Smoked Rib help!!!

[ChaseQuiet]

Guy's I have been looking through this forum, and I have seen guy's talking about making a large quantity of ribs on the smoker. I plan on feeding about 20 people for Xmas this Sun. I plan on smoking them on Fri. So how do I smoke so that when I heat them up that they are not over done? Also how would you heat them up, oven, grill?? I did look through most of the Archives and did not see anything.

[Jim Almquist]

Smoke them for 3 to 4 hours and wrap then up in tin foil and when you want to have them reheat in the oven but keep them covered and add a little moisture (beer,water,apple juice) and cook for another 2 to 3 hours at 275. You should check the ribs at 2 hours and see if they are fork tender or meat falling off bone. If not cook longer and if they are done now you can add your sauce if you like and heat for another 15 minutes.

[Chef]

Do you have a very large smoker available? Ribs for 20 is a lot of work. I do chicken and Ribs for that number, it's easier and adds variety.

Are you doing a cold smoke first, then cooking them or smoking and coking at the same time?

[ChaseQuiet]

I plan on smoking the ribs in a gas vertical smoker. It has 5 racks. I can get 3 full racks cut in half in the smoker. I have never smoked more than this so I'm kind of worried about getting it all done. How much easier is it to smoke chicken? Brine, etc. Variety would be nice.

[Jim Almquist]

I should have put in more info. The way I told you will only get the ribs flavored and will not be ready to eat until you cook in the oven or if you can get your hands on a 18 quart roaster that would work really nice for a large amount of ribs. The idea of doing chicken is a good 2nd choice just because there is going to be some who will not want ribs but a smoked or grilled piece of chicken might tempt them.

[thirdeye]

If you have all that time to cook them, you should be able to do them in 2 or even 3 cooks, which ever is easier for you. If you are going with back ribs, they are easier to cook and also cook faster. Belly ribs have more flavor but are a more involved cook.

When I specifically want to reheat them the next day I smoke back ribs at 275° for 2 to 3 hours, I take them off the pit and paint a thin layer of thinned BBQ sauce or maybe honey on them, then wrap each rack in a double layer of foil (with the meat down), add an ounce of liquid like apple juice or chicken broth and seal the pouch. then I go 45 more minutes in a 260° oven. I will check one pouch for proper tenderness, but don't open each pouch. Then I chill in the beer fridge. For reheating I put the pouches in a 250° oven for an hour and check them. Usually this is all it takes.

These are just about ready to go into the foil pouch.

These are what the finished ones look like.

[merkman]

Mmmmmmm

As far as cooking, I would go with the same idea as ~thirdeye~

If you don't have a rib rub recipe yet; try this one out.

I love it, pure flavor with a minimum of salt.

This recipe makes one cup of rib rub

Ingredients

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 teaspoons McCormick's Roasted Garlic & Bell Pepper Seasoning Blend

3 teaspoons McCormick's Hot Mexican chili powder

3 teaspoons paprika

3 teaspoons mustard powder

2 teaspoons celery salt

4 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

[ChaseQuiet]

Well the "R-Day" has come. The smoker is pre-heating as we speak. Thanks for the replies and the photos. I will be smoking them like suggested for 2-3 hrs and then foiling them, with apple juice. My question is would you have them finished and just reheating for the hour before serving them?

Also the rub sounds good. I have a big bottle of St.Louis rib rub from Sam's that the family likes. When this runs out I'll give it try.

Thanks again for the help. I will try to get some photos taken and posted.

[archerystud]

I just saw your thread on smoking ribs. I'm planning on doing a batch tomorrow.

For me I typically do the following. I start the ribs on the charcoal smoker at 11AM and plan on pulling them off around 4PM. I usually have to restoke my smoker once during that time.

At 4PM I take them off and put them in a tightly covered aluminum foil pan for the last 1.5-2 hours. I'll move them from the smoker to the oven/gas grill at this time and keep them on a low heat around 250.

They do reheat good the next day as well. Hope this helps.

[thirdeye]

Think of the cooking time in the foil pouch I mentioned (45 minutes to an hour) as the tenderizing step. The time in the smoker is the flavor step. Without the foil step, the ribs are usually not tender after only 2 or 3 hours in the smoker. Let's say you went longer than an hour in the foil, then then the meat would be fall-off-the-bone tender. I try to catch the tenderness when there is still a slight tug to the meat, but it still releases clean with each bite.

The reason I mentioned doing that portion of the cook in the oven was in case you needed to get another batch gong in the smoker. Once the ribs are in foil, they can't take on any more flvor, and they don't know if they are in a smoker or an oven.

When I cook my ribs a day ahead, I do both the smoker step and the foil step, then check a pouch or two for tenderness, just stick a toothpick between the ribs to see how tender they are. If they are where I want them, I seal the pouches, let them cool on their own for a little while.....then set them in my upright freezer on various shelves so they will cool quickly and minimize condensation within the foil. After a couple of hours in the freezer, they get moved into the beer fridge. Reheating is done in the same pouches in a 250 degree oven for about an hour until they are heated through.

If you use this method with the foil, rembmber to put the maet side down in each pouch. It needs to be in contact with that extra liquid that gets added to the foil. If you are serving more sauce at the table. Its a good idea to save some of the juices that will be in the pouches, you may want to mix it into your sauce for more flavor.

[ChaseQuiet]

Thanks ArcheryStud and Thirdeye, You have given me a sense of relief about reheating the ribs. Thirdeye you said in your previous post about an ounce of juice. Do you put enough in to cover the meat side of the ribs, I have right now 6 racks with about an ounce of fluid in the bottom of the foil pouch chilling in the fridge. One rack has been fully tested and has passed!!!

Thanks Again for the advice!!

[Jim Almquist]

Quote:

Thanks Again for the advice!!

You need to try thirdeyes pulled pork with cole slaw sandwich. It is one of the best things you can do with your smoker. OK maybe not as good as ribs but a close 2nd place

[ChaseQuiet]

My wife bought me a new Masterbuilt electric smoker. This smoker is what I have done the ribs in today, my neighbor can have his back. The last batch of the day will come out at 8 tonight. I saw pictures of the pulled pork, and slaw and it will be the next item smoked. I will keep checking for the BB to go on sale for .99 cents a pound.

[archerystud]

How did they turn out?

[thirdeye]

The ounce of liquid just keeps the ribs from sticking to the foil and gives them a head start as they will seep out some liquid on their own as soon it starts to steam.

Sometimes you will get double the volume of liquid after that 45 minutes or an hour. Like I said, save some of it to add to your sauce or just to brush back on the ribs right before serving.

[ChaseQuiet]

Guy's, These ribs were awesome!! I had so many comments how they were the best they ever had. I offered BBQ sauce but nobody used it as the ribs were juicy and very flavorful. I also did 2 chickens, I brined them with a solution that I ran across on another site. I did take pictures of the ribs and I will try to post. You guy's gave me great advice! Now I need to do that pulled pork with slaw! Anything I need to know??

[Jim Almquist]

Here is where thirdeye put up the info on the pulled pork.

Roasted Pork