Ribs, Freezer to Table; Can I do it in 5 hours?

KiterTodd

Working from home today and just remembered I have a couple racks of baby backs in the freezer, which I always forget to take out.

I've only done ribs low and slow on the egg.  I like the meat to fall off the bone.

Think I have time to do a good cook in the short time?   
I figure 1 hour for you guys to reply , 
1 hour to thaw under water in the sink while I prep the egg,
3.5 hours to cook,
and 30 minutes to rest/cut/serve. 

What say your EggGods?  Can I do ribs in 3.5?

poster

yes, turbo. You might never go back

Photo Egg

Cryo packed ribs thaw fast. And if they are still a little cold, so be it. I have put them on frozen.
Go for it. You can always bump your temp a little and foil them since you are going for fall off the bone. 

KiterTodd

Yes, they are cryo packed.  I'll start running those bad boys under water...


There are a lot of Turbo variations.

First one I found said indirect at 350 for 1:15, wrapped for an hour, unwrapped for another 15 to finish.

I'm open to suggestions.  Simpler the better.  I still have to work from home a little bit to get through the day. 

KiterTodd

oh, scratch that.  The mickey method calls for no wrapping.  Step saved...

Baby Back Turbo Ribs (No flip)

350 indirect for 1hr 40 min. 

Before cooking: Pull membrane , rub, mustard, rub.

Put on at 350 and leave the hell alone for about that time....

Kent8621

curious to see how this turns out I have never done turbo ribs. @jupiterjim sold me on turbo butts and I have never looked back.

Photo Egg

KiterTodd said:

oh, scratch that.  The mickey method calls for no wrapping.  Step saved...

Baby Back Turbo Ribs (No flip)

350 indirect for 1hr 40 min. 

Before cooking: Pull membrane , rub, mustard, rub.

Put on at 350 and leave the hell alone for about that time....

This method I'm sure is great, but I doubt it will give you the falling off the bone you are looking for. That is easiest achieved by foiling/braising step.

KiterTodd

Photo Egg said:

KiterTodd said:

oh, scratch that.  The mickey method calls for no wrapping.  Step saved...

Baby Back Turbo Ribs (No flip)

350 indirect for 1hr 40 min. 

Before cooking: Pull membrane , rub, mustard, rub.

Put on at 350 and leave the hell alone for about that time....

This method I'm sure is great, but I doubt it will give you the falling off the bone you are looking for. That is easiest achieved by foiling/braising step.

Good to hear all votes.

I'll see how busy I am an hour into the cook and, time permitting, will do a wrap in the middle.  And you were correct on how quick the cryo vac ribs thaw.  Wow, I didn't know that... I put them in a sink of warm water and I swear in 10 minutes they were pliable.

In the meantime; grill temp stabilizing, ribs rubbed and ready...

caliking

Mickey’s method is unlikely to yield “fall of the bone “ ribs as already mentioned above, but I dare you to not like them. 

Photo Egg

caliking said:

Mickey’s method is unlikely to yield “fall of the bone “ ribs as already mentioned above, but I dare you to not like them. 

Past photos show Mickey likes his food char off the bone, not fall off the bone.lol

Killit_and_Grillit

Photo Egg said:

caliking said:

Mickey’s method is unlikely to yield “fall of the bone “ ribs as already mentioned above, but I dare you to not like them. 

Past photos show Mickey likes his food char off the bone, not fall off the bone.lol

No breaks with y’all 

KiterTodd

Okay.  Thanks for the advice.  Here are the results.

Ribs were very tender with good flavor.  I didn't have a deep red smoke ring, but they were very smoky.  I put in 3 chunks of cherry, which was what I had, but may go with a milder wood next time I make them.

I cooked indirect at 350 for 1:40 and never cracked the lid.  When I opened it up, they passed the bend test and the toothpick test.  I did give one a quick slather of sauce while I got tinfoil ready...

...the whole cook was quicker than expected (Woohoo! Thread subject Goal achieved!!) so I ended up FTCing them for 45 minutes until the family got home and ready to eat.

The meat pulled from the bone very easily.

It was not that fall off the bone looseness where you can just grab the bone and yank it out of the meat, but they were still far better than most ribs other people serve me. 

Good ribs.  Mission accomplished.  I was glad I didn't have to go through the hassle of a mid-cook foil, even though I understand that may have helped things along.  This was a very low hassle way to make great midweek ribs.

Some pics...

Photo Egg

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Photo Egg said:

caliking said:

Mickey’s method is unlikely to yield “fall of the bone “ ribs as already mentioned above, but I dare you to not like them. 

Past photos show Mickey likes his food char off the bone, not fall off the bone.lol

No breaks with y’all 

Mickey is such a great friend of ours. If I thought he would take this any other way than a joke I never would have posted. 

smokeybreeze

You can thaw a package of 3 baby back Sams Club ribs in a water bath in less than 30 minutes. In the time it takes to prep the ribs and fire up the BGE, you're golden. Totally possible (as you have found out), since I'm posting this after-the -fact.

