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Babybacks Beginners Luck

Egg-on-Medford
Egg-on-Medford Posts: 160
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Made babyback ribs this afternoon. Thanks to carwash mike for responding to a temp question 5 minutes after I posted it. This is only my 2nd cook on the BGE, so I was hoping for something edible.

Still a little disorganized with getting well posed pix, but here goes:

My son didn't want mustard on his, but after tasting mine, he'll go for it next time. As has been said, you don't taste the mustard. Both rubs sugar based.
rub.jpg

Got the fire going. Could I use more lump if I was doing a longer cook? How close to the bottom of the platesetter can I go? Yogi Bear says hi.
firestart.jpg

50-50 cider-cider vinegar ready with a little water. did not measure pH.
ciderspritz.jpg

After about 7 minutes, the coals were going well. Closed the dome and the temp went up to like 300*F. Closed the hatches. Came down some.

Geez. Put a big cup of applewood and hickory chips on the coals. Forgot to photo. I moistened them for a couple of hours. There's conflicting info about dry or wet. I spread them over the top of the pile. Put the platesetter in and the temp came down. Got it back to around 220*F dome.
ongrillsmoke.jpg

Second shot showing some good smoke in there. I was feeling good.
ongrill1.jpg

Trouble maintaining low temp. Here's my vent and daisy wheel both barely open with the temp reading 250. How will I get down to 220 for full low & slow?????

vent250.jpg
daisy250.jpg

I spritzed them a couple of times. Since the temp was kind of high and I was gonna foil, I foiled them at 2 hours with a little apple juice in each packet. I left them on for about 1 hr 20 minutes. Brought them in to add sauce; checked a couple of places and meat was at 165-170*F.
Presauce:
presauce2a.jpg
sauced2b.jpg

Back on the grill again.
backongrill.jpg

Left them on for about 15 minutes; they were looking done. Didn't get any bone pullback, tho.
Capital Brewery Wisconsin Amber Ale for my beverage.
Slab1plated.jpg

Slab1cut.jpg

We used Twin Anchors Zesty Sauce. Here's the other slab cut.
slab2meat.jpg

Bottom line: They were not mushy and didn't fall off the bone. They were tender/chewy and tasty. Great smoky taste along with a little kick from the rub. Overall, another success as my son and I both liked them.

Next time, if I can get the temp down, I'll do low and slow all the way.

Do your guests and spouses think you're crazy for photoing every step of the way?? Mine do.

Comments

  • Klag
    Klag Posts: 208
    Looks fantastic! Awesome pictures too.

    My wife used to think it was strange to take all the pictures until I forced her to come look at these forums and see everyone else did it too :)

    Now she grabs for the camera every time she makes a nice looking sundae or batch of cookies :)
  • Thanks.

    don't think my wife will ever get there.
    she doesn't get us.
  • Pharmeggist
    Pharmeggist Posts: 1,191
    Looks great..
    you can fill the firebox all the way up with no problems and still use the platesetter. When I do boston butts I sometimes fill it midways to the fire ring but no more than that :)

    As far as your wife is concerned you know she has come around when she lights the egg for you before you get home from work (Provided you have loaded the lump in the egg and all she has to do is light it :whistle: ).
    ~Pharmeggist
  • ribs look good to me to,for someone just starting off.
    And they looked juicy,keep up the good cooking.."Peace".
  • although I had my sights set on an egg, I didn't think it would be until next year. We also just got a new infrared gasser and we use both. While shopping for the gasser, my wife was intrigued by the egg and she wanted to get it; I got my egg, but she hasn't really used it like she thought she would.
  • better than the last time we tried ribs. I think it was some combo of oven and gas bbq--no idea what I was doing. great advice here definitely helped.
  • Tommy
    Tommy Posts: 116
    You have to be careful when lighting the egg not to let your temp go above your desired cooking temperature or you will have a devil of a time getting it to come down. That ceramic works really well!
    As soon as you get your lump lit close the dome but leave the vents wide open, as soon as you see the needle on your temperature gauge starting to move up choke everything down and let your temp rise slowly until it stabilizes at your desired temperature.
    Once you have stabilized it at say 250 it will be easy to figure out how to tweak it.

    Now that's my two cents worth and that's probably all it is worth.
  • bubba tim
    bubba tim Posts: 3,216
    give her time. :blink: or another drink :P
    SEE YOU IN FLORIDA, March 14th and 15th 2014 http://www.sunshinestateeggfest.com You must master temp, smoke, and time to achive moisture, taste, and texture! Visit www.bubbatim.com for BRISKET HELP
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Good looking cook. My wife still calls me names for taking so many photos. My neighbor thinks I am nuts for having the tripod set up next to the eggs when I have a good cook going.

    In response to your question about temp - maintaining 250* dome temp is perfect for any low and slow cook you want to do. 220* dome temp can be a bit of a bother to maintain. Cooking at 250 will work and you wouldn't notice a difference in the final product anyway.

    It seems all eggs have their own "favorite temp" where they settle in with both vents barely cracked. Some are 240, some are 260. Just let it ride where it wants to be and you'll be just fine.
  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
    i never soak any wood i put in the egg and no one will ever be able to steer me the other way ;)


    ribs look great glad it worked out for you...

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

  • Ike Witt
    Ike Witt Posts: 195
    As Fidel mentioned, every egg definately runs a little different. I have found that mine could run at 250 to 275 for ever. If i want to cool it down a little say for 225, I add liquid to the drip pan.

    As for wood chips, in the weber days i always soaked the chips, and if i was careful got a good smoke. The egg is a different story, for my taste no soaking is needed. The nice thing about this animal is, there is no right or wrong way, only the way that suits you.

    nice cook and pics

    allen
  • Cory430
    Cory430 Posts: 1,073
    Good looking ribs!

    I agree with Ike and Fidel, 250 is the temp that I use for any low and slow. There is really no need to have a lower dome temp than that. You have to remember that your grate is is going to be a lower temp and you are trying to get the meat to come all the way up to 200. If you insist on a lower temp, Ike's water in the drip pan method would work just fine.
  • Big'un
    Big'un Posts: 5,909
    It looks like you've got the knack! Nice job, especially for the first time. As far as the pics go, just tell everyone that nobody eats until we take care of the P&Ps(prayers and pictures). :P Keep the photos coming.
  • Yes, I've been told that by a guy at BBQ Store in Wilmette. Only my second cook, so I'm still getting used to it. It's amazing after getting the fire going for 7 min and closing the dome that the temp goes so high. He also pointed out that you save lump but not overshooting. Good advice. Thanks.
  • Thanks. That's what I was thinking, that 250 dome is as low as I'm gonna get. Later thread points out that closing one vent, like the daisy, will most likely extinguish your fire. As you can see, my wheel was open the smallest crescent at the edge; I was afraid of fire going out.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    Very nice effort, EoM, and it only gets better from here.