Need help 16 racks of ribs

[car54]

Some weekend I want to smoke about 16 racks of ribs and serve them the next Friday. What is the best way to reheat them and do I cook them all the way to 190 degrees.

Thanks for your help, Brad

[tsquared]

16 racks !Holy Simoleons! I'm thinking maybe 2 smokes. Smokehouse? Jaeger? chime in here.

[car54]

I would have to do multiple smokes but I am more interested in the best way of reheating them.

Brad

[Oldman]

Now I don't do ribs in the smoker...family does not like it for some reason.

However, if I was going to do what you are doing I have two suggestions:

1.)I would smoke the ribs to within 10 degrees of being done. Next either zip lock them or vacuum pack them and place in freezer. Two days before the event I would move them done into the refrig part and allow them to thaw out. Remove from bags and finish the cook in your oven @ 200 F.

2.) Fully cook your ribs and vacuum pack them in bags that can placed into boiling water. Freeze/ thaw/ place bags into boiling water at the time of the event.

If you have the means to vacuum pack in bags that can be placed into boiling water then that would be the route I would go.

May I suggest you do a fast trial run? I would as the last thing I want to do is put on an event and fall flat on my ole kisser.. [:0]



Olds

[ChefBill]

Olds, I hadn't thought about the vacuum seal and then in boiling water idea <i>BUT</i> that sounds like the route to go. You would not loose any flavor or moisture by doing them that way. You might have to cut the racks into 1/3s and pack them that way to have them small enough to fit into a pot unless you're lucky enough like me to have an old Navy soup pot that holds 20 qts.[:D]

ChefBill
If you can eat it, you can smoke it.

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

was going to say what olds said, only thing maybe instead of in oven throw on the grill , vacuum bags and boiling water works great, do it all the time for my pulled pork, butt be carefull boil to long it can reopen the bag , i will bring water up to a boil then turn off heat throw bag in cover and wait till dinner time.

[jaeger]

For the amount that you are preparing,I would lean towards Olds:Plan A
I would also skip the vacuum packaging for such a large amount, just try to keep as much air out as possible. They will be in the freezer less than a week.
This is a lot of ribs that we're talking. You will probably have 40+ pounds. You may consider starting the first 1/3 to 1/2 in the smoker with constant smoke, and rotating out to the oven to finish as per Olds temps etc.  This way you should be able to finish them all within one time frame. You would be rotating batches from, fridge to smoker to oven to fridge to freezer. If it's cold where you are, you may be able to use your garage as a cooling location.
Good Luck!!!



<font size="2"><b>Doug</b></font id="size2">

[car54]

Thanks for your ideas . I will do a test run, not with 16 racks. I'll post the results when after I do it.

Brad

[nsxbill]

I have done 6 before when I only had one Bradley Smoker, and after about 20hrs in the smoker, took out and wrapped 1/2 racks of BB ribs in foil packs with about 1/8th cup of apple juice and basting of Sauce(I use Sweet Baby Rays).  I crank up the home over to 200°F, and heat right out of the refrigerator for 1 hr.  Good to go...they fall off the bone.

I never exceed 205°F when smoking, and only apply smoke for 4 hrs.  I like to use my rib racks.  Top shelf always full of bacon raining down on the ribs while cooking.  Rotate shelves every 4-6 hrs.

I like doing this way because I never feel pressure to coordinate finishing in smoker and being done for the crowd of appreciative guests. Allow time for the smoker to mix with guests instead of fretting whether or not they will be done on time.

Olds Vacuum pack will do the same when the vacuum packed ribs are boiled to reheat, and probably a lot less messy.  

Yum, writing about it gets me hungry for BB ribs!  I use these "killer" Swift Premium ribs I get at the military commissary for less than $2/lb.  Man, are they meaty!

Bill

<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>

[owrstrich]

i just did 4 big slabs of spares... was 19 lbs total weight...

at 200 deg with vent mostly closed it took 11 hrs to reach 190 internal on bottom rack...

opened door only once to pull bottom rack at 11 hours and rotated the others... it took another 2 hours at 210 deg for the remaining 3 racks to reach 190 internal...

that bottom slab was a heat hogger...

you gotta eat...

owrstrich

[Dan the sauasage man]

I would never cook pork to 190 degrees. At 170 degrees pork is
well done. After that all your doing is drying it out, unless thats what you want. one other thing meat takes smoke the best when oven
temp is around 120-130 degrees. but first have a dry time of 30min-
hr. depending what the product is.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Dan;

Welcome to the forum. I saw your other post, and will be posting several questions on sausage when I get my smoker up and running again.

As far as internal temps. for pork, that will depend on what part of the animal that you are cooking. For items such as ribs and butts, that have a lot of connective tissue, you need to bring the internal temp. up to 185 to 200 degrees to make it tender. To prevent the meat from drying out, you need to cook low and slow; which generally means cooking at a temperature between 200-210 degrees. I would explain more but I have a poor Internet connection, but other can explain it in more detail.

[Dan the sauasage man]

Your right. I was thinking on the production part of it. not the actual cooking for the dinner plate. I also read other forums and forget what exactly which one I'm answering.
 I would be more than glad to answer any questions on sausage. It might take me a day to reply to the question cause our smoker is
preprogramed and I don't always remember all the details. But other sausage ?'s i can answer qicker.

[rraming]

I just did five racks
Must recipes don't have a final end time but I did find Famous Daves to have a total time of five hours - easier when people are coming over

basically smoke at 200-220 for three hours -I smoked four hours because smoker takes a while to heat back up once open and loaded. Then I took them out sprayed with apple juice and wrapped in foil - cooked in oven for 2 hours - then removed coverd in BBQ sauce and put on grill over direct heat (maybe 5 minutes) carmel the sauce and char then a bit
Six hours prior to dinner time - they all said they were fantastic (like they had a choice) they were very good
I no some won't use an oven but it is the only way I can actually have things ready at a certain time

http://www.midwestinteriors.com

[Phone Guy]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by rraming</i>
<br />
I no some won't use an oven but it is the only way I can actually have things ready at a certain time<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Nothing wrong with finishing in an oven. The Bradley is a smoker and an oven. You get the smoke the first 4 hours and after thats its just cooking anyway. Sometimes if there are other things that need done inside and it speeds things up for you then an indoor oven will work fine.