Too many ribs... Fridge or freezer to keep them for ~11 days?

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Fridge or Freezer?

  • Fridge

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Freezer

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
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bwarbiany

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Sep 30, 2013
122
18
Orange County, CA
So my wife went to Costco today to pick up ribs for the weekend. Given that it's basically just the two of us (and maybe a rib or two for the 6 yo), I told her to get two slabs. I figure that's enough to have some leftovers.

She bought two packs. Six slabs total. 

No biggie -- we just have two weekends of ribs instead of one. I plan to smoke one pack this Saturday, and keep the rest until next Saturday.

The question is what I should do with the second pack? Will it keep in the fridge? Do I need to put it in the freezer?

 
If you have a vacuum sealer or wrap real tight with plastic then foil. You could break the packs down into 2 slabs. Then you would have 3 weekends of smokin...............
 
We had guests and I cooked 4 racks over the weekend. 2 we ate and the other two I let get cold, cut into portion pieces (usually 2-3 ribs), vac packed and put in the freezer. When ready to eat them take them out of the pack, wrap in foil and place in moderate oven (or BBQ) for about 30 minutes. They taste great. Not exactly the same but still great. The flavours after cooling, freezing and re-heating tend to mellow further and even improve over eating then straight from the smoker - probably a similar principle to maturing smoked cheese.

If you intend on freezing the raw ribs then you may like to put the rub on them before you do. Vac packing before freezing is also preferable.
 
Regarding the Poll...

A week in the fridge wrapped in plastic and they will probably smell bad - 11 days and you will probably have to clear out the fridge. I am not sure what it is with ribs but I find they often develop strong smells/flavours very quickly in the fridge when covered and you would not probably want to keep uncovered raw meat in there.

Freezing is your best option for more than 3 or 4 days.
 
I'd leave the one pack sealed and freeze it. Smoke the other 3 racks and use the leftovers in beans or chili or just to snack on through the week. The unopened pack would probably be safe in the fridge, but like the previous poster said, they'd probably get pretty funky.
 
If they're packed in plastic like we get them around here, just put the one pack in the freezer, and Smoke the other pack.

I have a pack of Baby Backs & a pack of Pork Spares in my freezer for at least 2 months right now. They'll be fine----The Spares are going to be Bacon-On-A-Stick sometime soon.

Bear
 
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