Dry Ribs on the Egg?

Unknown · June 2004

So I got an egg for Father's Day! I went out and found two racks of spare ribs, rubbed them with Mustard, then a self-concockted dry rub. I placed them on a stand up rib rack and cooked them for 3 hours at 250 degrees. My ribs are very tough and somewhat dry. Should I have used a plate setter for a more indirect approach?[p]all dried up.

Tim M · June 2004

Crusty Dave,[p]It seems very hard for me to believe that cooking spares at 250° for only 3 hrs produced a dried up rib. Tough I can certainly believe since 3 hrs is way to short of time, but dried up is hard to believe. [p]One of two things comes to my mind. Either your dome thermometer is way off and you really cooked them at 450° or you are so use to steamed, boiled and sloppy ribs that ones that are firmer are in your mind dried up. I mean no offense here and am trying to help. Cooking spares for 3 hrs will certainly produce a tough rib because it has not had time to get up to 190° or more in the meat between the ribs. Did you take the temp of the rib meat? You want it to hit and hold at least 190° so the meat pulls cleanly off the bone. I prefer an indirect approach, but even direct at a temp of 250° for 4-5 hrs or more is not bad for spares.[p]Give the 3-1-1 method a try - it is almost fool proof. Check your dome thermometer sometime as well to make sure it is calibrated.[p]Tim
[ul][li]Tim's cookbook[/ul]

Cornfed · June 2004

Tim M,[p]I agree. I think 3 hours at 250 will usually produce spares which are not tender enough for my liking. However, they're usually still a little fatty at that point since you haven't had the time to render out enough of the fat. They should be a little wet on the inside but a little chewey at that point.[p]I never officially tried the 3-1-1 method, but am a recent convert of doing ribs without foil for some quantum of time with some smoke then following up with another quantum of time in foil then finishing at a higher temp to "set the sauce." So, I think 3-1-1 would be a good next step! Also, making sure the temps are correct would be good.[p]As for direct vs. indirect, I charred some ribs on my small when going direct for a while after I got it. I think the issue is being so close to the fire. Once I learned to control the fire on the small, though, I made many a great rib on the small going direct. The key thing to me was making sure that you kept the fire around 225 and just making sure that you never got a temperature spike. Also, I hear some folks, most notably djm5x9 and some others, like raising the grid on direct cooks to take advantage of the unique upper grid convection properties of these ceramic cookers. So, that might be something you'd like to try. Basically, you want to elevate your grill level so you're cooking further from the coals and taking better advantage of the different cooking environment which results from cooking at that level.[p]Good luck,
Cornfed

James · June 2004

Crusty Dave,[p]Not meaning to be redundant here, but what little I know aobut ribs, I learned from Tim M and the late JJ (God Rest his soul), and from other posts on this forum. I constantly cook ribs that everyone raves about, and I'm also left baffled about the 3 hours / 250 deg. dry ribs. Tim M. has a great page about how to cook ribs. If you read it and follow it, you will have great success...[p]Good luck.[p][p]

tach18k · June 2004

Crusty Dave, Did you remove the membrane from the back of the ribs?

Unknown · June 2004

Tim M,[p]I appreciate your thoughts. I ended up running to the store and buying a rescue sauce.[p]My previous way of cooking ribs was in the oven wrapped in foil bags with olive oil and dry rub. I would cook them for 3 hours at 250 and the meat would be falling off the bone and very juicy. I would then make my signature "Dave's Blackberry BBQ sauce" and coat them heavily before finishing them on a gas grill. These are the ribs my wife fell in love with so you can imagine her reaction with the dry (relatively) ribs came off the egg. I am shocked to read that I should have actually left them on the grill for 2 more hours for the meat to be falling off the bone! I am anxious to learn the new paradigm of REAL BBQ! I DID NOT take a temp of the meat when I removed them, I wish I would have. I will try your recipe the next time and check back with you on results. [p]Thanks![p]

Tim M · June 2004

Crusty Dave,[p]It is clearer to me now, you are use to a very moist rib. Try the 3-1-1 method. You can fiddle around with the numbers as you wish but after they come out of the foil bag you will work with them just as you did in the past. I tried them right out of the bag twice (the first time and the last time), they were way to wet and soggy for me so finishing them directly over the fire while adding a sauce was perfect for me. I have learned that people like ribs in many different ways so you need to find what works for you. Getting the meat temp to 190° is key for having the meat pull clean. Cooking (some say steaming) them in foil does that easily and you will find the meat temp is well into the 190°+ range after removing from the foil.[p]Tim

Tim M · June 2004

James,[p]Thank you. I too miss the posts from JJ and his phone calls at 10pm telling me to go look at a post from someone on the forum (well I don't really miss those). He was a fine guy when you got to meet him and I do miss him. He was not without some controversy - like me too I guess.[p]Tim

Unknown · June 2004

Tim M,[p]Your website looks very helpful. I only wish I would have found it a day earlier. It goes to show that 95% of getting it right is in the research and preparation.

Unknown · June 2004

Crusty Dave, you know this is the biggest discrepency I see on the forum from users (Ribs). I will tell you up front that I am a JSlot convert to the faster rib cooking method that can usually be done in 3 hrs. A case in point that I was already planning to post but have been holding off cause I haven't had time to come up with the proper name for the part of the rib section you cut off to make the rest of them really nice looking, (you know the meaty section at the top kinda). Any I started cutting that off and last time we cooked em , I wound up foodsavering 3 pieces fromt the 3 racks we did (foodsaver is one of my top 3 eggcessories). That was two months ago and we boiled in the bag the other night thinking it was a second bag of a Prime rib dinner we had frozen as well. They didn't go together and we really had plenty without em so we just folded the bag over a placed in the fridge. Next day my wife, Mom, and brother had em for lunch. If there is anything better than a rib that is absolutely delicious and when you bite into it it squirts you in the eye...well you get the picture...forget that long cook for ribs stuff and same the lumb for a brisket or boston butt...sorry Tim, not anything else on you site I would dare to take issue with (great site).

The Naked Whiz · June 2004

Crusty Dave,
Any chance of you sharing that sauce with us? Sounds good![p]TNW

Unknown · June 2004

Crusty Dave, didn't see this post till just now...it wouldn't have done you no good to take a temp, not enough meat to be helpful...but you did just prove that you can cook em in 3 hrs, because most everybody will tell you that what you can do in the oven you can do in the egg. All you needed is the indirect method (platesetter) and watch em through the dome till you see that meat peeling back from the bone (bout 3 hrs). On my previous post I didn't point out that we had to open that bag to see it was ribs and so when we warmed em the next day we had to nuke em which I believe is far inferior to the boil in bag which keeps moisture in. Search for JSlots method , you'll be glad you did, you can play a roung of golf in the morning and still have plenty of time for the ribs in the afternoon.

Tim M · June 2004

<p />Chet,[p]No problem Chet, everybody likes them differnt ways. We use to do them indirect and hot but they are just not as good in my opinion when you do them that way - sorry Chet and Jslot. Longer is better cause it lets the fat melt away and I hate that stuff.[p]The spares trimmed to a nice rack are called a St Louis cut. It's been around for a LONG time so don't worry about naming after you or something.[p]Link below[p]
Tim[p]
[ul][li]The St Louis Cut of spare ribs[/ul]

Dry Ribs on the Egg?

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