Tough ribs, or underdone ribs is the problem this year for me. Can't understand it. Last year they came out great with same methods.
Yes, I've just rechecked my Maverick therm with boiling water. Dead on!
OK. So I've ruled out the mailman.
He has never stopped and walked to be back yard, to see what I'm smoking. I need a better mailman!
Now a couple of days ago I again, smoked some spares.
This time I decided to not trim at all, other than remove silver skin, and was again going to try no-foil. Same results as with my last cook of 3 slabs, trimmed SL style. On that cook, I foiled two. racks, and left one 'not foiled' in the smoker. All were very underdone at end of 6 hours. I cooked those at an average temp of 230* to 245*. I ended up foiling and finishing in foiled in oven for additional 2-1/2 -3 hours before becoming tender, but still not fall off the bone.
The current, two whole slab racks were the same way, even though I had not trimmed them SL style. Cooked them a bit higher @ 240*-260* average, without foiling. Spritzed twice and that is the only two times I opened the lid on coking chamber. Flipped and turned & rotated positions, when spritzing. I ended up having to foil and bake in oven at 230* for 2 1/2 to 3 hours more, before becoming tender enough to eat. I ate some before foiling, because I was starving, but it was very tough. No cartilage break down at all.
Now all 5 of these slabs came from the same meat market. They always has awesome meat, never inferior, or low grade. I will never have to smoke sausages of any kind, because theirs are so good, I could never improve on it.
More info:
This meat market sells the slabs with no enhancing at all. Just the way it came off the pig!
However they were only $1.89 lb. 10 cents lower than anyone else. Maybe that's a tip off that they are starting to go cheaper quality? I sure hope not. I love their meats and sausages!
I'm using horizontal offset char-griller unit.
I'm thinking maybe the ones I done last year were enhanced. I only had 1 or 2 that required more time foiled, and possibly they came from same meat market that I like. Last year I bought from "whoever had a sale". Wall-mart, Meier, GFS as well as this meat market. I didn't pay attention as whose came out best. I was excited! I had a new smoker! LOL
Questions:
Should I treat spares that are "just pig" (not enhanced in any way) differently, than those from the big box stores?
Should I lower my temps to 220*-230* and allow more time?
Tomorrow, I am going to check out Walmart, Meier's and GFS labels, to see if is the enhanced thing or not.
Maybe enhanced is the way to go for tender ribs with less time than 8-9 hours. Just cut back on the salt in rub?
So is it the meat man, or me?
I suspect a lower temp may needed between (220*-230*) is needed using 3-2-1 or maybe 7 hours when not foiling, in spite of a lot of threads saying 250*-275* with no foil is great at 5-6 hours. Maybe we are looking for different textures.
I sure wish 240*-260* would work for me because it's easier for me to maintain that temp than is is 225*. 225* takes a lot of tending for me.
Yes, I've just rechecked my Maverick therm with boiling water. Dead on!
OK. So I've ruled out the mailman.
He has never stopped and walked to be back yard, to see what I'm smoking. I need a better mailman!
Now a couple of days ago I again, smoked some spares.
This time I decided to not trim at all, other than remove silver skin, and was again going to try no-foil. Same results as with my last cook of 3 slabs, trimmed SL style. On that cook, I foiled two. racks, and left one 'not foiled' in the smoker. All were very underdone at end of 6 hours. I cooked those at an average temp of 230* to 245*. I ended up foiling and finishing in foiled in oven for additional 2-1/2 -3 hours before becoming tender, but still not fall off the bone.
The current, two whole slab racks were the same way, even though I had not trimmed them SL style. Cooked them a bit higher @ 240*-260* average, without foiling. Spritzed twice and that is the only two times I opened the lid on coking chamber. Flipped and turned & rotated positions, when spritzing. I ended up having to foil and bake in oven at 230* for 2 1/2 to 3 hours more, before becoming tender enough to eat. I ate some before foiling, because I was starving, but it was very tough. No cartilage break down at all.
Now all 5 of these slabs came from the same meat market. They always has awesome meat, never inferior, or low grade. I will never have to smoke sausages of any kind, because theirs are so good, I could never improve on it.
More info:
This meat market sells the slabs with no enhancing at all. Just the way it came off the pig!
However they were only $1.89 lb. 10 cents lower than anyone else. Maybe that's a tip off that they are starting to go cheaper quality? I sure hope not. I love their meats and sausages!
I'm using horizontal offset char-griller unit.
I'm thinking maybe the ones I done last year were enhanced. I only had 1 or 2 that required more time foiled, and possibly they came from same meat market that I like. Last year I bought from "whoever had a sale". Wall-mart, Meier, GFS as well as this meat market. I didn't pay attention as whose came out best. I was excited! I had a new smoker! LOL
Questions:
Should I treat spares that are "just pig" (not enhanced in any way) differently, than those from the big box stores?
Should I lower my temps to 220*-230* and allow more time?
Tomorrow, I am going to check out Walmart, Meier's and GFS labels, to see if is the enhanced thing or not.
Maybe enhanced is the way to go for tender ribs with less time than 8-9 hours. Just cut back on the salt in rub?
So is it the meat man, or me?
I suspect a lower temp may needed between (220*-230*) is needed using 3-2-1 or maybe 7 hours when not foiling, in spite of a lot of threads saying 250*-275* with no foil is great at 5-6 hours. Maybe we are looking for different textures.
I sure wish 240*-260* would work for me because it's easier for me to maintain that temp than is is 225*. 225* takes a lot of tending for me.
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