First attempt at ribs

[Dalby Spook]

Hi folks

I put two racks of ribs though on Friday using this formula:

Rubbed with "Goose Bay oink r rub". Preheated to 210. Smoked 3 hours on oak/pecan.
Out of the BS& into oven wrapped in foil for 2 hours @ 210.

First problem was there seemed very little meat on them. Nothing like the ones served in chinese restaurants.
Second they were very dry.

That said, what flesh they had tasted fine. Smokey & spicey.

Where did I mess up? Poor quality ribs or overcooking or both.

[icerat4]

Yepper 200-210 a little spray of apple juice every hour is nice too. I do mine which are fall off the bone type this way.7-8 POUNDS OF Baby backs in the smoker 4 hours of smoke at temps of 200 -205.If the temp dosent get to that temp by the four hour mark .Dont worry.During the smoke time i spray apple juice on after the second hour til the smoke is done 3 or so sprays is good.During the 4th hour of smoke i put a lite bbq sauce on sweet baby rays and finish off the smoke.When the smoke is done i get foil and spray that and the ribs down onces again and wrap up and put in the oven for about 3-4 hours at 190.What this does is like a steamer then and the ribs will stay moist and then will fall off the bone.Be sure you take the membrane off the ribs before you rub.If there is a membrane .Other wise the ribs will be chewie.Hope this helps a little.Sounds like your doing what we call country ribs these should have no membrane on them .Do this way and im sure your next rib smoke will be a wet one .Take care and good luck. ;D ;D

[owrstrich]

im thinking you may have spares and may be comparing to babybacks... babys have much more meat than spares...

owrstrich...

[icerat4]

i SECOND THAT

[manxman]

im thinking you may have spares

The last lot of spare ribs I got from the butcher in Kirk Michael had loads of meat on, think you might have been short changed wherever you got them from. Cuts of meat seem to vary somewhat between us and our friends across the pond but it is certainly possible to get very meaty spare ribs over here. (hope it wasn't KM or PSM!!)

Might be worth monitoring internal meat temperature to avoid overcooking?? When I take rubbed ribs them out of the BS I always spray some apple juice on the before wrapping in foil, the advice give by "long tail" is good and he is an expert on doing ribs!

Goose Bay oink r rub".

Iceman, I passed on a sachet of your rub for DS to try partly in exchange for a couple of pheasant and partly because I wanted someone else to benefit from my good fortune!

I did a controlled experiment on Thursday evening with ribs.... Sopn'Sauce versus Goose Bay Oink r rub. The former came out 4 to 2 winner but my partners brother, who is a qualified chef and troubleshooter for a catering company absolutely fell in love with the Goose Bay Oink r rub!! He really pigged out on them!! :D :D

[Truth Detector]

What is the membrane?

???

[Wildcat]

Thin layer of clear skin under the bone on ribs.  Can be a little frustrating to get off, but well worth the effort.

[Gizmo]

The membrane is called the Pleura and is a bit tough to chew.  Removal will allow the flavors to penetrate and will not add toughness to the ribs. 
Start a few inches from the large end (around the 2nd or 3rd rib) and pry a piece of the membrane up with a pointed object like the prong of a fork and work back to the large end.  Use a paper towl to grip the membrane just lifted and pull off toward the small end.

[begolf25]

One other thing that helps me remove the membrane is to take the rack of ribs and roll them up a bit bone side out. This helps loosen the membrane for me.

[Gizmo]

Excellent tip.  I'll have to try that one.  Maybe unknowingly I have done that and that has been the difference from when the membrane comes off easily and when it doesn't.