Baby backs and St. Luis cuts are fine, but I really like a full rack of spares. Had to drive to an HEB across town but I was pretty happy with the cut. I had some trim to smoke for beans later. Rubbed with kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Sauced with Franklin's. The last time I did ribs they came out too soft, so this time I pushed the temp higher. I had two probes on opposite sides of the grate. The one under the exhaust read 250-280 and the one on the opposite side read 290-320. Temp was pretty stable but that huge difference from one side to the other bugs me. Fuel was a mix of hardwood lump charcoal and post oak. I had some dirty smoke at the start and that lead to a bit of a charcoal flavor in the meat. I ran it meat side up. At 2 hours I slathered with sauce on both sides, letting it set for 15 minutes each, and then wrapped in foil. Let it cook for 2 more hours for a total cook time of 4:30. The ribs were a little bit soft for my taste. When I sliced them some of the meat pulled apart leaving that ragged edge. The bark was darker than I wanted. I'm pretty sure I ran it too hot, but that dirty smoke didn't help. That said, they were still pretty tasty.
by IntentionalTexan
9 Comments
These look great? Good work!
I always get full rack, more meat for me to enjoy! Looks good!
Awesome job. They really look delicious.
Yumm
I’ve found that saucing the ribs too early makes the bark darker. More recently, I’ve started wrapping them for only 1 hour. Like you, I’ve found that they have been softer than I prefer when wrapping for 2 hours. They still look good enough to me, I’d smash.
Sexy!!!
Oh man… you’re just doing them whole? Nice. Been a while since I had the whole rib with spare knuckles. The tips can be a pain to eat up but are some of the best fattiest rib meat. All too often I just trim the knuckles off the st louis portion and use it for beans or rib tips.
Spares are the way to go though… trimmed St Louis are liek ~$5/LB here but you can get the whole spare rib rack for like $1.99/LB. More meat, less money, trim them yourself and get delicious rib tips to snack on or braise into beans or just leave on the ribs when you cook them.
Yeah, I’m annoyed Costco around here doesn’t sell the full racks anymore. Such a better deal to get racks of ribs AND rib tips.