Baby backs tonight, please advise...

smokesniffer · January 2012

Heading downtown to get some baby backs, I am going to try Car Wash Mikes recipe tonight. My last attempt at ribs wasn't that great, so I am going to try again. Think I am going to have to light the egg and shortly after close the dome and adjust the lower vent so I don't over shoot 225 degrees.Putting in some apple chucks for smoke. I am going to put plate setter in legs up and then a 9 x 13 aluminium pan on the legs of the plate setter and then the grill with a V rack on top of that.Should there be any apple juice or water in the pan to prevent any juices from burning? Any hints appreciated from you Eggsperts.

Cheers.

I will post pics later tonight.

:-c

butwhymalemodels · January 2012

I did spare ribs meat side up without anything underneath. 4 hours at 250 and WHAMMY! delicious ribs.

smokesniffer · January 2012

I got them on the egg as we speak, plate setter legs up, a drip pan on top of plater setter with a gap between and then the grill with the rib rack on top of that. Chugging away at about 240. I am new and the first time I did ribs, I think I didn't do them long enough, as per suggestions of people here. Which now makes sense. It is going to be a later supper tonight, didn't get started soon enough but hoping that they turn out tender and tasty.

AD18 · January 2012

You're on the right track in my opinion. 225-250 is right on in my books. I'd start checking after about 3.5 hours with bend or toothpick test. Depends on how big, thick, and dense the ribs are. Definetly a late/great supper!

smokesniffer · January 2012

Thanks AD18 I will check them every hour, I am spraying them every hour. I want these to be fall off the bone, coleslaw, and baked beans will join the ribs, can't wait. Thanks for the reply what to get it right this time.

johncjaxbch · January 2012

check out dr. bbq"s backyard championship ribs. definitely 3.5 /4 hrs. excellent rib recipe

smokesniffer · January 2012

Just sprayed these baby's again. Looking real good so far. Keeping my fingers crossed

AD18 · January 2012

GO SNIFFER GO!!!! Had to say it:)

smokesniffer · January 2012

Still about 2 hours away. I think maybe some Saganaki for an appy while we wait.

Volfo · January 2012

Did some thick ones from Costco for MLK day. After 6 hours at 240-250 grill temp indirect the thinner rack was perfect and hte thicker rack needed a little more time, but we had planned to have a late lunch at 2, and it was 4:15, so off they came. They were wonderful. Went 3:15 and then foiled them, and then cranked heat to close to 300 to try to get them to finish. Last 15 minutes were back on the grill unfoiled.

I initially "basted" them with my 1/3rd water, 1/3rd apple cider vinegar, 1/3rd bbq sauce mix recommended by The Rendezvous and put rub on top of that, and basted 3 or 4 times throughout cook. Delicious. As good as any ribs I've ever had, especially the thinner rack. Could not believe how long the cook took, though.

smokesniffer · January 2012

Yea I am wondering what time we will actually be eating at. 1/2 to go and then I will test them to see if we are eating or grilling some more.

stike · January 2012

i don't have anything to add, other than i am grateful that one person on a bbq forum knows the difference between "advise" and "advice"

stilllaughing · January 2012

The village runs amuck Stikester.

smokesniffer · January 2012

OK the results are in. Followed Car Wash's recipe. The total time on the egg was 5 1/2 hours, with changes to the temp as instructed.Much better results than my first go at it. The thiner part of the rack was not quite fall off the bone. The thicker part could have been cooked longer. It was still a little undercooked. Stike, I believe it was you that said that they could be cooked longer, I would go probably another hour or so, hopefully that would not dry it out. The meat wasn't real moist, but it was a much improved meal over the last try. Would it have been more tender and moist if I had left it on for a longer period. Would water in the drip tray help to moisten it up?

One question I have, does cooking with lump leave a bit of a char taste (bitter) and I am not sure if that is the correct description. It seems as there is a lingering after taste. I am waiting for the blue smoke, generally let the egg run for a 1/2 hour or so before putting the food on. I don't remember that taste coming from briquettes.

Here are some pics of tonight.

Have a great weekend everyone

Volfo · January 2012

I don't know why, but I feel validated by your 5.5 hour cook time that was still not quite enough by your description. I always think 4 hours based on all the posts here but mine don't ever cook that fast.

AD18 · January 2012

Good to hear you had better results, and they sound pretty good. Many have stated that opening and closing the lid to baste/spritz stretches out cooking time. Some say 15-20 minutes per opening. If you were basting every hour plus your done "testing" could be the reason for extended cooking time. That or they were done when they were done:) As for bitter taste I've had issues that way with over smoking. Apple should not be too bad, but if you smoked the whole 5.5 hours it could be. I usually only smoke a couple of hours with any wood, far better to under smoke than over smoke. Your journey on the art of smoking continues. You learned something and got better results. Good job!! Wait 'til next time:)

smokesniffer · January 2012

Thank you AD Yea it is a learning curve. I wasn't aware of the extended time due to spraying. I will try less smoke next time and I will leave them on longer, they were a lot better this time around. Waiting for the day to master them, eggperience is a wonderful thing.

gerhardk · January 2012

I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish with the spraying, you need to have faith that the ribs are still in the egg and leave the lid shut. Just check the temp every once in a while so that it does not drop too low or rise too high. I found once you have the airflow adjusted and get over the fact that it will take 30 to 40 minutes for the temperature to recover after adding the meat you can relax and wait for dinner to be done.

