Ribs are a bit too fall off the bone

[psdcarlos]

Hello folks, I recently smoked up 3 racks of baby back and they turned out great. I did however want them to hang on the bone a bit more. They were sliding right off and I wasn’t able to cut them individually. By the way I use a Traeger 22 Pellet Grill.

Again, the ribs were great, meat was juicy and all but I want to give my family and friends something they can hold and bite on. Any idea on how to achieve this goal?

Here is my recipe plus cook:
• Seasoned with Holy Cow rub
• Let sit over night in refrigerator
• Cook for 2:45 hours at 275 unwrapped meat face down
• Take out at 2:45 hours and wrap in foil with brown sugar, butter, and maple syrup
• Throw back in to smoker for 2:00 hours
• Take and let rest in foil for 20-30 mins

Entire cook is done at 275 degrees

TIA for your response.

 

[SmokinAl]

You overcooked them. First I would cook them bone side down, second get a good instant read therm. If you want tender ribs that stay on the bone, you would be looking at an IT of 195. Just be careful to take the temp between the bones, without touching a bone.
Al

 

[chilerelleno]

Yep, simply overcooked.
Cut back on your cooking time in foil and check them for either Al's temp or any number of visual cues to determine readiness.

Al's 195° IT method yields repeatable consistency, a nice light tug off the bone. And is a good method when cooking wrapped ribs.

My primary means of ascertaining my ribs readiness is the Pop, Bend and Crack tests.
Pop, ends of the bones are popping out of the meat.
Bend, I use tongs to pick up a rack of ribs from the center and they bend easily to about 45°.
Crack, when performing the Bend test the bark cracks apart exposing the meat without the rack breaking in half.

Now granted I've got a bunch of experience judging my ribs, and just about the only ribs I cook are St Louis cut and I cook using one method.
Dry rub, bones down, 225°-250°, no spritz glaze or wrap, and my cooking time ranges from 6.5-7.5 hours on average.

YMMV

 

[Bytor]

When I cook BB's, I will smoke at 225 for two hours, then wrap with B paper with a couple tbl spoons of Apple juice and quickly wrap to prevent a mess. Once two hours are up, I will unwrap, save the juice of possible and put back on for maybe 30 minutes, then check with the bend test to get a feel for their readiness. I usually will do a few at a time and take at least one rack to the full hour mark, as my kids like ribs falling off the bone. I prefer a little chew to them.

 

[schlotz]

I gave up wrapping years ago, besides it takes away valuable beer time . Great ribs can be made St Louis or BBacks without wrapping. St Louis usually take longer. The higher temp smoking does increase to opportunity to fly by doneness. Personally I run 245-250º and start testing for doneness after 4 hours (BBacks) or around 5.5hrs for St Louis. chilerelleno is spot on for testing doneness.

 

[Buttah Butts]

I usually do baby backs 3-1-1 method and St. Louis 3-2-1 method both at 225 and have had good results with it being super tender and juicy but still can cut the racks.

 

[noboundaries]

The OP learned a valuable lesson in the art of rib cooking. He learned how to make great FOTB BBs. Some folks, usually those without smoking experience, consider tender FOTB ribs a sign of mastery. I intentionally overcook ribs when smoking for that crowd.

Like recommended above , cut your wrap time by 30 mins to an hour, or don't wrap at all and temp like Al says. But pay close attention to how the probe feels when you check the ribs. I don't wrap and go by feel. I am a spare guy 'cause I'm cheap, but BBs talk the same probe language as spares.

 

[psdcarlos]

Well, folks, first off...every comment, and suggestion is greatly appreciated. Never expected to receive such thorough and detailed responses and thank you. I will take all suggestions into consideration for my next cook which will be this weekend.

noboundaries Believe me, I know I've got a long road ahead of me to even knock on some of these pitmaster's door

Last but not least, will cooking bones down give my ribs a softer outer layer? Seems that on some (less meaty) ribs I tend to have a strong outer layer on the meat side.

 

[chilerelleno]

Doesn't matter if it's inch thick pork ribs or 4-inch thick beef ribs, if it's a rack of ribs it goes bone down.
Yes, you'll wind up with tenderer meat.

I also don't bother with removing the membrane off the bones.
Many of us finds that it helps keep the rack juicier and it cooks off..

 

[psdcarlos]

Appreciate the tip chilerelleno - I was removing the membrane as many of these recipes and videos on YT show. But next cook I will leave them on.

Here are some of my previous ribs, comments and suggestions are welcomed.

 

[Bytor]

When do we eat? Those look great!

 

[Winterrider]

They look good. I like some bite wife must have bad choppers, she likes fall off the bone. I shoot for the in-between, and take what we get.
Don't wrap either, just lose temp and cook time IMO

 

[chilerelleno]

Those ribs look good enough to eat.
I can eat a half rack, when is dinner this weekend?

From the looks of those ribs, a couple of minor tweaks to how you cook'em, and you'll be cranking out perfect racks of ribs every time.

Cook bones down.
Cut your time in foil by 1/2 and after that cook if not good then you'll know whether to cook 15 more or less to get your desired outcome.

 

[psdcarlos]

Would be a pleasure!

These were done using the 3-2-1 method. Thank you all for the compliments.
Will definitely share my thoughts on my next cook following some of the steps provided by you guys.

 

[chopsaw]

I don't wrap and go by feel.

Last rib cook I did , I took this advice . They were fantastic .