Competition Ribs

Welcome back.

Are you cooking S.L. spares or loin backs? Weight?

I cook 2.75 - 3 lb loin backs at my restaurant. I've been buying Seaboard "Prairie Fresh" loin backs from BJ's Club for several years. In the past month or so I've noticed a significant change in quality --- much leaner and weights all over the place. That aside...be it SL spares or loin backs, I'll smoke 'em at 275 for 2 hrs and then foil with brown sugar, a touch of honey or Agave Nectar, a few pats of margarine and and some Tiger Sauce...about 2-3 tbsp per foil pouch.

I give them another hour in the FEC and then toothpick for tenderness. When they're ready I open the foil, let them steam off and re-wrap (FTC) until I'm ready to serve.

One thing you can do to add sweetness is rub the racks with brown sugar a few hours, or overnight. Wrap 'em tight. Add rub and hour or 2 before smoking.

Commercial(sweet) rubs that I like include Butcher BBQ Honey Rub, Williams Rib Ticker and Trim Tabbs Pig Powder. All can be found on the internet.

Finally, a discussion on Johnny Trigg's ribs can be found HERE Mr. Trigg's method has been copied and widely used in KCBS, IBCA and MBM comp events for many years now.

I have to ask...I was reading another post of yours from the past and read you used agave nectar and tiger sauce...I've never heard of either of these...is this something you can only find at certain stores or online?

I got my Tiger Sauce at a local grocery. Walmart also carries it.

Agave nectar? I'm waiting on MaxQue

Agave nectar looks and tastes very similar to honey. I buy it at BJs Club though I've seen it at Costco. If you can't find it, use honey.

you can also get the Agave Nectar/Syrup at WallyWorld. It's just another "natural/organic sweetener".

Won a LOT of $$$ on ribs.

St. Louis cut. about 3.5 lb
275
4 hours (+/- 1/2 hour)

I cook them that way, for home, no foil.

For tenderness 321 is your problem.

The 3 2 1 method will NEVER work well. The issue is that they never mention the weight of the rack of ribs so you're guessing each time. Sometime when you pull out of foil they've already be overcooked and you don't have that hour left.

Do a search in the rib forum on "toothpick" posts by me. Gonna make you work a little, can't just handy you comp ribs in one post, but use a toothpick to determine doneness. I did and I won a LOT of 9's for tenderness because of it. Use to be a secret but I started sharing years ago.

Agave nectar is from the Agave plant that is similar to the century plant or aloe plant. It is blue agave is used to make tequila. The sap from the agave is boiled down to make a syrup (nectar). It has a sweet mild flavor similar to but different than honey.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Won a LOT of $$$ on ribs.

St. Louis cut. about 3.5 lb
275
4 hours (+/- 1/2 hour)

I cook them that way, for home, no foil.

For tenderness 321 is your problem.

The 3 2 1 method will NEVER work well. The issue is that they never mention the weight of the rack of ribs so you're guessing each time. Sometime when you pull out of foil they've already be overcooked and you don't have that hour left.

Do a search in the rib forum on "toothpick" posts by me. Gonna make you work a little, can't just handy you comp ribs in one post, but use a toothpick to determine doneness. I did and I won a LOT of 9's for tenderness because of it. Use to be a secret but I started sharing years ago.

I use to foil.... but tried the 275 at 4 hours on my new FEC-100 this weekend.

I will never reach for the foil again

Max, I have to ask. When you foil, are you cooking meat side up or down? Just curious.
JT

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Won a LOT of $$$ on ribs.

St. Louis cut. about 3.5 lb
275
4 hours (+/- 1/2 hour)

I cook them that way, for home, no foil.

For tenderness 321 is your problem.

The 3 2 1 method will NEVER work well. The issue is that they never mention the weight of the rack of ribs so you're guessing each time. Sometime when you pull out of foil they've already be overcooked and you don't have that hour left.

