Smoked St. Louis Style Ribs - Southern Style

[BuyLowSellHigh]

SS, pretty much.  Ideally you want to do both rubbed and unrubbed cooked in in the Bradley just as you did here and then do exactly the same thing in an electric oven (not gas) at about same temp as the Bradley.  That would give four separate cooked sets to compare.  Rib tips should be fine.  A key in the formation of a smoke ring is that the chemistry takes place before the meat temp reaches 140 °F, after that it's fixed.  So low and slow allows more time for the effect.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

I had an afterthought about another possible cause of the "smoke ring", and that is meat packaging.  The fresh meat industry has, for years, been exploring ways to retain the bright red color of freshly cut meats longer as that's what consumers want when they make the purchase decision.  Most of that effort has been directed at changes in packaging systems.  This was a large long standing research effort in the company I worked for prior to retiring. One method that has been in use by some of the larger meat producers, such as Hormel and Cargill, is the use of carbon monoxide as a treatment before packaging.  Carbon monoxide reacts with myoglobin in a similar fashion to nitrogen oxides and gives a lasting bright red color.  I don't know if that color in CO treated meat can persist through a low and slow cook, but it is a possibility.  If the smoke ring comes from a meat treatment then it should show up in the oven cooked ribs as well as the Bradley smoked ribs.

[Tenpoint5]

Southern here is a link to how I make my ribs in the Bradley . I just want to make sure you know I am not trying to pick on you or cause problems. I am truly curious as to how your getting a smoke ring.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=10182.0

[SouthernSmoked]

Hey, Tenpoint5

No and I didn't take it that way at all, I was just curious why you weren't getting a smoke ring and I think BuyLowSellHigh did a good job of explaining why. I already knew that people were not getting a smoke ring when I talked to Brian a few weeks back. He suggested that I post some images and see what everyone else thought.

Did you see the ribs I did yesterday?

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=17217.0

[Tenpoint5]

Yep I seen it. Still trying to figure it out though.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

SS - what brand of ribs are you cooking with ?

[KyNola]

SS,
Like 10.5 I hope you didn't get the impression that I was picking on you either.  I'll be interested to see the results if you choose to do the oven vs Bradley test.

You obviously know your way around a smoker.  You do great work.

[SouthernSmoked]

BuyLowSellHigh

I normally purchase my meat at Sam's Club but my wife purchased these at Meijer's - Brand "John Morrell".

It's the first time that I've use this in over 3 years. I do ribs one way or another about 3-4 a month and have for over 3 years now, even if its snowing outside.

I just enjoy it!

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Morrell is a Smithfield Foods brand.  It would not surprise me if they used carbon monoxide MAP; actually I would be more surprised if they didn't.  After I read your response I did some searching, but I can't find anything definitive on Smithfield's possible use of MAP with CO.  However, I did find a research report from a project jointly at Montana State University and the University of Saskatchewan that states, "Researchers have shown that if CO is used in modified atmosphere packages a dark red color develops and it remains after cooking.".
http://animalrange.montana.edu/courses/meat/meatcol.pdf  page 4

So it may well be that the smoke ring you have experienced is a result of CO MAP used in packaging the ribs.

[Wildcat]

Amazing at the information brought out in this thread. Great conversations.

[SouthernSmoked]

Smoke Ring test update:

Hey I had to go out and purchase a couple more Spare Ribs today.

I thought my sister told me that she needed her ribs today but after calling her this morning she informed me that she will need them Thursday. Instead today I cooked Smoked Swordfish. http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=17234.0

I own (2) Stainless Steel Smokers which will help in this experiment.

Smoker #1 - In one smoker I will do a 1/2 rack ribs without the rub, only basting with apple juice.

Smoker #2 - I will try (Not going to mention any names here unless it's OK) method. I would like to know however if there is anything special about the rub you use. If not I will use the rub I have here. I will do two 1/2 rack ribs, one with a heavy coat and one with a light coat. One the heavy coat rib I will try to mimic as close as I can to the post that you lead me to.

I also will do two half racks in my electric oven. One will have no rub at all and the other will mimic the method that I normally use.

How does this sound???

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Do you have enough to dona portion in the smoker without rub?  If so, I think that's an important part of the test.

[SouthernSmoked]

Yes I was going to designate one of the two smokers as rib only.
"In one smoker I will do a 1/2 rack ribs without the rub, only basting with apple juice."
Is this what you were asking??
My bad I thought I explained that I have to Stainless Steel Bradley Smokers. Sorry about that.

I will add that to the post>

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Cool - I think you're set.  Are these the same Morrell ribs you used previously ?

[SouthernSmoked]

Yes they are...