Freezing Cooked Ribs

jlsm

I know, I know, ribs are best right off the egg. But I didn’t want to go to the trouble of smoking just one rack of baby backs so I did two, two extremely meaty racks. I’ve reheated leftovers successfully with a little apple juice. Has anyone vacuumed sealed cooked ribs and frozen them? We can’t possibly eat all of these and most of our friends aren’t interested. 

Buckwoody Egger

Another option is a rib sandwich. We really enjoy doing this since we always cook a 3 pack.  The format change avoids trying to recreate ribs just off the grill. 

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1225872/mcrib-reimagined-reengineered

JohnInCarolina

I haven’t tried vacuum sealing cooked ribs and freezing them, but I think it should work fine, especially if you’d reheat in the sous-vide.

AprèsSki

Yes, I regularly fill the egg and then food saver the extras for later. Ribs, butts, turkey breasts, brisket, etc. Makes for great midweek meals. 

When packaging think about how you plan to reheat. I almost always reheat via sous vide so I double seal each end and if there are bones try to arrange or somehow protect the bag from punctures which lead to freezer burn or leaks. 

For ribs I'll slice a rack in half and bag them bones towards each other so the outside of the bag is convex. Watch turkey breasts for stray pointy bones for the same reason. Cutting the rack in half allows the use of a smaller water container too. 

For butts and brisket, smaller packages are a great place to experiment with different sauces. Place the sauces in the bags before you freeze and then they get sauced while in the hot tub. We have a lot of midweek pulled pork or brisket over rice meals. Lately I've been on a Korean BBQ sauce kick; the left overs the next day nuked and then crack and mix a raw egg or two into the rice and meat before eating is incredible. 

I usually run the sous vide at 160 and reheat for at least an hour before serving. 

- not that I'm against cold leftover ribs, best eaten standing in front of the fridge or alongside a river for lunch

Legume

I’ve done this frequently as well.  I also cut in half. Two ways for me, 1) fully cooked I may sauce then and then either SV reheat or wrap in foil and low oven, or 2) slightly undercooked I’ll reheat/finish cooking on the egg or SV.  

Easy to tighten them up quickly on the gas grill when they’re done SV. 

I set my FiL up with ~10 half racks vac sealed that he just defrosted and tossed on his gas grill and sauced when he wanted ribs.  Worked great for him.

jlsm

Thanks so much, guys. Really sweet about the FiL, @Legume, and fantastic looking sandwiches, @Buckywooder_Egger

StillH2OEgger

I have frozen smoked ribs in the past and they hold up pretty well. It's the same amount of work to smoke three racks of ribs as it is one so we don't mind having some extra.

caliking

Yes, you can. They’ll be fine. 

As mentioned above, vac seal, freeze, SV  to reheat, is likely the best agenda. 

You could also repurpose the rib meat for all kinds of things… sammiches, ramen, salads, pasta, fried rice, etc. I doubt there’s a bad option. 

nolaegghead

Smoked cooked frozen ribs are commercially sold.  Answer is yes. 

You can even freeze dry them if you have the (very expensive) equipment.  I'd love to try some freeze dried.

fishlessman

heat slowly as mentioned then hit them hard on a hot fire with a really thinned out sugary sauce, flipping and basting to bring back a crust. ive seen and eaten famous daves bbq at events this way before, i like the method

JohnInCarolina

nolaegghead said:

You can even freeze dry them if you have the (very expensive) equipment.  I'd love to try some freeze dried.

I am kind of surprised you don't own a freeze-dryer.  

fishlessman

JohnInCarolina said:

nolaegghead said:

You can even freeze dry them if you have the (very expensive) equipment.  I'd love to try some freeze dried.

I am kind of surprised you don't own a freeze-dryer.  

he has one, just doesnt remember where he put it

nolaegghead

JohnInCarolina said:

nolaegghead said:

You can even freeze dry them if you have the (very expensive) equipment.  I'd love to try some freeze dried.

I am kind of surprised you don't own a freeze-dryer.  

Almost have.  I bid on a few used ones on eBay a few years back.  I have enough equipment to build one but missing the sub-cooling part so I'd have to buy dry ice for each batch. 

Since you have to get to dry ice temps the refrigeration is dual-stage - there's a refrigeration system that cools the condenser of the primary refrigeration system.   I'm flush with good vacuum pumps.