311 Foil

C-Town · September 2008

Planning my first Rib cook on Saturday...with a few questions. Large Egg + 4 racks of baby backs + 311 method. When I foil for one hour should I wrap all together or each rack individually? Should I stack them flat or place them upright? I was thinking of using apple or pineapple juice in the foil but not sure how much liquid to put in the foil? Finally, do I need to check meat temp, if so any particular temp I should look for? Any excuse to try out my new Thermapen! Thanks in advance for your help!

Fidel · September 2008

Foil them individually. Add about 1/2 cup of pre-warmed liquid to each of them and double wrap them tightly. When I foil I like to use a mixture of apple juice, honey, and butter.

Place them meat side down. You want to braise the meat in the liquid. Standing them upright will not accomplish what you want the foil to do. You can place on foil package on top of another, just make sure they are tightly sealed and meat side down.

When unwrapping be careful - take them off the egg to unwrap. There will be steam and hot liquid, and the ribs will be very tender and may want to fall apart. The final cooking stage is just to firm them up a bit and get the sauce to set.

You won't need to check meat temps.

stike · September 2008

when i foil, i do them all together if i can. usually i already have cut the slab into three or four racks

if i have a foil throwaway pan, i put them all in it, with foil across the top to seal it. you are braising, so i don't bother going individually. there's plenty of circulation room for the steam to hit all sides.

if no foil pan, i use heavy duty foil, otherwise the rib one ends can puncture the foil.

if i am doing the whole slab, i do them individually or pairs at most. long strip of foil, lay the rack down, and another layer of foil on top crimped all around

foiling has its benefits (it's basically a predictable, sure-thing cook), but i don't really like the rub washing off or getting soft from the steam. you can hide that under sauce. but if you like dry ribs, you might bemoan the loss of some of the rub.

C-Town · September 2008

Thanks for the input! I do like a somewhat dry rib and was hoping to find a happy medium. Any way to reduce the rub coming off...would stacking the ribs bone side down in a foil pan so the meat does not actually soak in the juice help? It seems like you may get the benefit of steaming without full loss of the rub.

Cecil · September 2008

I foil with apple juice, apple cider vinegar and water.
I also throw in a bit of butter. I generally do dry ribs and do not put on rub until after they come out of foil, then cook only about 20 mins more. (the 3-1-one third method)

Walt

RRP · September 2008

having a new toy and not being able to use it is the pits, so tell you what. When your ribs are properly cooked and have pulled back off the bones then check the temp of the meat between the bones and I betcha it will read around 197°. Have fun and enjoy your ribs!

stike · September 2008

that's partly why i use the trays... more flat area to put them bone down.

fishlessman · September 2008

watch what happens during the one hour foil stage, sometimes they need more time in the foil. if you lay them meat side down in the braising liquid and the liquid was hot when you added it, the times are different than if the liquid was added cold or at room temp. its important that the meat side is down braising in the liquid and the liquid was pretty hot when you added. my brother does the pan thing like stike mentioned, he does alot of ribs standing on end in the pan sealed in foil, with that setup he goes about 2 hours standing in the pan.

stike · September 2008

your bro have an egg too?

fishlessman · September 2008

yep, he uses it atleast once a month and holidays. i come home and find all the eggcessories missing in mine every once in a while so i know he does use it at times.

stike · September 2008

no kidding. that's cool.

every body in my family raves over the food and then goes home to cook on a gasser.

fishlessman · September 2008

i think he still cooks mostly on the gasser, hes at the stage of wife and little kids, 1 and 3. so mostly hes cooking boneless skinless chicken breasts and hotdogs. he does make some pretty good ribs on the eggg though and a great prime rib come xmas. its kinda funny, he never cooks small meals on the egg, but he will just jump right in and cook a hundred and twenty dollar roast or 10 racks of ribs on the large, stuff that would make most get a little nervous about.

311 Foil

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