Where did I go wrong?

I want some fall off the bone ribs and I'm not making the grade.

Got a traeger a couple months and ago and have only been semi-successful with it. This the second time I've cooked up some ribs, this batch was better than the first but they had a pretty thick char/crust, like what you find on a B-butt. I'm wondering if I put too much shake on them. Will that cause'em to crust up?

It was a big rack of pork ribs, removed membrane, yellow mustard both sides then a good coat on Traeger shake. Cooked @ about 225 for about 4hrs, sprayed with A-juice twice. (I intended to wrap'em in foil at 3 hrs but was away from the house) At 4 hrs, wrapped them in foil for 1.5 hrs - sprayed with A-juice before I closed them up. Took off the foil the put on some BBQ sauce for another hr, then took'em off and let them set for about 30 min.

The taste was good but crust was a negative.

Thoughts?

maybe too much sugar in your rub.

What sauce did you use? Was the crust there before the sauce?

Are you certain about your cooking temp? Do you have an independent oven thermometer? Try real simple. Baby backs (good quality Costco is good), mustard (for glue) and your favorite rub. Temp 230. It should take 4.623 hours. Have a spray bottle (apple juice 1 part, apple cider vinegar 1/2 part and water 1 1/2 part) in hand to keep ribs moist. Turn ribs 4 times. Please report back.

Reference what sauce...this is a bit embarrassing - Great Value Hickory. We rarely use BBQ sauce on meat, the stuff has been around for years but the wife requested BBQ sauce.

Temp - I was using the thermometer in the hood, I have a probe but don't use it on ribs. The temp generally stayed in the 220-230 range, I did catch in at 250 but it wasn't there long. My spray bottle was AWOL so I had to go into survival mode, sucked Apple juice into one of those little plastic containers that look like a lemon then dribbled it on the meat, only did that a couple of times.

I obviously over shot the 4.623 hrs mark...

My gut feeling is I may have put on too much rub plus I put BBQ sauce on top of that during the last hour, I was pretty liberal with the sauce too. Anyway, springs about here and will need to give it another try soon.

I am going to give a slightly different approach here...
Trim any excess fat off your ribs, and trim the flap if they are spares ( cook it separate for snack nibbles.)
After pulling your membrane, but a very thin layer of mustard on. I mean like a 1/4 teaspoon per side. you probably wont even see "yellow", just rub it onto the surface of the meat so it wets it. At this point, sprinkle the rub liberally on the side you pulled the membrane from, and pat it in slightly. Flip. Sprinkle rub onto the "meaty" side next. Enough to cover them, but not cake on them.... Let sit for 15 -30 min, so that the rub works into the meat. Should get nice and dark and rick looking. I suggest Plowboys Yardbird for the ribs! IT will go on a bright red, and turn this gorgeous dark red as it starts to meld with the meat.

after this is done... put them in the cooker, with that meaty side UP. (curve of the bones down).... then leave them.
They will look dry, at first.. (but you wont see that, because you are not going to open your cooker! ) They will continue to look dry... until that fat and collagen starts to break, then the ribs will start to "sweat"... This may occur by the time you open the cooker... 3 hrs later. Don't spray them, flip or turn them... If you are lookin, you arent cooking. Let the cook chamber work its magic.

After 3 hrs at that 225 setting, Have a nice heavy sheet of foil ready, and put on it whatever you would like to impart into the ribs.... apple juice, or honey, or brown sugar, or whatever... some people use parkay, or butter, or even hot sauce....

Put the bones MEAT side DOWN (opposite of hwo they were in the cooker... and wrap them up... tightly. Ensure the foil is all around the ribs, no big air gaps or pockets...Crank the heat to 250. and in an hour check them. Open the foil and see if those bones have any movement at all, a little twist to them, or pull when pulled opposite one next to them. If they do, and feel done, rewrap and put in a cooler w/ a towel in the bottm for the next 30-45 min. IF you like sauce, sauce them at this point before coolering.

Pull out of cooler, unwrap, rest for 5-10 more min, then enjoy!

Also, if you are worried about them being dry, you can always brine your ribs, marinate or inject them!

More on that after you get this batch of ribs cooked up. I dont sauce, the liquid from the foil is usually enough "wet" for me on ribs.

Here's my suggestions. First of all when doing ribs leave the mustard for the hot dogs. I always pull the membrane but that makes no difference in the tenderness. Slather the ribs with Worchestershire sauce or a brisket marinade. Sprinkle your rub on lightly and actually rub it in some. Let it set and form a paste. Then smoke like you've been doing. I see nothing wrong with what you are doing. I normally only wrap for 1/2 hour then put them back on the pit to firm up for maybe the final 1/2 hour. If you want riblets or meat falling off the bone then leave wrapped about an hour, no longer or you will have mush. Oh, and try the Texas BBQ Wild Rub available from Poppa. One last thing, good rubs don't need sauce, but you already knew that.


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There are so many ways...I like both Andys and Tx's But start with andys....hahahah Kansas city is way better for ribs than texas! (ducking for cover!)

Thanks much for the suggestions

I only cook IBCA once a year... but our ribs score well down there I always figured it was because they didnt let pigs into TX, so the only ribs they got down there were from skinny pigs who stumbled across the border (just kiddin) and didnt get booted back by those longhorns!

For the record, I only sauce my ribs for KCBS, I like mine dry. All the ribs we cooked for CLB Bash were "dry" - we did not apply any sauce after/during cooking, they were just allows to rest in aujus from the foil in their serving pans. I was very happy with the outcome. I think a couple of the pics in the food thread showed the ribs, but not sure!

I can show you a pic of the leftovers....Wait there were none....they were devoured....People were asking "whats that sauce?"

rbagget,

I can't do the math on this!
What are we talking 4 hours 37 minutes & 20 seconds?
Sounds pretty close to me!

he was an attorney he billed buy the nanosecond

HoDeDo said:

Put the bones MEAT side DOWN

Click to expand...

Great stuff Andy, thanks for sharing!

Dumb question about HoDeHo's "coolering." Does this mean putting the foiled meat into a cooler that has ice in the bottom? Or just a container to let the meat rest?

An Acronym is FTC Foil Towel and cooler You put bbq meat...ribs, brisket or ribs that are foiled into a cooler that is lined with towels and it acts as a holding thermos and also the meat rests and mellows

Thanks BP... I usually try to be more thorough! Not a dumb question at all Sis! I usually just say "cambro" it.... so if you see me refer to that, it is the same thing also! It is essentially an insulated "hot" box, that lets the meat rest (it will actually continue to cook a little).
No ice, just towels or newspaper in the bottom, and yes I leave the meat wrapped when it goes into the cooler.

Hmmmm....I think it's time to smoke some ribs. Now just need to find the time. Ugh!

There is a reason Pappa is from Oklahoma. Texas wouldn't let him in. You do notice though whom he's brought in to teach the cooking class? Just probably the best rib cooker of all time in Johnny Trigg, a neighbor and fellow Texan. I guess I need to give ol Trigg a call.


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