As promised, my 5 hour ribs from Saturday...
Discussion
I didn't want to jam up another thread in which I mentioned this impending feast, so I've started my own - so I could post pictures of the process, if anyone cares..
So, on Saturday, with it being my birthday weekend, I had the pleasure of cooking for my wife and in-laws, and it's been a while since I did some good old low 'n slow BBQ, so I jumped at the chance to do 3 racks of pork loin back ribs. For those who don't know, loin back ribs are the same as baby back ribs, but come from an adult piggy, so they're bigger. I get them from Costco, the come in packs of three, with the membrane removed (like a skin on the bone side of the rack). The ribs were a wonderful cut - very meaty, I struggled to fit them in the slots of my rib-rack.
For those of you who care, I did this all on my ceramic Primo Oval Jr. It's essentially a kettle bbq, made from thick ceramic, with some add-ons to turn it into a smoker. It is an astonishing cooker. I've yet to taste food better than what comes off this. It's insulation means temperature control is within a couple of degrees farenheit, and it's even heat distribution properties are next to perfect. Here she is:
As for preparation, I slather them with a coating of cheapo hot-dog mustard, this adds no flavour at all, but aids in holding the rub to the meat, and forming a great flavour bark. Then I liberally coated 2 of them with a Kansas City style rub, which is brown sugar and paprika based, with half a dozen other spices thrown in. The other rack was coated with a new rub that just won a major competition, it smells like worcestershire sauce, very savoury, with hints of lemon zest. It was also quite peppery. Now all I had to do was trim off about 6 inches from each rack, so they would fit on the smoker. The trimmings were put together to make a 'composite' fourth rack.
I forgot to take any snaps of the meat before they went on, but, here's what I have:
First up - fill up with charcoal. A reasonably important step.
Next up, when I got the unit up to temp (220-225f), I added a few chunks of hickory wood to the coals, and put the ceramic "D-plates" in. They form a barrier between the food and fire, essentially creating an oven. Atop these, the grates:
After a little time to get the D-plates up to the same temperature, It's time to put the meat on, sadly no pictures of that step. The wood was giving out a nice thin blue smoke, which smelt heavenly. Here we are at temp:
After going steady for an hour, I use a spray bottle and 'spritz' them down with a concoction of apple juice (slightly sweet but won't burn), worcestershire sauce (wonderful savoury flavour), apple cider vinegar (for its tenderizing properties) and the rub I coated the meat with. You can easily identify the 2 different rubs here. This is what they looked like after an hour:
At the two hour point, they are removed from the racks, and each rack is double wrapped in heavy duty foil. In each wrap, I add a couple of tablespoons of the spritz. Then they are put back on the BBQ for 2 hours. This process gives them a good braise in delicious steam from the spritz. This is the point when the meat becomes brilliantly tender. There isn't much to look at, so no photos of them cuddled up in foil. (ETA)This is what they looked like after 2 hours:
After two hours wrapped up, they are de-foiled and put back on the smoker for another hour. The braise in foil obviously softens the bark, so this last hour helps re-create the wonderful outer crust.
Here they are out of the foil, having laid 'naked' for about 30 minutes, with 30 to go. They were extremely tender, and as you can see, the meat is pulling back allowing the bones to protrude. That's a sign of good progress. At this point, I begin basting with BBQ sauce. Again, my BBQ shop salesman gave me a competition winning Kansas City style sauce. Had a nice little kick to it. With the sauce, it's important not to add it until the last 30 mins or so, because it can burn if left over the heat for too long.
Again, they were basted 15 minutes later, and then at the very end. Here they are, 5 hours after first going on the BBQ, all done and dusted. Looking good, if I may say so myself, though I apologise for the shocking picture quality:
So there you have it. Three big, meaty slabs of back ribs. They were delicious. They were impossible to cut individually, because the bones literally popped out. I know true fall-off-the-bone ribs aren't what the true Q-ers go for, but it's how my wife likes them, so that's what I did. If I wanted to keep a slight 'tug' on the meat to pull it away from the bone (the way I like it), I just have them in foil for less time, about 1:30 in all, then 30 mins more when they come out of the foil - still a 5 hour process.
They were extremely juicy. Every time I cook meat in any way on this ceramic BBQ, I'm amazed at the moisture-retention properties these grills have. It's uncanny. It's because they are so insulated, the vents are almost completely shut to achieve the desired temperatures. Less airflow = less convection = more moisture remaining in the food.
All in all, great day's cooking. The amount of smoke flavour was perfect. The rubs were great, and formed a wonderful bark. Sorry for no decent after/cut up shots, they all got gobbled too quickly, but I hope you enjoyed reading/seeing/learning about the cook.
Oh, my American wife likes to make me scones, purely because I'm English. So, here's the fruits of her day's labour in the kitchen. Lemon and poppyseed scones for desert!
