Multiple Q&A on Smoking Ribs
Q: On one of your RIB pages it states that smoking ribs is a long process and that the temp within the smoker should stay at or below 230. What would be the lowest range I should stay with in?
A: I usually shoot for right at 225 degrees as this seems to yield the best taste and gets them done in about 6.5 to 7 hours
Q: It also states that the ribs should come up to 170. Does that mean once the rib meat reaches 170 I should remove the meat or should it smoke to a higher temp?
A: Smoke the ribs until they reach about 140 degrees. After that, continue to cook them in the smoker with no additional wood chips/chunks added until they reach 170-172 degrees at which point you can pull them from the smoker. Let them rest on the cabinet for about 10 minutes or so before slicing to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat.
Q: I purchased a slab of rib to barbecue this past weekend and tried to pull the membrane off the back side of the ribs. It was almost a clear stretchy kind of film (almost reminded me of pre-wrap if you ever played sports or had to have your ankle rapped). The question I have here is that when I began to remove the membrane I started to smell a weird smell. Is that normal?
A: I have never noticed a wierd smell other than the smell of fresh pork. Try to find really fresh pork if possible and when you remove the membrane there should be no off smell. There are other visible clues that will tell you if the meat is less than fresh.. like the meat starting to turn brownish instead of the nice dark red tint it should have.
Usually if I smell something bad it gets thrown out since good meat should not have an unpleasant odor at all.
Q: I am getting ready to purchase your rib rub and sauce recipe. When I make the purchase should I expect an email or something to be mailed to me? What is the turn around time please?
A: Upon purchasing the recipes, you should receive an email with a link for downloading the recipes. The time from purchase to receipt should not be more than about an hour and is usually less than 10 minutes.
If for any reason you order and do not recieve an email within a reasonable time (1 hour) you can shoot me an email and I can send them manually if I need to. It is not uncommon for spam filters to prevent the receipt of email that it percieves to be unsolicited.
Q: Last question. I went to my local Lowe’s store and purchase Hickory chips (I might not even call them chips they more look like litter splinters on steroids). I soaked them for about 45 minutes and put some on top of my charcoal (by the way I use Kingsford it that ok?) and they burned up almost immediately. Should I look for more of a chunk of wood or if I soak them longer would that work better?
A: I think you will get much better results from chunks and you might look for a smoke box at lowes or home depot and possibly even walmart. This is a iron box with a lid, usually around 6 x 6 inches square and bigger would be better if you can find it. I use a box that is 10 by 10 and about 3 inches deep and it will smoke for about an hour and a half before needing to be replenished. The bigger the box the less often you will need to replenish the chunks.
You may also be able to use a cut down coffe can with a makeshift lid for the same purpose. Just bury the coffee can down in the coals with the top sticking out an inch or so. Fill it up with chunks and watch it smoke.
You should be able to find the chunks at lowes, home depot, Ace hardware, Walmart, and possibly your local grocer in the area with the charcoal.
As far as charcoal, you should use lump charcoal for best results. It burns hotter and is much cleaner than the briquettes. By the way briquettes contain borax, petroleum by products, glue, resins, and other non-edible items that you really do not want flavoring your food.
Lump charcoal is a little hard to find sometimes.. sometimes you can find it at the stores I mentioned above as well as at fireplace and grill stores.
By the way.. lump charcoal will usually say 100% hardwood lump charcoal on the bag and may say Charwood if you buy the kingsford brand of lump charcoal.
Q: If you have any other tips for me, I would sure appreciate them. I am becoming a quick fan.
A: Some other tips for you:
If you really want the ribs to be fall off the bone tender you might consider wrapping the ribs in foil when they are done smoking/cooking. Wrap them in foil with a splash of apple juice, wrap them in a thick towel and then place them in a tight cooler for up to 2 hours. The ribs will stay hot and will steam themselves to a very lovely tenderness that I think you will enjoy.
If you decide to use lump charcoal.. use about half as much as you would normally use since they burn twice as hot as briquettes. They are also about twice as expensive so it is just a complete wash.
Visit Smoking-Meat.com for hundreds of great tutorials and guides on smoking meat.
