Loin Backs?

To the best of my knowledge, they're still considered loin backs. As I buy loin backs by the case, every now and again I find an oversized rack.

If you find a significant variation in thickness between one end and the other, you can always split them in two for a more consistent finished product.

Keep the toothpick handy and you should be fine.

I usually break up a three-pack from Sam's and vacuum seal them separately. I weight them and write the weight on the package using a Sharpie. I have had racks that weight 3.5#.

When I cook more then one rack, I search through the freezer and find racks of approximately the same weight.

I just use the toothpick to determine done-ness. The toothpick test never fails!

If SmokinOkie had a nickel for every toothpick, he'd have retired a long time ago!

Well. The toothpick test is to ribs what wheels are to cars. Can't go without it. The ribs are perfect every time. I'd pay Smokin for another "little secret"...in advance.

Now for some feedback. The ribs were incredible. SmokinMAINEiac sent me a couple rubs and his personal concoction for ribs. Devine. I received a lot of compliments with several of my clan repeating them. I placed some sauce on the side, and no one used it. Everyone ate the ribs as is...KISS. Ribs were tender, smokey, flavorful. Thanks again Gary.

Oh. And Gary sent me some sugar maple wood to try with turkey breast. Exquisite.

There was no big ole sow here.

You are very welcome Pags. Glad everyone enjoyed it. It was my pleasure to share with you...

When we cook ribs at the restaurant, we are aiming for a different level of 'done' than at home. Reason being, our restaurant ribs need to be smoked and held for finishing/serving over the coming hours, while at 'home', they are served and eaten shortly after they are finished. So the toothpick test, or bend test, or pull on the bone test, works well at home to know they are 'done'. At the restaurant, I want to pull them off the smoker before they are completely finished. What we do is more like 'watching moisture' than checking tenderness. What we do is typically start our ribs bone side down, and let them smoke for 1-1/2 hours to 2 hours. Then we flip them all over, so are bone side up. From there, we're watching the bone side of the ribs to start puddling juice. When we see the fat/juice starting to puddle on the ribs, we pull them off to be wrapped and held at around 160 degrees or so. Our reasoning for pulling them off the smoker based on this visual indication is that once the ribs pass this threshhold, they are on their way to 'finishing their rendering process' and starting the downhill slope of drying out. Over the hours that follow, they just get better and better wrapped up in their own juices. We typically end up holding them like this for 1 to 5 hours. We then finish each order on the Cookshack charbroilerwith the customers sauce of choice. It's been working out well for us this way, typically running a lunchtime load of ribs and a dinnertime load of ribs. The ribs served within an hour of finishing are more of a competition texture, having some 'tooth' and are more 'pull off the bone', and the ribs that are held and served closer to 4 hours later are more 'fall off the bone'.

don't want to hijack, but Astro, out of curiosity, are you using the 160 or 120 for ribs (my guess is the 120), and what is a lunchtime and dinnertime load for you?