and scraps that I trimmed off of the slab were oven roasted and added to a pan of kraut and onions.
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