1st SL ribs

Update: The ribs turned out pretty good. FTC'd them until dinner time with friends (about 2.5 hours). Unwrapped em and served. They were still steaming hot. The big trimmings and most of the ribs were real juicy and tender. The end ribs were fairly dry. Don't know what I can do about them other then trim more before cooking? I didn't mop, spray, or glaze since these were my first, although I was ready to spray at the 3 hour mark but I decided to pull them. Any tips for my next smoke of ribs?

Post-trim, I'm guessing the racks weighed about 3 lbs. +/-

3 hrs @ 260 seems at least 1 hr short of done, which is why the ends were dry.

When toothpicking for tender, did you take multiple reads across the rack? I usually start around between the 3rd & 4th bone and then several more times down the lenght of the rack.

If in doubt, take a peek at the underside of the rack. Starting with the 1st rib (the shorter ones) look to see if the bone is starting to pop thru the underskin a bit. If so, you're good to go.

Finally, the bite. It should come away clean from the bone, leaving behind a shiny surface on the bone itself.

What Max said!

To tag onto the good cooks above,it is pretty common to get a small rib,or two,that is below the quality of the rest of the slab.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try next time to cook
Them longer and check multiple spots. I'm new to this method so I'm not sure what I was feeling.

quote:

Originally posted by flywithme76:
I'm not sure what I was feeling.

The toothpick will slide through with minimal resistance...some say like through butter but butter can be soft or hard depending on temp. I would give you another gauge...a well cooked baked potato.

You'll find the sweet spot after a few racks.

Ok that helps. I'll keep it mind when I do the next rack