Stupid Rib Chef...

Smoking Jacket · February 2007

Well as I posted on Saturday, I was asked about 2:00 Saturday afternoon to cook some baby back ribs for dinner (dinner at our house is no later than 7:00 pm per the wife). Being a new egger (2 weeks) I said I would try... I don't have a platesetter so it had to be a direct cook. I put the ribs on at about 300, layed across the rib rack. Everything looked was looking good about two hours into the cook. I took the ribs off and wrapped in foil for about 45 minutes, planning to put them back on for about 30 minutes direct cook. Here is where I screwed up...put some more bbq sauce on the ribs (including bone side of ribs) and put them back on. D'oh! the back of the ribs were burnt to a crisp! I was not happy! TWICE! I have charred the ribs! TWICE! out of two rib cooks! I have a lot of learning to do!

Wardster · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,
Keep trying. You should sauce ribs, or any bbq, towards the end of the cook as the sugar in the sauce will burn. Once you sauce them, keep an eye on them so you can pull them off before they burn.[p]Learning is half the fun!

Car Wash Mike · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,
A plate setter will reduce that learning curve a lot.[p]Mike

stike · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,
you can do ribs direct, you just need to get them as far from the coals as possible, and 300 is probably too high.[p]limit the lumpo to a smaller pile, meaning down as low as you feel comfortable. and then put the ribs up as high as possible. try for 250... that'll put some distance between you and the coals if direct.[p]long before i had a platesetter i used bricks, a flat rock (at camp), even just a pan with water or sand will do)... those all make it indirect. you don't "need" a platesetter.

BigT · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,[p]I feel your pain.[p]When I am "forced" to do ribs on short notice, I just retreat to the oven. 90 minutes in foil @ 350, marinate in sauce 30-60 minutes, 30 minutes unfoiled @350. As little as 2h45m to cook.[p]Everybody else raves on them while I am trying to choke them down, watching for the food cops to bust me for serving unsmoked ribs.[p]Next day I have yardwork scheduled, I may smoke 6 racks of babybacks and Foodsaver them (well, maybe five of them). That way, I can speed thaw them in the sink while I get the egg fired to reglaze the ribs.[p]BigT[p][p][p][p][p][p][p]

drbbq · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,[p]You mentioned "More BBQ sauce". I'll take that to mean you had some of that evil burning stuff on already and then added more. Save the sauce for the very end when the ribs are completely done, then just a quick glaze. Once you get the hang of cooking with rubs and smoke you'll realize that this is about way more than the sauce.

BluesnBBQ · February 2007

"I don't have a platesetter so it had to be a direct cook."[p]I don't understand why people think that the platesetter is the ONLY way to do an indirect cook. Like I've said before, I don't own a platestetter, never used one, and I often cook indirect. All you need is a second grid or some kind of rack and a drip pan. I usually use aluminum foil pans. Sometimes I'll put my pizza stone under the pan, but I don't think that's necessary.

gdenby · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,[p]I try to keep my dome temp below 250 with any kind of rib, and always have the ribs up at lid level. I usually don't do direct, but when I do, I make sure that I spray or mop the ribs, and flip them, every 15 minutes for the last few hours. Most of the time I do indirect, but just use a drip pan, or a piece of folded foil under the ribs in order to keep the radiant heat from hitting them. That way, they don't need as much turning and mopping, altho I do like foiling as in the 3-1-1 method.[p]I always give myself 5 hours from the time I put the ribs in the Egg, which means about 5:45 total from start to end.[p]For myself, I'm coming to prefer un-sauced ribs, but my better half strongly disagrees. So I keep the sauce hot in a pan, and apply just minutes before the end. I've learned the hard way years ago that sauce + hot coals = burnt tar.[p]With just a bit more practice, you'll find that good ribs from the Egg are quite easy.[p]gdenby

Smoking Jacket · February 2007

drbbq,[p]Actually, after I unfoiled the ribs, I applied the one and only coat of sauce. Unfortunately, I applied sauce to both sides of the slab, placed the bone side down and charred it good. The top of the ribs were very good.

Smoking Jacket · February 2007

BluesnBBQ,[p]I realize that a platesetter is not the only way to get create an indirect cook, but in the short notice SWMBO gave me to cook the ribs I could not come up with another means of deflecting the flame. I tried to place a grid from my old gasser below the main grid, but the grid was too big to fit in the egg. I would love to hear or see other ways of creating an indirect cook.

stike · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,
...like i offered in my reply.[p]bricks, even a rock in an emergency. (no, theydon't explode).
pizza stone under the grid, pan of water or sand, etc.[p]any barrier between the ribs and the coals. even a sheet of tinfoil to block the direct heat.

dhuffjr · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,
My ribs I cooked yesterday I just sauce the meat side and hit the rib side lightly inside after they were off the cooker.

fishlessman · February 2007

stike,
good new england rocks dont explode but ive been pelted by pennsylvania blue stone. built an outdoor fire ring with blue stone once and it cracks and explodes with a good fire.

fishlessman · February 2007

Smoking Jacket,
if your going to cook direct at 300 to get things done quicker there is a few things you can do. first you need a raised grill, second, you want the lump filled to the holes or just barely over them to increase distance from the fire, third you want the ribs standing up not flat so that the fat dripping down keeps them moist. flip them half way thru. at 300 degrees i probably wouldnt glaze them with sauce, i would heat the sauce up and serve it at the table for those that wanted it. i cook ribs direct a lot, 275 works better

stike · February 2007

fishlessman,
gotta get the fire cranking, too. that flat rock was a onetime thing. took it off a wall at a cottage and then put it back dripping in burnt pigfat. wonder what the next foplks thought when they saw it[p]never had trouble with my old run-of-the-mill bricks at lo and slo temps either.[p]they're pavers, which don't get troubled by freeze/thaw. i figure they wouldn't burst either in the fire, since it's water that busts them in a freeze and what makes lesser brick pop in a fire.[p]

Stupid Rib Chef...

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