My go-to recipe for baby backs is 4-5 hours on the BGE indirect at 225*, no foil and widely adjustable rest, depending on the "schedule" I need to serve by.

Looks like yummy results you had there!

thetrim

Very nice work!!!

YukonRon

smokeybreeze said:

You can thaw a package of 3 baby back Sams Club ribs in a water bath in less than 30 minutes. In the time it takes to prep the ribs and fire up the BGE, you're golden. Totally possible (as you have found out), since I'm posting this after-the -fact.

My go-to recipe for baby backs is 4-5 hours on the BGE indirect at 225*, no foil and widely adjustable rest, depending on the "schedule" I need to serve by.

Looks like yummy results you had there!

This^^^^^^^

jlsm

These long cooking times for BBs mystify me. They aren’t dry? I tried turbo but ended up with 2.5 hours at 275. Great every time. 

Beavercreek_Smoker

I know it’s old post but I have been in the same situation. Eating lunch thinking “ribs would be nice for dinner”. 

I have taken them them out of the freezer and filled the sink with COLD water. Set them in the water and thawed in an hour. Don’t use hot water as it will start cooking the meat and attract nasties that might make you sick. 

I usually do a 3-2-1 method (3 hours in smoke, 2 hours wrapped in foil, 1 hour unwrapped and saucing. I have cut the time by an hour shaving off all three stages. But my method is one of a thousand to make ribs. That’s what works for me. In a perfect world I would thaw them in the fridge for a few days and rub them the night before the cook but I don’t always live in that perfect world. 

KiterTodd

jlsm said:

These long cooking times for BBs mystify me. They aren’t dry? I tried turbo but ended up with 2.5 hours at 275. Great every time. 

I'm going to make ribs tomorrow.  Will try to cram 6 racks on my large.  I think I've done it before, I forget.

I'm going to go with your 275 temp. 

I've done low and slow (they're great, not dry) and now I've done turbo.

275 seems right in the middle and a reasonable cook time.  Plus, less chance of flare-ups as I'll surely have some ribs overhanging the stones.

DoubleEgger

I missed this earlier. Great cook. Thanks for posting. 

KiterTodd

jlsm said:

These long cooking times for BBs mystify me. They aren’t dry? I tried turbo but ended up with 2.5 hours at 275. Great every time. 

So, after trying many methods, I'm convinced it is really difficult to f*ck up ribs on the egg. 

I've done low and slow (great) and I've done turbo (good, quick, easy) and I think this 275 for 2.5 hours is a perfect in between.  I like the no-fuss, no-wrap method.  My time is valuable enough and it takes a while if you are cooking a lot of ribs if you have to take them all off, wrap them, then unwrap them later and put them back on when you sauce.  I don't need it.

I put 6 racks on my large this weekend and let it go for 2.5 hours at 275.  After 2.5 hours I put sauce on the tops of them that were exposed (didn't fuss getting to the lower two racks) and let it go another 20 minutes at 250.  I just set my FlameBoss to 250, I didn't wait for it to reduce temp but I didn't want the fan coming on full blast to try to get the temp back up to 275 and burning my sauce in the process.

Ribs were fall off the bone delicious.  Probably the best I've made.  Very much a set it and forget it cook.  All my guests raved about them. 

The night before I rubbed the ribs with DP Pineapple Head, then rubbed with mustard, then put some DP DD on top.  It was great.  You can taste the sweet heat of the Pineapple Head underneath on the cooked rib.  It was probably the first time I have been able to specifically taste a particular rub after smoking meat.  It wasn't too spicy for people that don't like the heat, though.

Anyway, some pics.  I don't do 6 racks often enough that I remember how funny it looks when you load it all up...

After 2.5 hours.  Could've taken 'em off.  I'd say most racks were passing the toothpick test, but a few bones were a little firm still. 

Sauced and ready to come off...

Sliced for service!  I know that one in the center looks a little dry, but trust me, the bulk of them were fall off the bone tender as I was slicing them.  Just firm enough to keep the meat on the bone but otherwise came off with an easy pull.  It was a nice cook!

Now, if I would just write this down somewhere at home, I wouldn't have to search the forum the next time I make ribs. 

KiterTodd

That 6 rib cook above has been sitting in my editor for A YEAR!!!

I just went back in to research this cook, found out that I had apparently never hit the "Post Comment" button and the forum saved it for me. 

Anyway, yes, I'm making ribs again.

(BY THE WAY, sometime in the past year did you notice the forum changed so that you get DOUBLE carriage returns <blank lines between paragraphs> if you have one in the editor?  The forum gives you one just for hitting it after a paragraph, and then the single space you left becomes a double. Happens on my Macs running FireFox anyway. )