Dennis from San Antonio

[balderdash2]

Just bought the masterbuilt 30" digital smoker with window. Finished seasoning and preparing a rack of baby's for tomorrow. Current plan is to use the 2-2-1 plan. Have the amazen 5x8 standing by. Should I use the pellets just the first 2 hours? Any info appreciated! Thanks

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!

There is no reason to burn your pellets while the ribs are in the foil.

But the final hour I would put more smoke on them.

Al

 

[noboundaries]

Dennis, welcome to SMF!  Glad you are here and making that smoker earn its keep.  Smoke?  Listen to sensei SmokinAl. 

Enjoy the forum!

Ray

 

[balderdash2]

Thanks Al and nobo. Just did a rack of baby's yesterday. Awesome flavor but not very tender. Doing a slab of spareribs on Saturday so any tips from your own experiences always helpful

 

[noboundaries]

I'm not a BB guy, preferring spares. I do not remove the membrane. I spray with oil, lightly rub, then load in a 225-250F smoker until done, usually 5-7 hours. No wrapping. I use a bend and drawback test. About a 45 degree bend and a half inch drawback on the bones. I now temp them too due to Al. Lots of folks like 195F internal temp. I prefer 200F, between a competition bite of 195F and fall off the bone at 205-207F.

 

[balderdash2]

Thanks for the info. Do you leave the pan dry? I had a small amount of Apple juice for the BB just to make sure it didn't dry out.

 

[noboundaries]

Thanks for the info. Do you leave the pan dry? I had a small amount of Apple juice for the BB just to make sure it didn't dry out.

Yes, I dry smoke.  Works the same though whether you wet or dry smoke.  Water in the water pan, or any liquid, causes more smoke to adhere to the meat.  My wife is called a super-taster, and she can absolutely tell whether I've used water or not.  I've tested her without her knowing, even doing a partial wet smoke with only a couple quarts of water.  She'll say "Wow, these are smoky.  You used water, didn't you?"  Consequently I can't remember the last time I've used water in the water pan. 

Fatty cuts of meat like spares will not get dry.  If undercooked, they will taste dry and tough.  If overcooked, they fall off the bone and get mushy.   

 

[balderdash2]

Update on the spare ribs. We're more tender than the BB but really crusty exterior. Had one full row of pellets but they burned through in less than 2 hours. I opened the vent and pulled chip loader and tray out a little to make sure pellets had enough air but maybe had too much. Maybe that caused the crusting as there was definitely less smoky flavor than the BB had. Added some chips in last hour as I added a vegetable skewer and baked beans in a tray. Nice and moist inside.

 

[gary s]

  Good afternoon and welcome to the forum from a pretty nice hot day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web.

        Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

        Gary