Black Baby Back Ribs?

Black ribs, red inside

Well the CS Nation is silent so the Brinkman sneaks in. Check out this pic. On my smoker, black is ok, but you CS persons use wood by the oz. I don't know how you smoke beans, really, but.......how'd it taste? http://www.cookshack.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=14&t=000027

I am not an expert and I know "they are done when their done", but five hours seems very long for baby backs! I have cooked baby backs about seven times in my smokette and they have never taken longer then 3.5 hours @225. I put a rub on let them sit for an hour, two hours sometimes longer put them in the smokette for 2.5 hours, put fininshing sauce on and cook for another hour. Come out perfect everytime!!

When I do spares or STL ribs they can take up to five hours.

Hoodsie, I agree. 5 hrs is long time for those delicate little items. From what I hear, the easiest explanation is that someone is opening the door to your CS too frequently. But, hey, who am I to say...

I haven't had good luck with babyback ribs yet either. So I thought I'd jump in here and ask a few questions. I also put a rub on the ribs and let them sit in it for several hours. Then I cook at 225 with apple wood. The first time I did this, after 2.5 hours, the ribs had not pulled away from the bone at all and were tough. I tried finishing on the grill, but that just dried them out. The next time I checked them at the 2.5 hour mark. The looked the same as the first time. I spritzed them with apple juice and went an hour longer. These were also tough and not cooked well enough. I cooked the next batch about 5 hours, and these were actually the best of the 3 batches, but I've still had better. So, Hoodsie, when you apply the "finishing sauce," do you then wrap the ribs in foil before putting them back in the smokette? Or do you just brush on sauce, stick them back in for an hour, take them out and eat them? I'm not sure why this would work for you and not for me. So there must be some difference.

The ribs tasted pretty good. I opened the door twice during the process...Waited 3 hours until first opening and spritzed them with apple juice. They had not pulled from the bone and the fat had not rendered.

I like my ribs tender and to strip clean from the bone. I have been cooking rib between 5 and 6 hours for a long time...in my other cookers. I generally cook BBacks for closer to 5 hours and Spares closer to 6.

Is this black color common in the CS?

Hey George T.!

I'm not sure what recipe you are using for Famous Dave's, but his rib rub has LOTS of sugar in it! The 3 largest ingredients are brown sugar, salt and white sugar.

I have posted the recipe below. It is the actual one.....right from Dave's own mouth in an article written for a Wisconsin utility magazine. Also, confirmed when I was negotiating buying a franchise. Keep in mind, that apple juice is also loaded with sugar.

I don't have a CS, but the coloring of the ribs should not make a difference in whatever they are cooked in.

I have been cooking ribs for over 15 years and haven't ever finished a baby back in less than 6 hours. That includes foiling after the 4 hour mark. This technique I picked up from hanging around BBQ contests. I can assure you, most every team on the MIM circuit cooks their baby's for 6 hours using this formula.

Matter of fact, if you foil them after that period of time, they will not turn black. I know many don't like to foil, but, IMHO it produces a much moister and tender rib...and THAT is what I am after....tradition be damned!

Just my opinion.

Here's the recipe...............

Famous Dave's Rib Rub

1 cup Brown sugar, light
1/2 cup Kosher (coarse) salt
6 tablespoons Sugar
1/4 cup Garlic powder
2 tablespoons Chili powder
2 tablespoons Lemon pepper
2 tablespoons Onion salt
2 tablespoons Celery salt
1 tablespoon Black pepper, coarsely ground
1 tablespoon Celery seed
1/2 teaspoon Clove
1/2 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
1/4 cup Mrs. Dash, original blend
2 tablespoons Salt

PREPARATION:
Combine all.

This will make about 3 cups.

PS. I am used to my ribs looking more like this.Color of the Ribs I usually cook

Hey,George T.

Hoodsie is pretty close on using his CS.

Keep it simple till you get your feel,it won't take long.

Stogie,who I'm glad to see back and he must be traveling too much, is right on with a fine universal technique.

I don't know your weight on the slabs,but it appears you have cooked some ribs.

If I am doing what many consider a babyback,20oz.-28oz. slabs,they are easy on the grill.

Stogie can give you great advice,there.

If I am doing loinbacks,about 2.25-2.5 lbs.slab, I have good results starting them meat down for 2.5 hrs.

