Both our daughters were visiting this past weekend. They left hubbies at home so it was just like old times. With my wife and both daughters preferring their ribs FOTB, I surrendered and decided to take the ribs to that level. No pics unfortunately, but here is what I did.
Loaded RO Ridge briquettes, hickory and peach chunks layered in the smoker. Fired up 1/4 chimney of briquettes and dumped it in the center of the cold pile of briquettes and wood. Left all bottom vents closed, top full open. While the smoker was coming up to temp and TBS, I ran to the Winco grocery store for two untrimmed racks of Hormel spare ribs. Found two racks in the pile that had last week's sale price on them of $1.78/lb instead of this week's price of $2.28/lb. Picked up a 6.04 lb rack and a 6.48 lb rack. While there I saw a 9.5 lb untrimmed rack that was at least 3" thick with meat. I was SOOOO tempted to buy it, but left it for some other lucky smoker. If it is still there this week when I go back, it will find a home in my freezer.
Got home about an hour later. WSM was TBS cruising at 215F. Did not remove the membrane on the ribs. Didn't trim a thing. Sprayed each rack with canola oil, then lightly seasoned the racks on both sides with my own favorite homemade pork rub, then squeezed them together onto the top grate of the 22.5" WSM. They were some big racks of ribs, taking up the full top grate.
After loading the meat, the chamber temp dropped on my accurate River Country lid therm to 170s. The Maverick and Guru, which were pushed against the extreme outer edge of the smoker were reading in the 240s. The outer edge is always hottest in my WSM due to the empty water pan and rising heat. Over time the lid climbed to 240, the Mav and Guru climbed to the 270s, then settled back to the 240s after several hours as the meat heated up.
Didn't even bother to peek at the ribs until they'd been on the smoker for six hours. No spraying. Probed for temp. 187 to 192F. Felt resistance when inserting the probe.
Left them alone for another hour and fifteen minutes, so 7.25 hours total. Probed for temp: 195 to 198F, still a little resistance. They would have been PERFECT for me at this point, but these were for my FOTB wife and kids. Because they also like sauced ribs I sauced them with Sweet Baby Rays, Apricot preserves, and brandy, stirred together and heated in the microwave. Applied the sauce and left them on the 240F smoker for another hour and fifteen minutes, total 8.5 hours.
Probed for temp and the probe slid right in, absolutely no resistance. Temp was 203-205F. Used two sets of tongs to remove each rack. They held together nicely. The membrane, which is toward the heat, was paper thin and essentially unnoticeable. Tastes good too. The ribs were juicy, tender, with a thin bark, and wonderfully smoked. One complete rack disappeared Saturday night. The second rack the next afternoon for lunch.
The only thing I like about FOTB ribs is I don't get my fingers dirty. I eat them with a fork and knife, which makes them more palatable for me. Wife and kids were in FOTB rib heaven with saucy fingers. I've never smoked ribs for 8.5 hours, but these needed it to get to the probe tender, FOTB stage at the chamber temps I was using.
Loaded RO Ridge briquettes, hickory and peach chunks layered in the smoker. Fired up 1/4 chimney of briquettes and dumped it in the center of the cold pile of briquettes and wood. Left all bottom vents closed, top full open. While the smoker was coming up to temp and TBS, I ran to the Winco grocery store for two untrimmed racks of Hormel spare ribs. Found two racks in the pile that had last week's sale price on them of $1.78/lb instead of this week's price of $2.28/lb. Picked up a 6.04 lb rack and a 6.48 lb rack. While there I saw a 9.5 lb untrimmed rack that was at least 3" thick with meat. I was SOOOO tempted to buy it, but left it for some other lucky smoker. If it is still there this week when I go back, it will find a home in my freezer.
Got home about an hour later. WSM was TBS cruising at 215F. Did not remove the membrane on the ribs. Didn't trim a thing. Sprayed each rack with canola oil, then lightly seasoned the racks on both sides with my own favorite homemade pork rub, then squeezed them together onto the top grate of the 22.5" WSM. They were some big racks of ribs, taking up the full top grate.
After loading the meat, the chamber temp dropped on my accurate River Country lid therm to 170s. The Maverick and Guru, which were pushed against the extreme outer edge of the smoker were reading in the 240s. The outer edge is always hottest in my WSM due to the empty water pan and rising heat. Over time the lid climbed to 240, the Mav and Guru climbed to the 270s, then settled back to the 240s after several hours as the meat heated up.
Didn't even bother to peek at the ribs until they'd been on the smoker for six hours. No spraying. Probed for temp. 187 to 192F. Felt resistance when inserting the probe.
Left them alone for another hour and fifteen minutes, so 7.25 hours total. Probed for temp: 195 to 198F, still a little resistance. They would have been PERFECT for me at this point, but these were for my FOTB wife and kids. Because they also like sauced ribs I sauced them with Sweet Baby Rays, Apricot preserves, and brandy, stirred together and heated in the microwave. Applied the sauce and left them on the 240F smoker for another hour and fifteen minutes, total 8.5 hours.
Probed for temp and the probe slid right in, absolutely no resistance. Temp was 203-205F. Used two sets of tongs to remove each rack. They held together nicely. The membrane, which is toward the heat, was paper thin and essentially unnoticeable. Tastes good too. The ribs were juicy, tender, with a thin bark, and wonderfully smoked. One complete rack disappeared Saturday night. The second rack the next afternoon for lunch.
The only thing I like about FOTB ribs is I don't get my fingers dirty. I eat them with a fork and knife, which makes them more palatable for me. Wife and kids were in FOTB rib heaven with saucy fingers. I've never smoked ribs for 8.5 hours, but these needed it to get to the probe tender, FOTB stage at the chamber temps I was using.