The Horror, Baby Backs in the Oven

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357mag

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
149
65
Piedmont Triad of NC
I just had to rant.

I love smoking meat and I love good baby back ribs. Unfortunately my wife is a little weird. The first time I smoked baby backs in my GOSM they turned out fantastic with a nice deep rich smoke color throughout. My wife said to me, "are you sure these are done? They look so red." I told her that "if they weren't done they would be too tough to eat and these are fall off the bone tender." She says, "they are too red, I can't eat them like that." ARGHHH!

Well I have learned that if mama is not happy, nobody is happy, so yesterday I did my ribs in the oven. They were delicious and to please my wife, there was no red meat to be found. No smokey flavor, but delicious none the less. If it weren't so much work, I would do a couple of racks in the oven for her and a couple of racks in the smoker for me.

So I guess I will have to restrict my smoking habit to butts and briskets. Butts and briskets are so big that the pink/red smoke ring is not a problem for her. Once I pull the pork all of the pink is mixed in with the rest of the meat as to be well hidden, and I guess the meat on a brisket is dark and she just doesn't see the smoke ring.

Everybody is happy.
 
Understand, but I think all she needs is an education about smoked ribs
Believe me, I have tried, but perception is everything. If she perceives that they are undercooked there is no education in the world that is going to change her mind.
 
A few years back i did seven briskets and fourteen chickens for my sister in laws wedding. Her grandpa who loves good que, wouldnt touch the brisket cause "it didnt look done, it was still pink on the outside". He ate chicken while everyone else had delicious "cut with a fork tender" brisket. i wanted to slap him with a pan of beef. Now i dont condone anyone slapping their wife with a pan of beef, just sayin.
 
Blind taste test...i bet 10.00 she picks the slow cooked smoked goodness of ribs off the smoker...
wife.gif
  my wife wears me thin with some of her nay saying with my smoking addiction also...aka {everything in the world doesn't need to be smoked} my answer to her is how would you know if you don't try it..
icon_lol.gif
 
Blind taste test...i bet 10.00 she picks the slow cooked smoked goodness of ribs off the smoker
I agree 100%. But if she has to look at the ribs, she won't eat them. To her red meat is undone meat, period. Even if she knows better, it is perception, not fact that sways her opinion.

I won't fight it. It's not worth it because it will be a losing battle. I like ribs done either way and I still get some smokey goodness from my butts and brisket.
 
How anyone can have such a complete disconnect with logic is staggering to the mind. Did you not fully explain to her that the red she is seeing is the coloration of smoke permeating the outer edge of the meat? And has nothing whatsoever to do with it being raw or undercooked?

Try this.. have HER cook a steak until she is fully satisfied that it is completely cooked. Then drop it in a brine of red food coloring for about an hour. Remove and slice. (...no I don't expect you to eat it, this is for demonstration only).

"Gee hun... is if effing raw all of a sudden? Did it magically uncook itself somehow?"

/sigh
 
Believe me, I have tried, but perception is everything. If she perceives that they are undercooked there is no education in the world that is going to change her mind.
I feel your pain. I have the same issue with my wife regarding smoked chicken. Save the planet... it's the only one with Q.
 
How anyone can have such a complete disconnect with logic is staggering to the mind. Did you not fully explain to her that the red she is seeing is the coloration of smoke permeating the outer edge of the meat? And has nothing whatsoever to do with it being raw or undercooked?
Oh yes I did. You must not be married. Women are a really different type of human. They defy logic and like a theoretical physicist they can make up their own logic to fit their theories.
 
Ohh yea... been married twice!! And as emotionally driven creatures as women are, they do sometimes comprehend info fed to them by us logic minded men.

But wow.... this is a whole different level.

You would have loved being a fly on the wall when I tried to explain the fundamentals of Thermodynamics to my ex-wife, and concepts such as the non-existence of "cold" only lack of heat. Or how the color of something is the spectrum of light it reflects and cannot absorb. I think I blew out one of her fuses that day!
 
Rbranstner has a great idea, 

And I suggest You Take His Advice

Foil hers early keeping the smoke off of them.  Just like cooking in an oven but you can still have your smoked ribs.  Who knows, she may even get used to seeing them on the heat the same amount of time and wonder why hers is cooked and yours aren't.  You can always take hers out and put direct over a hot grill to give them a bit of char.

Let her come to the conclusions, that is the only way I know to get her to understand.
 
Here are 3 possible solutions.
  1. Divorce Her
  2. Get an Electric Smoker and AMNS
  3. Divorce her and Still Get an Electric Smoker and AMNS.
As a person having Divorced 3 Wives I vote for Option #3.
 
HAHAHAHAHA!!

I'm married and I feel your pain. Wife wouldn't touch it the first time I smoked ribs because of the "pink factor". Told her to go blind grab any one of the meat therms and bring them out and stab the meat, sure as i'm sitting here, temps don't lie. Especially when I have the cooking temp chart sitting right there in front of her. That was the last time she questioned me about something she knows nothing about. Leave the cooking to me hon, if you don't like it, don't frigging eat it, plain and simple.
 
I have to agree with rbranstner, also.  I have a young nephew that won't eat anything grilled if it has grill marks on it, so I make all his stuff on foil when he's here.  Just a little extra step, but makes me smile to know he's enjoying it. 
 
Porked,

Bad answer,  divorces are expensive.  (I know, that's because the're worth it)

One thing I have learned is that sometimes they just want to feel they are worth the extra effort.
 
Someone on here said a while back when explaining to someone about the pink smoke ring. " How the hell did I get the inside done & leave the outside raw". I love that quote.
 
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