Looking for very tender ribs & chicken

[haellc]

OK guys let me have it, I am cooking about 6 slabs of baby back ribs this coming weekend. I have my sauce & rub that I absolutly love to use, my OBS an lots of time. Here is how I do mine.

I first remove the membrane from the back of the ribs then if  have time i put my rub on them and throw them in a vacumn pack bag and seal them for a few days. Then I heat the OBS up to about 250 and throw the ribs in, then every hour I take my sauce and baste them completly and rotate them. After about 3 hours I take them out and ad put them in a foil boat with apple juice in the bottom and place them on my grill @ 200 degrees and let them sit on indirect heat for another 2-3 hours. Now this works OK but Ithink I ca do better.

My chicken is done some what in the same manner.

I need to know what your sugestions are for getting very tender ribs to where they are falling off the bone.

Any suggestions?

[Smoking Duck]

Welcome, haellc!

Try this link out.......if anyone knows ribs, it would be Iceman.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4290.0

Additionally, if you haven't done so, you need to get some of his rub and sauce.......it's finger licking good!

I'm not a rib expert (or any expert for that matter), so any help I try to give will hurt more than help!

SD

[West Coast Kansan]

Might skip the frequent mop with the low and slow approach. Lots of work and you will loose a lot of heat opening the door.  You can sauce them at the end with a grill finish to set the sauce in place if you like. The link provided in the above post will serve you well.  With this electric smoker I am just now (after more than a year) getting to the point ribs are done when they really are done.   ;D 

[Piker]

I have not had a lot of experience with the smoker but I have done ribs. When I do ribs ordinary I boil them i hr. before putting in the oven so last time i boiled them and into the smoker guessed on the time and had the most tenderest ribs ever.

[Wildcat]

When I do ribs ordinary I boil them i hr.

:o

[West Coast Kansan]

Well pretty sure Famous Dave's BBQ boils thier ribs also so you are not alone Piker.

Please do give a try without the boiling - I think you will be pleased. May ruin your ability to enjoy eating Q out though once you do better at home. Do give the Iceman's post in the link above a try, I really do think you will be pleased.

Remembering Gizmo and I + families gathered at the F.Daves once -was fun company and benchmarking food and sauces - dont know if Gizmo has been back since.

[Consiglieri]

I would have sent you to Iceman's link if the Smoking Duck hadn't.

Only other thoughts from me would be:

consider smoking between 210 and 220 in the Bradley.  Prolonged higher heat may carmelize/burn any sugar in your rub.

Plan for some protracted cooking time with that load of ribs.  6 racks halved will fill up four bradley racks.  Maybe with your boating and indirect grill heating things will happen quicker, but I did a load of 9 racks of babybacks and it took 10 plus hours in the Bradley.  Next time, I think I'll take Gizmo's advise and use the Bradley through the smoke cycle and then shift the ribs over to a 210F oven for finishing.   

I personally don't boat ribs, but don't have any strong reason not to.

Good luck (and where's the party?).

[Gizmo]

May ruin your ability to enjoy eating Q out though once you do better at home.

Remembering Gizmo and I + families gathered at the F.Daves once -was fun company and benchmarking food and sauces - dont know if Gizmo has been back since.

No, I haven't been back.  There are a couple places around here now.  Bret's is just a mile from work.  There is a new place just a few more miles away that my soon to be ex-employees are taking me to, or catering in.  My lead system administrator (planning the luncheon) wasn't going to go with a BBQ place as I have commented on a couple of occasions in the past that what I can make at home is better than what I typically find commercially.  I suspect mostly because they have to deal in volume and the quality typically suffers to get the volume and that translates to cooking quicker.  I told him to go ahead with the BBQ place, I don't mind doing comparisons.  8)

[haellc]

Well Consiglieri
I am sorry to say but these fixins are for the MOM's this wekend and although I can not speak for the other two (her's & mine) but my wife will put up the fght of her life to fend off anythat try to move in on her ribs.
Maybe next time or if you are ever in OK for an OU football game you could find me tailgating.
G

[kiyotei]

I don't think you need to boil them prior to smoking.  the past two weeks I've thrown in a rack or two of ribs while I was smoking 2 whole chickens.  I smoked the ribs 2-3 hours with just a dry rub.  I then wrap them in foil with some apple juice and put them in the oven at 300 for about 1.5-2 hours.  They were awesome.  You can finish them on the grill with sauce if you like.  I've been lazy lately and skipped the final grill part.  I just slather the ribs with sauce and serve.

[haellc]

All I can say is WOW!!! Here is what i did o get very tender ribs:
fully thawed ribs, remove membrane form back and put my Rub on, vacumm sealed them for a full day. Placed them in smoker for about 4-5 hours @ 200 I had 3 racks full of ribs and a rack full of chicken breast. I basted with my favorite sauce the first hour then 2 hours later and right before i placed them in the foil. All that meat took a little longer to cook so after 4-5 hours of cooking in smoker I took ribs out and placed thme in a foil tent with water/applejuice in bottom. Placed them in oven @ 300 for another 2 hours & wham fallin off the bone ribs. couldn't have been better. Smoke time was about 2 hours but that is all up to you, i used maple pucks and couldn't have been happier.

Chicken I was a little different:
I placed them in the smoker with the ribs and rotated and basted the same amount. When I put my rub on them I took the skin off and rubbed the spice in real good, no vacumm sealing these. The thing i did do different was when I took them out an hour ealier than the ribs, basted htem with sauce and FTC them with Hot water in the bottom of the foil. When it came about an hour before time to eat I placed them in the oven and let them steam. Took them out for imediate serving and aw what an awsome tender juicy chicken breast.

try it guys I may try different smoke flavors but i aint changing a thing.

OH yeah, place about 3 strips of bacon on your chicken breast and then take em and cut them up into small pieces for your bake beans.

[Gizmo]

haellc,
Sounds like you nailed it.  Congrats.