'Epic Ribs Fail' and 'Massive Chicken Success'

[Pecker]

Saturday, decided to do ribs & chicken. The plan - smoke the ribs unfoiled, then foil them and out them in the oven, leaving the barbecue for the chicken.

Previously I've always followed a 3-2-1 for the ribs, but halved it as our ribs are smaller than in the US, so that's 90 minutes smoking, 60 minutes foiled, 30 minutes sauced.

Usually work very well, but rarely have the ribs pulled back from the bone. So I decided to increase the times to 2/3rds the US norm, going 2 hours smoked, 1hr420 foiled, 40 sauced. Here are the results just after unfoiling:



I knew it'd all gone wrong then. See the ribs on the bottom right of the photo have alreasdy completely popped out of the meat.

On eating they were dry, mushy, and absolutely impossible to carve.

Then then chicken. Marinated in jerk seasoning from the morning, barbecue at 150c-ish, 2 minutes over the coals to sear, then lid on and leave.

Now the packing says the legs should be 200c for 45-50 minutes - than heaven for the Thermapen! After 30 minutes they were up to temperature and ready. The juiciest, tastiest chicken I've had in my life.

Certainly the best thing I've barbecued in my life.



Steve W

[keith157]

Don't worry too much about pulling away from the bone. Yes it's a good visual clue but not all meat reacts the same way. Pigs from the same herd even will cook differently. Try the "flex test" to see how well cooked they are they should bend gracefully without tearing, or a poke test with a skewer for tenderness. You've certainly cracked the look, its just a shame they dried out slightly. But as has been said before its added to your experience and knowledge base, as well as giving good pointers in using our skinny ribs.