British BBQ Society Forums

This might make some people laugh but i actually weigh the amount of wood that i add to each cook and like Adie, i also wait till the cooker is up to temp before adding my meat and then once the meat is on I’ll add my wood.

Try weighing out 6 oz. of wood and then you can play with the amount of smoke to your taste. Normally with ribs I’ll put half the wood on and then about 45mins to an hour later I’ll a the second half.

The reason i weigh it all is to try and get consistent results each time.

All Weather Griller wrote:When I use chunks on my WSM I tend to add them once it hits the cooking temp. So I wait till I put the meat on then add one or two chunks of that size to the firebox through the door. That said, if you got your desired effect doing it that way I see no reason to change.

Cool, I shall try that next time. Thanks.

joker smoker wrote:I might be wrong but these ribs look more like St.Louis cut spares than babybacks.

Yeah they were cut bigger than usual + that probably explains why they cost 6 odd quid each! I'll make a point of cutting them to 'babyback' rib size the next time I order some from the butchers.

Slightly different part of the animal, not the same thing but smaller...baby back ribs are just that...ribs that are closest to the spine - supposedly more tender than Spares. Spare ribs are the rest of the rib that hangs down and joins partly to the sternum.

On a human - baby back ribs would be the ribs you can feel round your back connecting to your spine...spare ribs are the ribs you can feel at the sides and front connecting in the middle of your chest.

Those were definitely spares, not baby backs. You do need to know exactly what it is you are cooking, because cooking times are very different for spares and baby backs.

Yes I knew they were bigger (the second lot of racks the thread) thus they did take slightly longer to cook. Did the bend test and bam, job done.
Will have to remind the butcher what babybacks are.