Do a search in the rib forum on "toothpick" posts by me. Gonna make you work a little, can't just handy you comp ribs in one post, but use a toothpick to determine doneness. I did and I won a LOT of 9's for tenderness because of it. Use to be a secret but I started sharing years ago.

I know you have the toothpick method but have you ever put a thermapen in your ribs right when your toothpick test said they were ready?
Just wonder if the ribs are same internal temp when they reach a pass on the toothpick test.
Thx,

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
I won a LOT of 9's for tenderness because of it.

For those of you who don't know, "9" is the top score, meaning EXCELLENT, that a KCBS judge can give for a entry...

quote:

Originally posted by TechMOGogy:
I know you have the toothpick method but have you ever put a thermapen in your ribs right when your toothpick test said they were ready?
Just wonder if the ribs are same internal temp when they reach a pass on the toothpick test.
Thx,

Yes, and the temp was never the same. +/- 10 degrees at times, and varied in the same rib.

I'm no rib expert,but do cook with some.Have to agree with Smokin' that if you think just using a set 3-2-1 would drive you crazy,temping ribs would make you quit cooking them altogether.

When folks talk about a greatly varied version of John and Trish Trigg's ribs,go further back and seek out Bill and Barb Milroy/Texas Rib Rangers that were the great winners/users of the method and shared it with all after 20 yrs.

Tom a forum find search and Google of Texas Rib Ranger came up with little as to their' rib method. Can you please throw me the keys to the vault?

Max, Go to forums, find, Texas Rib Rangers Rib Technique. Tom posted it on March 25,2011.
JT

Will do. Thanks for the heads up!

Jeepers, it was right there in front of my nose.Thanks for sharing that Tom.

Bill posted it to give back to the cook community,after a CS cook ,that dominated poultry for a couple years in KCBS shared his Jumpin' Jim thighs technique.
Most cooks have used some part of Jim's method,or still do after the past decade.

The Jumpin' Jim chicken thigh post can be found
HERE

Thanks again Tom, it sure reads like a winner.

Ok...back to ribs.

Thank you Tom and MaxQue. I can't wait to try these new recipes/techniques. Bookmarked.

quote:

Originally posted by JT Smokin:
Max, Go to forums, find, Texas Rib Rangers Rib Technique. Tom posted it on March 25,2011.
JT

Here's the link:

Texas Rib Ranger Technique

But if my suggestion was not to use the foil, this one says use foil...

I use Agave Honey on everything. It has a very smooth texture and is thinner than most honeys. It is also OK for diabetics to eat. I get mine at Sams and Costco.

AGAVE HONEY

Product Description
A low glycemic organic sweetener, Premium Organic Agave is a natural nectar made from of the Blue Agave plant. Agave has a Low Glycemic Index (GI), so it is slowly absorbed into the body, preventing spikes in blood sugar. It is 1-1/4 times sweeter than sugar, so you need less. The sweet mild taste is perfect for sweetening beverages, baking and as a multipurpose sweetener. Use wherever you would table sugar. USDA Organic and kosher certified. Suitable for vegan, vegetarian, Halal and plant-based diets. Product of Mexico.

Go back to the starting point for tenderness. The meat, is it the same brand, is it from the same plant, and the biggest question is it the same size?

I'm with Butcher.

Do you weigh each rack? When I competed, I did. A variance of 1/2 pd would matter in terms of timing. Thickness is another.

I don't like the foiling method because it's affect on the ribs can be VERY suspect. Sometimes it's too tender, so times not enough. The only way to use it is to go for less time, check the ribs and if they need more tenderness, cook them longer.

Tenderness will never be consistent if you go on time alone. It just won't work well.

I used to cook my ribs at 225 as well when I first got the FEC100 and they weren't great at all. We started cooking them at 250 and saw a dramatic improvement. I also agree with the others, don't do the 321. At home it's 270 degrees for 3 hours and then foil w/ the "stuff" and then start checking the tenderness at ~ 40 - 45 min. The thickness of the ribs will affect the time.