I smoked three slabs of St. Louis style ribs yesterday. I think perhaps they were a bit overdone and would like some input from those with experience with this method. I basically followed the recipe outlined on BDSkeey's recent post titled: "St. Louis Ribs Jeff's Rub Easy as 3-2-1". I also used Jeff's rub on the ribs.
I kept the smoker very close to 230 degrees for the first three hours with the ribs in a somewhat mature smoke (started the fire three hours earlier) and then also for the next two hours after I had mopped the ribs and wrapped the ribs in foil. Then after two hours in the foil I removed the ribs from the foil (they were falling apart at this point), mopped them again and put them back in the smoker at 250 to 275 degrees for a half hour, then applied BBQ sauce and put back in smoker for another half hour at 250 to 275. For the last hour the fire was very mature and was producing no smoke.
Although the ribs were quite good (everyone at the dinner table raved about them), I felt that they could have been a bit more moist (they were not dry at all, but I've had juicier ribs) and maybe even a bit more smoke flavor.
Comments? Suggestions? Incredible insight? Thanks!
Terry Farrell
near Tampa Bay, Florida
FWIW, I'm running a masonry wood smoker burning oak. The temps I mention above were observed on my Redi-Check oven/meat combination temperature gauge. The oven probe inserts into the front wooden door right between the two analog temp gauges you can see in the picture. The Redi-Check consistently read about ten degrees above the analog gauges and 20 to 30 degrees above the analogs in the last hour when the temp went up over 250. Not sure what that is all about....... :-(
I kept the smoker very close to 230 degrees for the first three hours with the ribs in a somewhat mature smoke (started the fire three hours earlier) and then also for the next two hours after I had mopped the ribs and wrapped the ribs in foil. Then after two hours in the foil I removed the ribs from the foil (they were falling apart at this point), mopped them again and put them back in the smoker at 250 to 275 degrees for a half hour, then applied BBQ sauce and put back in smoker for another half hour at 250 to 275. For the last hour the fire was very mature and was producing no smoke.
Although the ribs were quite good (everyone at the dinner table raved about them), I felt that they could have been a bit more moist (they were not dry at all, but I've had juicier ribs) and maybe even a bit more smoke flavor.
Comments? Suggestions? Incredible insight? Thanks!
Terry Farrell
near Tampa Bay, Florida
FWIW, I'm running a masonry wood smoker burning oak. The temps I mention above were observed on my Redi-Check oven/meat combination temperature gauge. The oven probe inserts into the front wooden door right between the two analog temp gauges you can see in the picture. The Redi-Check consistently read about ten degrees above the analog gauges and 20 to 30 degrees above the analogs in the last hour when the temp went up over 250. Not sure what that is all about....... :-(