Ribs again?

[HankB]

No one is complaining.  When we stopped at Sam's the other day my son asked me about spares vs. back loin ribs and then picked out a package of 3 spares (about 15 lb) and I just put them on the grill and smoker. I trimmed them more or less St. Louis style so I could roll them and fit them on a kettle. I did fire up the mini-WSM for the trimmings, so I have two cookers going. At some point I'll open the cookers up to check (and then there will be pr0n) but until then you'll have to be satisfied to know that the Performer is cruising at about 290°F and the mini-WSM is at 245°F. I'm pretty happy with those temps so I'll just monitor for now. It could be a couple hours before I open the cookers and get pictures. In the mean time, I put a pot of lentils on using the stock from the lamb bone and chicken/pheasant backs and mirepoix. I did manage to dump half a bag of lentils on the floor.  But there is enough left for soup.

Edit: I forgot I snapped a picture when they were rubbed and rolled.

[HankB]

Couple hours in - about half way done.



Amazing what one basket of charcoal can do.

[Jeff]

Wow...thats a nice variety of food going there Hank!

And never put a question mark after ribs...put an exclamation mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never question making ribs too much!

[HankB]

And ready to come off. We had the tip trimmings for dinner so these will be packaged for future meals.

[javahog2002]

Looks great.  I have cooked many ribs.  But never, rolled them.  Usually drop them in a rack on the ECB (shhhhhh) when I am lazy or on the WSM mini or stick burner.   I will have to cook some ribs on a kettle some time.

[1911Ron]

Looks good, how do you like rolling them like that, do they come out different? I have seen people do that before and never heard if it changes anything.

[HankB]

Looks great.  I have cooked many ribs.  But never, rolled them.  Usually drop them in a rack on the ECB (shhhhhh) when I am lazy or on the WSM mini or stick burner.   I will have to cook some ribs on a kettle some time.

They would have gone on my WSM at home, but here I have a Performer and mini-WSM. I've heard of rolling them and decided to give it a try. No way I could see to fit three racks of spares on the mini.

Looks good, how do you like rolling them like that, do they come out different? I have seen people do that before and never heard if it changes anything.

I think there is a difference between ribs cooked on the WSM lying flat and with a water pan vs. on edge or vertical with nothing between the ribs and charcoal. The latter is a little more like roasting. The only difference with rolling vs. a rack is that there is some overlap that does not color up due to smoke. And they don't want to lie flat once unrolled.