I tried to visit as many BBQ joints around my area (southwest connecticut) to survey "my neck of the woods". While a number served ribs, only a few (about 4) I've visited claimed they were real pit BBQ outfits. I was able to talk to either the owners or the main cooks. All were very nice people and were curious to know what I thought of their product (ribs and pulled pork). 3 places even allowed me to view their kitchen and operations.
Aside from getting opinions from other business owners about the area, I had also wanted to evaluate their cookers. I was more interested on the appearance (presentation) of the cooked ribs and the texture rather than the actual taste. (TASTE IS VERY SUBJECTIVE.) One had a Ole Hickory (gas), the other had a Southern Pride (gas), the last one had 2 Cookshacks (100 and 200 series). For ribs, all of them used 3 and down St Louis cut. The SP and CS sites cooked their ribs for at least 4 hours, while the OleHickory joint less than that. The cooking results on the ribs were very interesting.
The CS cooked ribs were very moist and juicy but had no "bark" to speak of. Meat was still white although smokey in flavor. The OleHickory cooked ribs were "hard", dry, and the meat sticking to the bone. I think the joint simple did not cook it long enough. The SP cooked ribs had a bark, smoke ring, a moist center, and the meat cooked enough to pull off easily from the bone. It however would do better with a little more moisture.
This brings me to my real question - to those of you who are using the CS commercially to cook ribs (not a pulled-pork question please), what do you do to put some crisp or bark to improve texture? The CS cooked ribs I tried were a bit too mushy (looks more like the result of "steaming" rather than roasting) for me (and this was not over sauced). Do you use a Charbroiler to finish off your ribs?
Surely, I'll need a commercial cooker for my business. But at this point, none of the product of the 3 I have tested (apperance and texture) even comes close to the ribs I do at home with my WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain a $179 bargain for HOME use). Are gas and electric bbq cookers a simple commercial convenience but produce an inferior RIB product to wood or charcoal pits? Do I have to make this big compromise for operations sake? I am beginning to doubt the quality this "push the button and forget it" cooker. What happened to the pit masters of the deep south who mop em slabs every hour or so?
Please understand where I am coming from. I want to create a real good commercial product and not just any kind of ribs. I do not assume my future customers will be happy to eat any kind of ribs just because they see the sign BBQ or smell the smoke. I'd like them to come back again and again. Thanks for your comments.
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