The Technorati Tag for this post is Smoked Ribs
Jeff's Naked Rib Rub and BBQ Sauce Recipes.. a religious experience! Get them today by clicking here
A: I usually shoot for right at 225 degrees as this seems to yield the best taste and gets them done in about 6.5 to 7 hours
Q: It also states that the ribs should come up to 170. Does that mean once the rib meat reaches 170 I should remove the meat or should it smoke to a higher temp?
A: Smoke the ribs until they reach about 140 degrees. After that, continue to cook them in the smoker with no additional wood chips/chunks added until they reach 170-172 degrees at which point you can pull them from the smoker. Let them rest on the cabinet for about 10 minutes or so before slicing to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat.
Q: I purchased a slab of rib to barbecue this past weekend and tried to pull the membrane off the back side of the ribs. It was almost a clear stretchy kind of film (almost reminded me of pre-wrap if you ever played sports or had to have your ankle rapped). The question I have here is that when I began to remove the membrane I started to smell a weird smell. Is that normal?
A: I have never noticed a wierd smell other than the smell of fresh pork. Try to find really fresh pork if possible and when you remove the membrane there should be no off smell. There are other visible clues that will tell you if the meat is less than fresh.. like the meat starting to turn brownish instead of the nice dark red tint it should have.
Usually if I smell something bad it gets thrown out since good meat should not have an unpleasant odor at all.
Q: I am getting ready to purchase your rib rub and sauce recipe. When I make the purchase should I expect an email or something to be mailed to me? What is the turn around time please?
A: Upon purchasing the recipes, you should receive an email with a link for downloading the recipes. The time from purchase to receipt should not be more than about an hour and is usually less than 10 minutes.
If for any reason you order and do not recieve an email within a reasonable time (1 hour) you can shoot me an email and I can send them manually if I need to. It is not uncommon for spam filters to prevent the receipt of email that it percieves to be unsolicited.
Q: Last question. I went to my local Lowe’s store and purchase Hickory chips (I might not even call them chips they more look like litter splinters on steroids). I soaked them for about 45 minutes and put some on top of my charcoal (by the way I use Kingsford it that ok?) and they burned up almost immediately. Should I look for more of a chunk of wood or if I soak them longer would that work better?
A: I think you will get much better results from chunks and you might look for a smoke box at lowes or home depot and possibly even walmart. This is a iron box with a lid, usually around 6 x 6 inches square and bigger would be better if you can find it. I use a box that is 10 by 10 and about 3 inches deep and it will smoke for about an hour and a half before needing to be replenished. The bigger the box the less often you will need to replenish the chunks.
You may also be able to use a cut down coffe can with a makeshift lid for the same purpose. Just bury the coffee can down in the coals with the top sticking out an inch or so. Fill it up with chunks and watch it smoke.
You should be able to find the chunks at lowes, home depot, Ace hardware, Walmart, and possibly your local grocer in the area with the charcoal.
As far as charcoal, you should use lump charcoal for best results. It burns hotter and is much cleaner than the briquettes. By the way briquettes contain borax, petroleum by products, glue, resins, and other non-edible items that you really do not want flavoring your food.
Lump charcoal is a little hard to find sometimes.. sometimes you can find it at the stores I mentioned above as well as at fireplace and grill stores.
By the way.. lump charcoal will usually say 100% hardwood lump charcoal on the bag and may say Charwood if you buy the kingsford brand of lump charcoal.
Q: If you have any other tips for me, I would sure appreciate them. I am becoming a quick fan.
A: Some other tips for you:
If you really want the ribs to be fall off the bone tender you might consider wrapping the ribs in foil when they are done smoking/cooking. Wrap them in foil with a splash of apple juice, wrap them in a thick towel and then place them in a tight cooler for up to 2 hours. The ribs will stay hot and will steam themselves to a very lovely tenderness that I think you will enjoy.
If you decide to use lump charcoal.. use about half as much as you would normally use since they burn twice as hot as briquettes. They are also about twice as expensive so it is just a complete wash.
Visit Smoking-Meat.com for hundreds of great tutorials and guides on smoking meat.
The Technorati Tag for this post is Smoked Ribs
Jeff's Naked Rib Rub and BBQ Sauce Recipes.. a religious experience! Get them today by clicking here
posted by Jeff at 9:32 AM
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