3 or 4 oz. of wood will probably do the job.

Flip them ,spray them with apple juice,and open back up at 3.5 hrs.

Stogie will tell you to stick a toothpick between the ribs[which I like if I'm doing a few],Smokin' will say to bend the slab in the middle when you turn them,or I'll pull off the end bone[it will be too dry for presentation anyway] and see if it pulls to suit you.

I agree with Stogie about all that sugar.

If you don't use it ,get turbinado sugar-sugar in the raw,and substitute it till you get the results you want.

Pull it ,when that toothpick goes through easily,instantly paint on a little brown sugar or honey glaze and see where you are.

Next time you can adjust all to your personal tastes.

The CS compensates for many evils,uses less wood than you think, and turbinado sugar should help with the blackening.

Hope this helps a little.

If you are going to use foil, understand that the meat will moist and tender but the texture is different than ribs cook without foil. Neither are wrong just different.
If you like your ribs to pull clean from the bone but still have a chew (tender but not fall off the bone) then don't use foil.
I'll say that I give baby backs about 4 hours, spares 5 to 6 but there done when there done. I don't foil but thats a personel prefference.
Jim

(In your best Shakespearean voice
To foil, or not to foil, that is the question.

I say tomato you say tomoto...etc....

I like to foil personally and tomatoes.

So if you foil them after 4 hours, do they go back in the CS foiled? I was thinking about pulling them after 3.5-4 hours, foiling them, wrapping in kitchen towels and throwing them in the cooler for an hour or so. It sounds like some people actually cook the babybacks for 5-6 hours, the last hour or two in foil. Is this correct? I also put the rub on 12-15 hours ahead (before they go in the CS). This isn't a problem, is it?

sheesh....

go away for a day out two and let everyone run amok.... Actually, I've enjoyed reading everyones comments. I like the forum family taking care of each other like this (and I don't seem to have to send as many posts)

There IS a difference in smoking in the CS and other smokers. Because of the size, the heat is certainly most consistent and you don't get the convection air flow like you do in most other smokers.

More importantly, the humidity level of the CS does help.

Foil or Not Foil -- your choice!

I've never smoked baby backs for 5 hours in a CS without them drying out.

One question that hasn't been touched is the SIZE of the baby backs. 2.5 or 2 or 1.75 lbs, etc. I've certainly seen about 30 to 45 min difference for each 1/4 pound.

Are the ribs touch because of the rub? Try this, next time put a rub of your choice (Dave's) on one and not on the other. If you smoke them both for 4 to 5 hours, you WILL see a difference.

A rib will turn black if:

• The rub has sugar in it and smokes too long
  
  
• You over smoke the item (try less wood next time)
  
  
• You cook too long (they will be dry & tough)
  
  

Ribs to me, can be THE hardest thing to smoke. I can't just put them in and not watch them. Starting at 3 hours. Check them out and make your estimates on how long they'll have to cook to finish.

I do not know if this is true, but ribs seem to have a higher fat content around the winter months! This seems to effect cooking times a little.

I also weigh my slabs (actually half slabs, cause I cut them in half) then I place them on my racks according to weight. The lighter ones on top and heavier ones on the bottom. I also cook the heavier ones on the bottom meat side down and the lighter ones on top bone side down!! This keeps the cooking times pretty similar with on another.
I also only use a finishing sauce on baby backs. It seems to help keep them from drying out.

Good points.

I've also found that if you cut a slab in 1/2 that it takes longer.

Most people using the Smokette do this, but don't take into account that with two halves, it will cook slightly faster.

And maybe they're "fatter" because of the weather or because they've had the ribs in a freezer since the summer. Who knows. Good point.

Smokin'

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]Ribs to me, can be THE hardest thing to smoke. [/qb]

I agree 100% with you. I've done a gazillion racks of ribs in my lifetime...Spares, babybacks, smoked, grilled, smoked and then finished on the grill, rubbed, unrubbed, foiled, unfoiled...get the picture?

Once I hit the Holy Grail with Spares (2.5 # racks) (rubbed) smoked in the CS (Cherry wood) for 3.5 hrs and then finished over natural charcoal ash, (Meco Grill) hood down for 1 hour...painted with finishing sauce the last 30 minutes.

