First Try at Spare Ribs (w/ Q-View)

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shnax

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
6
10
Atlanta, GA
I decided to have a go at spare ribs this weekend so I bought a slab at Krogers and trimmed it up St Louis style.

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This is my first time doing ribs, so I hope I trimmed them right. The skirt had already been removed, but I took off the rib tips and the meat attached to the last rib (what is that part called?). I also removed the membrane from the bone side. The actual ribs on this slab were pretty small. Looked more like baby backs after trimming. (Does this look right?)

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The engineer in me wanted to limit the variables on my first ribs, so I decided to use store bought rub (Famous Dave's Rib Rub). I'll try making my own rub on my next batch. The ribs (and trimmings) were rubbed on Saturday morning and rested in the fridge for 24 hours.

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Trimmed ribs on the right, rib tips on the far left, and the small piece of meat is what was attached to the last rib.

On Sunday, they went into the MES 30 at 10am using hickory. I used the 3-2-1 method since these were spare ribs, but should I have done 2-2-1 since these were so small? After the 3 hour stage, I removed the trimmings, foiled the ribs with some apple juice, and threw a batch of Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans into the smoker.

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I probably could have squeezed the whole rack in, but I figured it would be easier if I just cut it in half. This is right before foiling with apple juice.

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The trimmings were removed from the smoker after 3 hours and chopped up. Some of them were added to the beans and I snacked on the rest throughout the day. The biggest surprise for me during this smoke was how tasty these things were. Didn't even need any sauce on them.

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Here's the batch of Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans before going on the smoker. The beer is Sweet Water 420, an Atlanta favorite. I went with the 5-4-3 method on the beer and it seemed to work perfectly.

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Here's a shot of the ribs after the foil stage. Was getting some nice pull back.

I added sauce for the last 30 minutes and let the ribs rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

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Here's the finished product.

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And plated up with the beans.

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Clearly, I hated them.

Overall, this smoke was a huge success. The only thing I will do differently next time is adjust the time of the first stage based on the size of the ribs. These probably would have been better with a 2-2-1 method, but they were still amazing with the 3-2-1. I'm so glad I got the full slab of spare ribs instead of buying the pre-trimmed ribs, because the trimmings were unbelievable in the beans and for snacking on. Also, if you haven't tried Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans, you've got to add them to your next smoke. They are super easy and have an amazing flavor.

Thanks for all the help in making this smoke a huge success. If my Q-View isn't showing up, just give it a while. I think my post has to be approved since I am a newbie.

-Shnax
 
Those are some great looking ribs Snakes!
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I used Famous Dave's last week on some chicken and it was great.

Do you think cutting the rack in half, to fit in the MES, affected the ribs at all?

Also, it sounds like the patented Shanx 5-4-3 worked as planned.
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Great smoke!!

-Kang
 
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Yor ribs look awesome and by the looks of them bones pretty darn tender too.
 
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