Sorry for the one, lame, cell-phone camera picture - but I just don't have the patience to post as much que view as I would like. My wife always has the camera, and then I'm fighting with her and my daughter for computer time!
These are St. Louis cut ribs, on sale for $1.99/lb. at Cub Foods! Both slabs pictured were less than $10 combined...helluva deal.
Normally, I do the 3-2-1 method almost exactly...and I've never used a waterpan. Also, up to this point when doing ribs, I've always used lump and wood chips.
This weekend, I decided no foil, but I added a waterpan on the far side of the smoker, on the cooking rack - on the firebox side of the cooking chamber. Also, I cooked with a LOT of apple wood splits - and not nearly as much lump.
I smoked them for 6 hours at an average of 235° The first two hours I held 240 - 250 great...then I ran into a bad piece of wood, so I had to fire up more lump because once the big split was removed...smoker dropped to 180° for almost all of hour 3 (blessing in disguise - I'll get to that...)
Then I ran 230° for the last 3 hours, put some Stubb's sauce on it - they rested 10 - 15 minutes, and then I ate almost a whole slab - of St. Louis cut spares, mind you! HA!
As far as the temp drop in hour 3...I read somewhere that the magic of ribs, is to get the internal temp to around 180° and hold it there for up to 30 minutes, which is what breaks down all the fat and connective tissues. This makes sense, as we all know that low & slow is the way to go...if you cook way too hot, then your meat gets up to temp before that magic has happened (the tough innards breaking down and melting)
I think that drop in temp for 45 minutes in hour 3 really helped "soften up" the meat and make it tender. Also, when I mopped (only 2x with apple juice, cider vinegar and Cpt'n Morgan) I noticed as I'm opening the smoker lid that you could see nice whisps of moist smoke rolling around in the chamber. so I've concluded that the water pan helped...a little bit.
Here is the final pic. Sorry, no smoke ring but I will next time! These required tug - sometimes a very gentle tug, sometimes a little more than gentle - BUT, they pulled clean off the bone and left NO meat behind. That my friends, is the sign of a job well done! IMO...
Also - one last note for anyone interested. I used quite a bit of apple wood, and a little mesquite, but kept the intake open almost all the way throughout the entire smoke. Even though I had a few times where the smoke was a little more than thin and blue
there was STILL hardly any more smoke taste than what would be considered "the perfect amount" by me, and others that ate some of these...that good air flow really is the key...
These are St. Louis cut ribs, on sale for $1.99/lb. at Cub Foods! Both slabs pictured were less than $10 combined...helluva deal.
Normally, I do the 3-2-1 method almost exactly...and I've never used a waterpan. Also, up to this point when doing ribs, I've always used lump and wood chips.
This weekend, I decided no foil, but I added a waterpan on the far side of the smoker, on the cooking rack - on the firebox side of the cooking chamber. Also, I cooked with a LOT of apple wood splits - and not nearly as much lump.
I smoked them for 6 hours at an average of 235° The first two hours I held 240 - 250 great...then I ran into a bad piece of wood, so I had to fire up more lump because once the big split was removed...smoker dropped to 180° for almost all of hour 3 (blessing in disguise - I'll get to that...)
Then I ran 230° for the last 3 hours, put some Stubb's sauce on it - they rested 10 - 15 minutes, and then I ate almost a whole slab - of St. Louis cut spares, mind you! HA!
As far as the temp drop in hour 3...I read somewhere that the magic of ribs, is to get the internal temp to around 180° and hold it there for up to 30 minutes, which is what breaks down all the fat and connective tissues. This makes sense, as we all know that low & slow is the way to go...if you cook way too hot, then your meat gets up to temp before that magic has happened (the tough innards breaking down and melting)
I think that drop in temp for 45 minutes in hour 3 really helped "soften up" the meat and make it tender. Also, when I mopped (only 2x with apple juice, cider vinegar and Cpt'n Morgan) I noticed as I'm opening the smoker lid that you could see nice whisps of moist smoke rolling around in the chamber. so I've concluded that the water pan helped...a little bit.
Here is the final pic. Sorry, no smoke ring but I will next time! These required tug - sometimes a very gentle tug, sometimes a little more than gentle - BUT, they pulled clean off the bone and left NO meat behind. That my friends, is the sign of a job well done! IMO...
Also - one last note for anyone interested. I used quite a bit of apple wood, and a little mesquite, but kept the intake open almost all the way throughout the entire smoke. Even though I had a few times where the smoke was a little more than thin and blue
