Best recipe/guide ribs in smoker?

[jonhobbs]

Hi everybody.

I'm trying ribs for the first time in my Green Mountain Grill on saturday. I've got St. Louis cut ribs, specifically these ones arriving tomorrow...

http://www.tomhixson.co.uk/st-louis-ribs.html

So, each rack will be about 2.5kg each.

I've seen loads of recipies, some use rubs, most use BBQ sauce but don't always apply it at the same time and some re-apply it, some wrap the ribs.... you get the idea.

So, I'm looking for a basic recipe for cooking st louis cut ribs in a smoker which somebody on here has followed and got good results from. I'm hoping the ribs will just fall off the bone when done and there will be lots of sticky BBQ sauce glazing them.

Also, I already have a good honey and mustard BBQ sauce but could do with a good recipie for a dry rub if anybody has one.

Thanks, Jon

[Kiska95]

Hi John,

I have a GMG DB and just done some Ribs last night.

Trick its to keep it simple at first. Take off the membrane from the rib bones and if not trimmed trim to shape, trim up or you will struggle to get more than 2 in your GMC.

Basic rub used based on-line recipe or Asda sells Reds BBQ rib rub.

however my rub consists of.........................
Smoked paprika
brown sugar
white sugar
black pepper
kosher salt
onion powder
garlic powder
mustard powder
celery salt
chili powder
cayenne powder

Cover ribs in Franks mustard to act as a glue and sprinkle with rub. cover tightly with cling film and stick in fridge overnight. Get the ribs out an hour or so before smoking to bring up to room temperature. Then on the smoker rib side down @ 107c.
After 3 hours double foil the ribs but in the foil put golden syrup, brown sugar and apple or orange juice. seal tight with meat side in the marinade and put back on smoker for another 2 hours meat side down.
After 2 hours remove ribs from foil and baste with good BBQ sauce and place back on the smoker rib bone side down for another 1 hour.

3-2-1 and they should be perfect

Hope that helps

[jonhobbs]

Hi Kiska,

That's great, I'll follow that on Saturday. Just one question, how much golden syrup, brown sugar and apple juice should I use inside the foil? Do I just mix it all together and drop the ribs into it then seal the foil?

Jon

[jonhobbs]

So, the results are in!

I pretty much followed this recipe, except for the fact that I wrapped in foil for less time due to the very persuasive arguments here - http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknogr ... _ever.html - he says no more than 30 minutes, you said 2 hours so I split the difference. Basically I did 4-1-1 instead of 3-2-1.

Anyway, the ribs were delicious, the taste was perfect, but the texture less so, they were not particularly soft/tender. The ribs I bought had a LOT of meat on, they were huge, so maybe they needed more than 6 hours? I followed the instructions perfectly so I'm not sure what I should change to get the "fall off the bone" texture?

All recipes seem to agree on the 107/225 temperature so I'm not going to change that next time. My options for next time seem to be...

1) 3-2-1 as you said (the author at amazingribs.com said that they would turn to mush after that amount of time so even he thinks they would go softer).

2) Cook them for longer

3) Cook them for less time.

4) Cut some of the meat off the top so they're not so thick (probably the least preferred method, but like I said they were huge!)


Any advice?

Jon

[essexsmoker]

There are 2 camps, fall off the bone or 'competition', which pull off the bone with a tug.

For fall off the bone just cook longer. If they are very meaty then 3.2.1 is a good starting point, but may need even longer.

I did booker meaty ribs 3.2.1. Last weekend and they were a bit overdone. You have to practice and just learn.

[jonhobbs]

Thanks,

So more time wrapped in foil but should I add more time in total?

What happens if you cook them for too long and how can you tell they're overdone, do they start to go tougher again?

[aris]

Every piece of meat is different. Timings like 3-2-1 are a guideline. Your best test is a skewer or toothpick through a meaty section of the ribs. It should go through easily - you will feel the difference. Once that is done, you can unwrap put a glaze on, and let it set for an hour.