Gerhard

AD18 · January 2012

I've spritzed and not spritzed and at the end of the day I haven't really tasted any big difference. The lions share of spritz runs off anyways, especially using a rib rack. Maybe next time I'll do one rack and not the other. I have noticed that if you spritz at the end of the cook the ribs will have a wee bit of a shine to them. I use apple juice and suspect it is the sugars glazing the rib. But if you are going to sauce the ribs the shine is irrelevant. I usually start my Egg an hour before cook time. Let it get to 200, adjust bottom vent to hit 225-230 on my Maverick, let it stabilize, chuck ribs in, and the lid stays shut for minimum 3.5 to 4 hours.

butwhymalemodels · January 2012

stike and stilllaughing ...what village? I don't get it.

ribmaster · January 2012

What gerdhardk says is true. checking every hour and mopping cools the meat.

Some water must be cooked out, mopping slows it down.

Set the grill and leave it for 3 hours. wrap in foil for 1 to 90 min.

smokesniffer · January 2012

I had heard a lot of Car Wash Mikes recipe and wanted to follow it as close as possible because of the reviews on it. It was my best rib meal thus far, I am no eggspert but I feel it just needed to be left on longer, based on hearing if the ribs are tough you need to cook em longer.

Maybe the next time I will cook them longer and forget the spraying, and just mop them with sauce at the end.

ribnrun · January 2012

I very much love Car Wash Mike's recipe. Tweaking it a little has helped me to get results that keep my cooking time in line. I start with the temp a little higher, at least 250. I don't mop as much as Mike suggests. Once after 2 hrs, then again at 3 hrs. I always keep liquid in my dripping pan, I think it helps to offset not mopping as much. I kick up to 275 after 3 hours and sometimes tent with foil, that depends on how dark the bark looks. 300 after they pass the bend test (I like fall off the bone) with sauce on until the sauce looks ready.

Yours look beautiful and sounds like they were very delicious. Keep going at it and don't be afraid to try different things. Car Wash Mike's intro to his recipe starts with saying that he has smoked 100's of racks, so practice makes perfect.

smokesniffer · January 2012

Thanks for the encouragement. Just having to fine tune it to our liking. I know they will keep getting better. The info on this forum is very helpful.

Mugato17 · January 2012

What Is the internal temp everyone finds best to achieve?

AD18 · January 2012

Internal temps on ribs is not a reliable option. The rib is too thin and trying to accurately measure is pretty useless in my opinion. Rely on the bend test or toothpick test. Smokesniffer, as stated earlier smoking ribs, or pretty everything, is an art. As you move forward and gain more experience and confidence you will probably see smoke times move all over the clock. I've had bb ribs ready after 3.5 hours, others went 6. Just got to listen to them and read what they are telling you.

smokesniffer · January 2012

That is a bit of a idea to wrap my mind around. Just trying to mentally get through having company over with a dinner time of 6 pm, only to have the ribs decide that they don't want to participate in the function for another 2 hours, or the reverse, ribs wanting off the grill 2 hours before they are needed. The later would be easier to deal with. Seems like it could be a bit of a crap shoot for timing. Oh Boy, Patience Grasshopper.

stike · January 2012

ribs aren't really a sit-down-and-eat-at-6:15 kind of cook...

go with the flow.

you can also bump to 300 with no harm. heck, i cooked spares yesterday with no foiling, did them at 300. took 4-5 hours instead of 6-7. and then i just throttled back and let them ride an hour or more after they were done. almost impossible to overcooked them.

smokesniffer · January 2012

@ stike. totally agree, more of a casual time, and we eat when "we eat" This is such a unique way of cooking. Up in my neck of the woods, I am the "ONE and ONLY" with a big green egg. I figured this going into it, but really was intrigued by this type of grill. I do appreciate all the info and comments. I will try a higher heat and then throttle back later in the cook. I need to get more familiar with the bend test as well.

billyray · January 2012

I know this may be a BBQ sin by not going low & slow, but they were really good for my taste.

I asked a question on a previous post about dome vs. grill temp. on a direct cook. The purpose was to determine what dome temp. to use for direct cooking of BB's. I decided to try 300 dome with my AR oval grill at the felt line. Before we got the large Egg we would do BB's on a Weber gasser. Although we love low and slow ribs, I needed to come up with a way to do them when I didn't get home from work until 6 PM. Since the wife didn't like to mess with the grill, I couldn't start cooking until I got home and I didn't want to wait until 10 or 11 PM to eat, so I came up with a way to have ribs with a 1 hour cook. We've been doing these for the last 10 years or so, when time was a issue.

I'd have the wife take the ribs out of the fridge an hour before I got home and rub them with Worcestershire and season. Then I would cook for 30 minutes bone side down @ 325, flip and cook meat side down for 10 minutes, flip and add sauce and cook for another 20 minutes, pull and tent with alum. foil for 10-15 minutes.

The following pics are my 1st attempt to do a fast cook on the Egg @300 dome at the felt line.

2 racks cut in half to fit on the oval grill, 1 rack seasoned with Dizzy Dust Coarse and 1 seasoned with McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning

After 30 minutes flipped to meat side

After 10 minutes flipped back to bone side and sauced

After 20 minutes, pulled and tented for 15 minutes

Sliced up and ready to eat

What I will do different next time is start the fire in 4 spots, half way between the center of the lump and fire box. On this cook I started the fire in 1 spot, dead center of the lump. This created some hot spots during the 1st 30 minutes of the cook. I may reduce the dome to 275 and cook at the felt line or add the extender to the AR and cook higher in the dome @ 300. If you want BB's and time is an issue, give this a try and post what you think.

Baby backs tonight, please advise...

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