Ribs - steam pan or spritz

cul-de-sac-er

Cooking pork spare ribs tomorrow - my dilemma is use pan underneath ribs/top of plate setter or spritz with spray bottle. Any help would be greatly appreciated Happy Labor Day.

OhioEgger

You really don't need to do either. But a spritz is, I think, the more traditional method.

cul-de-sac-er

Awesome thank you

The Cen-Tex Smoker

just FYI- smoke sticks to moisture so a little spritz will give you a little more smoke. If you get a lot of steam from a water/juice pan it can mush up your bark. That said, steam will help with smoke as well. Unlike the common misconception that meat stops taking on smoke after a certain temp or time, what really happens is that the bark dries up and there is nothing the smoke can stick to. It just bounces off and goes out the exhaust. I like to spritz when the bark starts to dry out.

Gamecockeggman

I would add that a drip pan is in my opinion a good add, but make sure that you add an air gap between it and the plate setter.  I use balls of foil.  Just my two cents and agree with all stated above.  Good luck and show us the results.

dmourati

Neither.

Here's my game plan for ribs.

1. Cut to St. Louis Style or have your butcher do this for you.
2. Dust with Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust
3. Set up indirect with apple wood
4. 3 hours indirect bone side down
5. Pull, wrap in foil with 2tbsp butter, 2tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp honey
6. Cook 1 hour meat side down
7. Unwrap, cook 1 hour, check every 15 minutes

cul-de-sac-er

What dome temp do you recommend - thank you for the great advice.

OhioEgger

cul-de-sac-er said:

What dome temp do you recommend - thank you for the great advice.

I've used everything from 225 to 350 and the ribs have always been good. Just use the old toothpick or bend tests to see if they're done.

dmourati

275F is a good starting point.