Ribs That Took Longer Than Expected Not That There's Anything Wrong With That Q View

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wntrlnd

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Oct 18, 2009
283
14
out on the western plain
(Note: I changed the name of this post, to accomodate an objection to the title Retarded Ribs Q View.  As I explicitly state below, the cooking process was retarded when the temperature in my smoker went south for an extended period of time.  I was able to correct for this and ended up with some tasty ribs despite the temp dip.  In as much as adjusting to that retardation in the cooking process was the main challenge I faced today, I originally titled this post Retarded Ribs Q view.    The ribs simply took longer than expected to cook.  I wasn't saying the ribs themselves were "retards."  Or the ribs were so good they make you retarded.  Or anything about people with disabilities of any sort.  Clearly, I wasn't using the word retarded as a perjorative.  The ribs turned out great!  I have nothing bad to say about them.  In terms of how long it actually took, compared to how long I expected them to take, they were, temporally speakingretarded ribs.  Changing the title to Temporally Challenged Ribs (in other words, Late Ribs) evidently only made things worse.  Hey, I tried!)

I got these spare ribs for $1.39 a pound at Vallarta Market. They were fresh when I bought them but I ended up freezing them when I foolishly cancelled my smoke last weekend. 

I took off the membrane, rib meat and skirt before I froze them.

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I took them out of the freezer Friday morning and got them thawed enough to apply mustard and rub late that night.

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I had the ribs out the next morning at 7:30 and in the smoker by 9.

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My aim was to do these ribs the 3-2-1 method.  I've successfully used the method before

I'm using lump charcoal and smoking with a nice big log of seasoned almond wood in my offset smoker.  Here's a peek in the firebox:

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I had a nice flow of thin blue smoke and a pretty consistent temp all through the first three hours.

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About an hour before it was time to foil the ribs, I started getting my fatty ready.  I wanted to get the fatty on while I had the lid open for the foiling.  I ended up having the lid open for a long time and lost a ton of heat.

I knew this was going to be an issue, so I opened the vent and added charcoal prior to beginning the foiling process.  Even so, I bumbled around and lost too much heat.

Since I had three hours of momentum behind me, I figured if I was patient the temp would slowly climb back up.  I sat down to eat lunch and waited for the temp to come back.  I monkeyed around with it, adding charcoal, knocking off ash, cleaning the area under the coals, etc.  As it turned out, I had about an hour or and hour and a half where the temp was closer to 200 than the (minimum) 225 I was trying to cook at.

I knew this lower temp was retarding the progress of the ribs.  I figured to compensate I'd need to extend the time in the foil to 2 and a half hours.  As expected, when I checked them at the end of two hours they clearly had a considerable way to go.  I ended up leaving them in foil for 3 hours and then about a half hour out of the smoker to firm them up.

I'm thinkin' these are about ready:

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Here they are firming up:

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Oh yeah, I mentioned there was a fatty in today's line up:

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I wrote a seaparate Q view for the fatty yesterday.   Here's how the fatty turned out:

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Here are those ribs:

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Supper is ready when you are:

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I was very satisfied with the end product.  Some of my best ribs so far (only my third attempt).

I hope you enjoyed the Q view!  I would've posted it last night but I went for a massage instead.

Thanks for lookin' in!
 
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Wow!

That plate looks even better than it did on the other post!

I gotta stop looking at this one!

Bear
 
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I agree WOW thats one nice looking plate of food. The ribs look great so why are they retarded???
 
Massage or post Qview....ok, we'll forgive you for choosing the massage! LOL  (Would have been my choice too!)

Those are some great looking ribs and nice plate of food.  Great smoke! 
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Wow!

That plate looks even better than it did on the other post!

I gotta stop looking at this one!

Bear
Thanks, Bear!  I agree, I think this is a better shot of that fatty.  Looks like the filling is in 3D!  LOL

 
WOW! what pretty ribs! It all looks great!!
Thank you, BarbeQueen!  I forgot to mention I basted those ribs with Bone Suckin' Sauce before I served them.

 
WOW! That's a very nice smoke ring!
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Thanks, raptor700!  Someone might ask, how can a guy like me with almost zero smoker experience turn out such deleicious ribs?  Only because all you folks here at SMFare so generous with your knowledge and experience.   Thanks, buddy!
 
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I agree WOW thats one nice looking plate of food. The ribs look great so why are they retarded???
Thanks, Mark!  The ribs were retarded in the cooking process.  Instead of 3-2-1, I did something like 3-3- and then a half hour to firm them up.  Cooking progress was retarded due to low smoker temp for the 90 minutes after I foilded them.  They didn't make sufficient progress in the usual 2 hours, so I held them back in the foil until they were ready.  I note this only because last time I did the 3-2-1 I just followed the time line and didn't adjust for the actual temps I was cooking at.  Last time I didn't really get the sort of pull back I did this time, and I supect it was because I was sort of blindly sticking to the 3-2-1 timeline and not compensating for some (operator induced) abnormal temperature fluctuations.  LOL.

I'm getting ready for a repeat of last night's dinner any minute now.  Yum!
 
Massage or post Qview....ok, we'll forgive you for choosing the massage! LOL  (Would have been my choice too!)

Those are some great looking ribs and nice plate of food.  Great smoke! 
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LOL!  Thanks, DeanNC!  What a treat that massage was after a long day in front of the smoker!  I woke up today feeling like a million bucks!
 
Great job! Making me wanna do some ribs!
Heehee!  Thanks, Squirrel!  That happens to me EVERY single time I read one of your posts!  Like this morning when I read your pecans one!  OMG!

Thanks again for the compliment! 
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wow that looks prefect very well done
Thanks, RdKnB!  When I started smoking my main goal was to make ribs.  I had a very definite idea in my mind what I wanted them to taste like.  I'm getting really close and this was only my third try. 
 
Nice job, those ribs look great.
Thank you very much, meateater!  I hope they won't be the last ribs of the season.   If it keeps raining I might have to put the smoker in the garage for the winter.

What's up with that?  It's not supposed to rain in Southern California! 

I blame Al Gore!

 
 
They look awesome
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They look awesome
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Thank you, very much, Pineywoods!  I really appreciate the feedback!

 
Alls' wee that ends well. It looks like quite the feast. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Pokey!   You're exactly rightEven though the cooking process was retarded by the extended period of low temperatures, it didn't affect the final product because I extended the time in the foil.
It all looks really good on my screen, nice job!!
Thanks much, pandemonium!  I appreciate the compliment!
 
 
Those look pretty darn good from here. Good Job.
 
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