Thanks for looking..
Papoo
So, on Saturday, with it being my birthday weekend, I had the pleasure of cooking for my wife and in-laws, and it's been a while since I did some good old low 'n slow BBQ, so I jumped at the chance to do 3 racks of pork loin back ribs. For those who don't know, loin back ribs are the same as baby back ribs, but come from an adult piggy, so they're bigger. I get them from Costco, the come in packs of three, with the membrane removed (like a skin on the bone side of the rack). The ribs were a wonderful cut - very meaty, I struggled to fit them in the slots of my rib-rack.
For those of you who care, I did this all on my ceramic Primo Oval Jr. It's essentially a kettle bbq, made from thick ceramic, with some add-ons to turn it into a smoker. It is an astonishing cooker. I've yet to taste food better than what comes off this. It's insulation means temperature control is within a couple of degrees farenheit, and it's even heat distribution properties are next to perfect. Here she is:
As for preparation, I slather them with a coating of cheapo hot-dog mustard, this adds no flavour at all, but aids in holding the rub to the meat, and forming a great flavour bark. Then I liberally coated 2 of them with a Kansas City style rub, which is brown sugar and paprika based, with half a dozen other spices thrown in. The other rack was coated with a new rub that just won a major competition, it smells like worcestershire sauce, very savoury, with hints of lemon zest. It was also quite peppery. Now all I had to do was trim off about 6 inches from each rack, so they would fit on the smoker. The trimmings were put together to make a 'composite' fourth rack.
I forgot to take any snaps of the meat before they went on, but, here's what I have:
First up - fill up with charcoal. A reasonably important step.
Next up, when I got the unit up to temp (220-225f), I added a few chunks of hickory wood to the coals, and put the ceramic "D-plates" in. They form a barrier between the food and fire, essentially creating an oven. Atop these, the grates:
After a little time to get the D-plates up to the same temperature, It's time to put the meat on, sadly no pictures of that step. The wood was giving out a nice thin blue smoke, which smelt heavenly. Here we are at temp:
After going steady for an hour, I use a spray bottle and 'spritz' them down with a concoction of apple juice (slightly sweet but won't burn), worcestershire sauce (wonderful savoury flavour), apple cider vinegar (for its tenderizing properties) and the rub I coated the meat with. You can easily identify the 2 different rubs here. This is what they looked like after an hour:
At the two hour point, they are removed from the racks, and each rack is double wrapped in heavy duty foil. In each wrap, I add a couple of tablespoons of the spritz. Then they are put back on the BBQ for 2 hours. This process gives them a good braise in delicious steam from the spritz. This is the point when the meat becomes brilliantly tender. There isn't much to look at, so no photos of them cuddled up in foil. (ETA)This is what they looked like after 2 hours:
After two hours wrapped up, they are de-foiled and put back on the smoker for another hour. The braise in foil obviously softens the bark, so this last hour helps re-create the wonderful outer crust.
Here they are out of the foil, having laid 'naked' for about 30 minutes, with 30 to go. They were extremely tender, and as you can see, the meat is pulling back allowing the bones to protrude. That's a sign of good progress. At this point, I begin basting with BBQ sauce. Again, my BBQ shop salesman gave me a competition winning Kansas City style sauce. Had a nice little kick to it. With the sauce, it's important not to add it until the last 30 mins or so, because it can burn if left over the heat for too long.
Again, they were basted 15 minutes later, and then at the very end. Here they are, 5 hours after first going on the BBQ, all done and dusted. Looking good, if I may say so myself, though I apologise for the shocking picture quality:
So there you have it. Three big, meaty slabs of back ribs. They were delicious. They were impossible to cut individually, because the bones literally popped out. I know true fall-off-the-bone ribs aren't what the true Q-ers go for, but it's how my wife likes them, so that's what I did. If I wanted to keep a slight 'tug' on the meat to pull it away from the bone (the way I like it), I just have them in foil for less time, about 1:30 in all, then 30 mins more when they come out of the foil - still a 5 hour process.
They were extremely juicy. Every time I cook meat in any way on this ceramic BBQ, I'm amazed at the moisture-retention properties these grills have. It's uncanny. It's because they are so insulated, the vents are almost completely shut to achieve the desired temperatures. Less airflow = less convection = more moisture remaining in the food.
All in all, great day's cooking. The amount of smoke flavour was perfect. The rubs were great, and formed a wonderful bark. Sorry for no decent after/cut up shots, they all got gobbled too quickly, but I hope you enjoyed reading/seeing/learning about the cook.
Oh, my American wife likes to make me scones, purely because I'm English. So, here's the fruits of her day's labour in the kitchen. Lemon and poppyseed scones for desert!
Thanks for looking..