They had the perfect combination of crisp bite, moist & tender meat and the flavor was incredible.

Since then I've repeated the same formula and have yet to achieve the same results.

Personally I believe the "Holy Grail" success I had was largely due to the quality of pork I used. The ribs came from a supplier who buys from a pork co-op in eastern New York state. The co-op is made up from small farmers who raise pigs the old fashioned way...free range, so to speak. They also use blood lines untarnished by the genetic breeding preferred by today's pork producers.

This variety of "heirloom" pork is still being produced by the Amish in Lancaster, PA and is fetching big bucks by trendy chefs in N.Y.C. Alas, the day will come when we'll all be paying through the nose for "real" food.

My two cents...

The ribs I made last weekend came out pretty good. I used this "hog's tail" rub that worked pretty well on pork butt. I used 3 oz of apple wood at 225 and checked the ribs after 3 hours. They definitely weren't done. Meat hadn't pulled away from the bone at all and no wiggle room around the bones. I spritzed them with apple juice, closed the door, and checked them an hour later. At this point, the meat had pulled away from the bone a little on parts of the rack but not others, and there was a little wiggle room around the bones. I spritzed them again, closed the door, cranked the temp up to 250, and checked them about 45 minutes later. At this point, the meat had definitely pulled away from the bone and there was a fair amount of wiggle room. I pulled the rack out, wrapped it in foil and then in kitchen towels, and threw it in the cooler for about an hour. This last bit really seems to help the moisture spread through the meat and even cook a little more. The bones came out pretty clean. The meat was a little dried out but OK with ample bbq sauce. This particular batch of ribs had lots of meat between the ribs, making me wonder if a polder might have given me reasonable readings. Say I was to find a particularly thick portion of meat and use a polder, what internal temperature would I cook babyback ribs to? And has anyone done this successfully? I'd like to improve my success rate with these things. Too much guesswork for my tastes.

George T, I see you live in Mn and isn't it pretty cold there? I live in Colorado and during the winter smoking just takes longer.

My 2 cents

Dixie

Howdy,SteveD.

If you could get consistent weight in the slabs,and if you got consistent thickness throughout the slab,and if all parts of the cooker were consistent,and if all the slabs came from the same run of hogs than 180� would be the temp. to look for.

Good luck.

I gotta believe it was the rub that blackened those bad boys. I like my baby backs a little over done and have cooked them 5 hours each time with uniformly excellent results. I use a rub of 1 part cs rib rub to 2 parts turbinado sugar. Cook around 5 hours (last cook was 4 1/2), take out and sauce with favorite bottled sauce, double wrap in foil, and place in cooler until we're ready to devour them. I've never had a complaint and never had anything close to resembling a left-over. Keep experimenting with rubs and sauces. The one thing I've found is the less I do the better they taste! How's that for a couch potatos delight!

the nj pony is right on the money, he was nice enough to guide me through my first few racks this summer in my model 55 , the double foil and the cooler is the best trick yet, and the sugar in the raw mixed into my rub were great,i used a small hunk of hickory, i did not open the door until 3 hours had passed ( hard to do ! )sprayed them down with apple juice and cooked for another .5 to an hour. never had any leftovers, great taste, color and tenderness. sfent

Hey SteveD!

I have done extensive measuring of the temps in the ribs. Before I knew what to look for and how a done rack "feels" I routinely would measure the temp.

It was easy because all I cooked at the time were the Bronto spares.....very meaty and easily took my Polder. These Bronto spares are very big...none of this 2 1/2 and down stuff! More like 4 1/2 and up..waaaay up!


As Tom mentioned, 180� would be the lowest point to look for. I found 200-205� was very often the "magic" number......meat was tender but not dry.

Now, I find it much easier to just poke with a toothpick or temp probe and feel the resistance.

Hope this helps!

Hmmm. Well, I guess I see the problem with using a polder! I was curious about temperature because I tend to cook pork butt to 205 internal and wondered if that was too high for babybacks. Also, if I do open the door to check them, I have one of those temperature probe forks that I could use to test resistance and measure the temp (at various places). So that might give me a better feel for doneness. In any case, it sounds like I'm in the right ballpark. I'm getting better and more consistent results now with my ribs. Thanks for all the help!