Country Style Ribs-1st time w/pics

I went by the meat market on Friday with my son. Amongst other things, we picked up some babybacks along with some country style ribs. My thought was to cook them all together today. Well, after my run this morning, I started searching this forum and found a number of different ideas about cooking country style ribs. After realizing what they were, the consensus pointed to cooking indirect instead of low and slow.

What I ended up doing was fixing three of the cuts with just EVOO and kosher salt and fresh ground pepper throughout the cook. I started with this for all six piece. During the first 30 minutes using some mesquite chips for smoke, I sprayed with apple juice. After 30 minutes, I foiled all of the ribs. After another 30 minutes, I pulled them all out. Half of the ribs were covered with bbq sauce and the other half were sprayed with apple juice and sprinkled with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Here are some pics:

Just out of the wrapper:



After coating with EVOO and kosher salt and fresh ground pepper:



My helper!!



The finished product.....

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All in all, it was interesting. I'm going to give this a try again, but I'm going to consider other techniques such as brining, etc. It was a really good meal and I'm glad that I took the time to search the forums to find some good ideas. Thanks to a lot of your for posting your experiences and it helped me decide what to do........

Looking good!

Looks tasty... I would love a plate of that.

Did the dog like them, too?

Looks very tasty!!

ScreamingChicken wrote:

Did the dog like them, too?

She had the opportunity to take in all of the good smells!!!! I'm sure she would have enjoyed it, but we don't feed either of our dogs anything but dog food.......

Those csr's look good. Nice job.

Lookin' mighty delicious to me, Jimmy!

I find that pork lends itself very well to flavor brining.

I do hope you give a low and slow smoke a try. Other methods have their own virtues, but I am one of the minority advocates for low and slow on country strips. I just like the way the flavors are developed and brought out.

Thanks to everyone for the compliments. For a "first time," I was generally pleased. I do want to try them again and am convinced they need sauce. I don't know if it was apparent in the pics or not, but three of them simply had EVOO along with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt. They weren't as good as the ones with the sauce on them.

beercuer,

I would be interested in how you cook them low and slow. My fear would be drying them out as lean as they are. You obviously have a method that you like.

jstewart wrote:

,,, beercuer,

I would be interested in how you cook them low and slow. My fear would be drying them out as lean as they are. You obviously have a method that you like.

Jimmy, really, the first "magic" is in the foiling phase. When you get them cooked to just how they look on your plate, (or if you want to see mine--)
http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/view ... a9a016eea2 ,
then wrap them up in foil for a good solid hour at 250. Somehow some moisture materializes, and you could even easily use leftovers by pulling that pork... you can get it that tender if you like. Also, you will get all the juicy benefits of your favorite BBQ sauce. My feeling is that a good sauce makes these strips out-of-this-world delicious.

Other than that, I just get my SFB on my CharGriller going. holding steady at 225-250 degrees for 5-8 hours, foil at least an hour at a decided 250, then sauce them lavishly until the sauce "glazes" a bit.

beercuer wrote:

jstewart wrote:

,,, beercuer,

I would be interested in how you cook them low and slow. My fear would be drying them out as lean as they are. You obviously have a method that you like.

Jimmy, really, the first "magic" is in the foiling phase. When you get them cooked to just how they look on your plate, (or if you want to see mine--)
http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/view ... a9a016eea2 ,
then wrap them up in foil for a good solid hour at 250. Somehow some moisture materializes, and you could even easily use leftovers by pulling that pork... you can get it that tender if you like. Also, you will get all the juicy benefits of your favorite BBQ sauce. My feeling is that a good sauce makes these strips out-of-this-world delicious.

Other than that, I just get my SFB on my CharGriller going. holding steady at 225-250 degrees for 5-8 hours, foil at least an hour at a decided 250, then sauce them lavishly until the sauce "glazes" a bit.

Appreciate that! How long do you go before and after foiling? Typically, when I cook "other" ribs, I leave them in the foil for 2 hours, ie cooking 3-2-1....I'm sure you cook to temp rather than just time, but wondering about how long it takes.

Thanks again for your response!!!!

Appreciate that! How long do you go before and after foiling? Typically, when I cook "other" ribs, I leave them in the foil for 2 hours, ie cooking 3-2-1....I'm sure you cook to temp rather than just time, but wondering about how long it takes.

Thanks again for your response!!!!

My pleasure, Jimmy Yes, I do cook to temp (or to feel). The strips should "feel" kind of firm and well done. The timing is just like what folks say about briskets and butts..., they're done when they're done. I find that 225 will significantly increase the time as opposed to 250, And some strips are a lot meatier than others. So my last batch here I was really cooking low at 225 until foiling. And that was about 8 hours this time around. Foiling, you definitely want a good 250 though-- I say at least an hour, but you can go longer if want or need. It's hard to hurt them when they're in the foil, except that after two hours the meat might get so tender as to turn to mush. All that being said, You could potentially do these in 6 hours total time.

Alternatively, you could try hot indirect grilling to well done, then foil them at a lower temp (250) and sauce. You might be able to cut the time to 2 hours.

beercuer wrote:

Appreciate that! How long do you go before and after foiling? Typically, when I cook "other" ribs, I leave them in the foil for 2 hours, ie cooking 3-2-1....I'm sure you cook to temp rather than just time, but wondering about how long it takes.

Thanks again for your response!!!!

My pleasure, Jimmy Yes, I do cook to temp (or to feel). The strips should "feel" kind of firm and well done. The timing is just like what folks say about briskets and butts..., they're done when they're done. I find that 225 will significantly increase the time as opposed to 250, And some strips are a lot meatier than others. So my last batch here I was really cooking low at 225 until foiling. And that was about 8 hours this time around. Foiling, you definitely want a good 250 though-- I say at least an hour, but you can go longer if want or need. It's hard to hurt them when they're in the foil, except that after two hours the meat might get so tender as to turn to mush. All that being said, You could potentially do these in 6 hours total time.

Alternatively, you could try hot indirect grilling to well done, then foil them at a lower temp (250) and sauce. You might be able to cut the time to 2 hours.

Thanks beercuer,

I'll be firing up the CG Wednesday/Thursday next week with my sisters, grand-nephew, and both sons coming in along with one or two of their friends, so I may try a couple of the CSRs in the mix. I'll certainly have the CG going long enough to try the low and slow for the CSRs. I'll be sure to let you know the results. At a minimum, I know I'll be fixin a brisket, some babyback ribs, and some beef ribs. I'm waiting to hear back if anyone wants some pulled pork! Could be a fun couple of days In fact, I may need the support of both of my helpers (aka, our boxer dogs) to get through all of this....