Papoo
Edited by Papoo on Monday 19th October 20:20
Big Green Eggs are great, too. Pretty much the same thing, but the Primo which I have is an oval, and with that comes a great deal more versatility. I can do indirect and direct cooking at the same time, have one side lower (closer to the fire) and the other higher etc...
You'll be just as happy with any ceramic though, they are all much of a muchness, and all cook brilliantly.
You'll be just as happy with any ceramic though, they are all much of a muchness, and all cook brilliantly.
smack said:
Thank you sir, I have been waiting all day for you to post this! 
That gives me a few ideas, and there is now drool over my laptop
You're most welcome. Now get cooking... Ps/ you can cut ribs up into 2 and they should fit in the smokey joe... just sayin! Or you can roll them up, too. That gives me a few ideas, and there is now drool over my laptop
Papoo said:
smack said:
Thank you sir, I have been waiting all day for you to post this!
That gives me a few ideas, and there is now drool over my laptop
You're most welcome. Now get cooking... Ps/ you can cut ribs up into 2 and they should fit in the smokey joe... just sayin! Or you can roll them up, too. That gives me a few ideas, and there is now drool over my laptop
My plans are to give try pulled pork with Pork Butt, aka pork shoulder. I was thinking I could use the leftovers in a chilli (mmmmm smokey pork chilli).
But I might try a test run on a small ribs. Papoo, got any good rub mixes worth giving a go?
This is a good excuse to get a thermocouple for my Automotive Fluke Multimeter (keeping the PH theme of if you are going to do something, do it the most overkill way) to take temp readings at the grate. I gather the key to keeping the long slow cooking temp is using a water tray, when I am doing it on a small scale.
Don said:
Nice write up! Thanks for sharing.
In 5 hours of cooking don't you need to refuel? I don't think my smoker (not a posh ceramic job) would go so long without topping up the charcoal...
Don, ordinarily, most smokers need a top-up every 1-3 hours depending on the unit. One of ceramics' benefits is that due to it's insulation, only a tiny fire is required to cook at these low temperatures. Consequently, it lasts forever. At 225f, a full load (about 3.5lbs) will go for 24hrs, if you build the fire correctly. In 5 hours of cooking don't you need to refuel? I don't think my smoker (not a posh ceramic job) would go so long without topping up the charcoal...
The downside to ceramics, is that if you do need to refuel, you basically have to remove everything to gain access to the fire. Not a real issue with fuel, because it lasts so long. It was an isse with regard to adding wood, though. What I found to work a treat, is to slide the wood through the bottom vent, and lay it underneath the charcoal grate, so as ambers fall through, it gets the wood smoking perfectly.
Smack - Do it, the more improvised your accessories, the extra man points you score. I'm fairly low on these, as I went the traditional 'mundane' route of buying thermometers etc! A pork butt is probably the most forgiving meat to smoke. For rubs, I have a couple of recipes up on another thread which I'll try to dig out. For cooking, use a water tray for sure. It helps regulate the temperature. Hickory is my favourite wood on pulled pork, but it takes to most woods very nicely. The perfect temperature for pulled pork is an internal temp of 205f. This means taking it off the heat, and putting it in a cooler wrapped in foil, when the internal temp is about 193-195. It needs to rest at least 90 minutes, it'll stay hot for hours in the cooler.
You'll probably notice a 'stall' when the internal temp is in the 150s/160s, which can last some time. This is the time when the collagen (which holds the meat tissues together) is melting away. Arrest the urge to crank the heat up when this happens. My method of cooking big hunks, like a butt or brisket, is to cook it to an internal of 140f. After 140, the meat is no longer able to absorb smoke, so then it's just a case of applying heat. I double wrap tightly in foil, with 4 or so tablespoons of spritz, as described in the OP. I take it all the way to about 180 in foil, then remove from the foil to re-firm up the bark. When you hit the mid 190s, take it out and rest it, and come pulling time, the meat will just collapse in your hands. I've had it t the point when I've laid the butt out on a big tray, and essentially 'spread' it like butter. It breaks into a million pieces, as there's nothing holding the fibres together... Good luck, it's easy, trust me (I'm a spastic).
Wadeski - I know Primo is available in Denmark and Finland. If you want details of the Scandinavian dealer (His name is Thorsten) I can get them for you. I know the Big Green Egg isn't available (yet) in the UK, but I'm sure there are some ceramics available. They all cook amazingly, with brilliant temperature control. That's all you need..
zakelwe said:
I missed this first time round, absolutely fantastic mate!
You are our BBQ king.
Regards
Andy
Having seen your McD 'double-big-tasty', I am definately going to smoke one. I'll be back in a couple of days with the results. If I'm honest, I reckon it'll take well to mesquite smoke!You are our BBQ king.
Regards
Andy
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