Trigg Rib Shigg from "BBQ Pitmasters"

You can't beat the flavor and creaminess of butter, that's for sure. But, I have heard claims that the Parkay helps prevent the ribs from falling apart too easily.

I added a step. I noticed a saucepan in one of the scenes. Trigg makes up some sauce and glazes his ribs with it. No info on what's in the sauce but, if I had to guess, I'd say it's the drippings from the foil.

Tosprops wrote:

You can't beat the flavor and creaminess of butter, that's for sure. But, I have heard claims that the Parkay helps prevent the ribs from falling apart to easily.

I added a step. I noticed a saucepan in one of the scenes. Trigg makes up some sauce and glazes his ribs with it. No info on what's in the sauce but, if I had to guess, I'd say it's the drippings from the foil.

That is an ingenius observation!

I'm ashamed to admit I tossed the drippings along with the foil on Sunday. I should be banned for that.

EDIT: Still not sure I will ever buy margerine though.

I tried the 3-2-1 method in the past and never liked the texture of the final ribs.
Watching pitmaster after pitmaster foil ribs has now convinced me to try again. I think the key is the heavier braising mixture. I can't wait to give this a try.

This kinda reminded me of Alton Brown's ribs from years ago. He did not smoke his ribs, but he did braise them. One note, Alton drained the braise liquid and reduced it into a glazing liquid. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

IronStomach wrote:

Tosprops wrote:

You can't beat the flavor and creaminess of butter, that's for sure. But, I have heard claims that the Parkay helps prevent the ribs from falling apart to easily.

I added a step. I noticed a saucepan in one of the scenes. Trigg makes up some sauce and glazes his ribs with it. No info on what's in the sauce but, if I had to guess, I'd say it's the drippings from the foil.

That is an ingenius observation!

I'm ashamed to admit I tossed the drippings along with the foil on Sunday. I should be banned for that.

EDIT: Still not sure I will ever buy margerine though.

Myron Mixon has won a lot of money glazing his ribs with honey and butter, no margarine.

Strike BBQ wrote:

I tried the 3-2-1 method in the past and never liked the texture of the final ribs.
Watching pitmaster after pitmaster foil ribs has now convinced me to try again. I think the key is the heavier braising mixture. I can't wait to give this a try.

This kinda reminded me of Alton Brown's ribs from years ago. He did not smoke his ribs, but he did braise them. One note, Alton drained the braise liquid and reduced it into a glazing liquid. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

The time on the smoker after they have been foiled is very important for texture and moisture. I use the last hour or so to dry the ribs until they have nice meaty texture rather than an over moist, boiled meat texture.

Tosprops wrote:

Strike BBQ wrote:

I tried the 3-2-1 method in the past and never liked the texture of the final ribs.
Watching pitmaster after pitmaster foil ribs has now convinced me to try again. I think the key is the heavier braising mixture. I can't wait to give this a try.

This kinda reminded me of Alton Brown's ribs from years ago. He did not smoke his ribs, but he did braise them. One note, Alton drained the braise liquid and reduced it into a glazing liquid. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

The time on the smoker after they have been foiled is very important for texture and moisture. I use the last hour or so to dry the ribs until they have nice meaty texture rather than an over moist, boiled meat texture.

That's exactly what I hope to try next time by reducing foil time a little. On Sunday, the 5 slabs of baby backs were falling apart and I couldn't even move them out of the foil without the bones popping out.

Great post, lots of good detail.

What I would like to know is where you get those ribs with all that meat on the bone? I simply can't find them around here. Only once have I ever gotten a rack of meaty ribs like Johnny Trigg talks about. They came from Whole Foods and seem to be a one time fluke. I would love to get ribs like that all the time.

Oh and I will add I had no trouble finding Tiger Sauce around here which was a pleasant surprise.

Jim

jfm0830 wrote:

Great post, lots of good detail.

What I would like to know is where you get those ribs with all that meat on the bone? I simply can't find them around here. Only once have I ever gotten a rack of meaty ribs like Johnny Trigg talks about. They came from Whole Foods and seem to be a one time fluke. I would love to get ribs like that all the time.

Oh and I will add I had no trouble finding Tiger Sauce around here which was a pleasant surprise.

Jim

You really have to look around for ribs like that lately. I rarely find them in the supermarket any more, but if you look carefully there's a slight chance you might luck out. Be careful, though, as a lot of the supermarkets are now carrying "enhanced" ribs and they'll throw off any recipe you have because they're pre-brined. Check the label, and if they say anything about being soaked in a brine solution or something similar you might want to pass them by.

Alternately, you can do what I do: find a good local butcher shop or two and stick with them. The ribs I get from my favorite butcher are just like the ones you see above.

Well, not quite identical... mine got eaten before the pics got taken.

CanadaBBQGuy wrote:

...snip...You really have to look around for ribs like that lately. I rarely find them in the supermarket any more, but if you look carefully there's a slight chance you might luck out. Be careful, though, as a lot of the supermarkets are now carrying "enhanced" ribs and they'll throw off any recipe you have because they're pre-brined. Check the label, and if they say anything about being soaked in a brine solution or something similar you might want to pass them by.

Alternately, you can do what I do: find a good local butcher shop or two and stick with them. The ribs I get from my favorite butcher are just like the ones you see above.

Well, not quite identical... mine got eaten before the pics got taken.

Thanks for the heads up on the "enhanced". I typically get my ribs from Whole Foods or the local butcher shop which is the best in our area. Hopefully they won't ever carry "enhanced", but I will now be more vigilant.

I've managed to get friendly with the butchers at both places. I've found showing them photos of the meat they sold me last time in it's finished state really helps. One time one of them borrowed my iPhone and took it out back to show some of the other butchers. I also make a point of trying to go when I know they aren't busy. This way I can pick their brains about what I'm doing and they will often ask how I made the items I am showing them the pictures of. The butchers now often look at what is on display and say quietly; "Oh you don't want that, I've got something better out back if you can give me a minute".

Now to get this back on topic: Despite my getting these butchers so they are getting me the best of what they have around, the ribs just look sad next to the ones Johnny Trigg was showing. Heck I'd pay more and drive out of my way to get great ribs. Every time I'm near a new to me butchers shop I'll go in and check them out hoping to find better ribs. So far no luck.

Jim

For the loin back ribs I smoked Sunday, I got four of the five racks from the local Costco. They weren't as uniform as the ribs in the above pics, but still had more meat on them than any baby backs I've had in a restaurant.

Costco here had two sets of back loin ribs on sale before the superbowl: some were on the styrofoam plates wrapped in plastic and the rest were cryovacked Swift ribs. The ones I got were the plastic wrapped ones, I could see what they looked like and they already had the backing membrane off.

Wish they had a more reliable selection though, they were great ribs!

Keep in mind the ribs in the pics are St. Luis cut spare ribs. Spares are meatier than baby backs.

Married_Man wrote:

Keep in mind the ribs in the pics are St. Luis cut spare ribs. Spares are meatier than baby backs.

Sadly I rarely do Baby Backs, the ribs I get are always St. Louis cut or more accurately St. Louis Lite from the looks of it.

Jim

Married_Man wrote:

Keep in mind the ribs in the pics are St. Luis cut spare ribs. Spares are meatier than baby backs.

Good point, I was just remembering what I did. Maybe the texture would be different with spares using the sweet 'n buttery wrap?

Strike BBQ wrote:

I tried the 3-2-1 method in the past and never liked the texture of the final ribs.
Watching pitmaster after pitmaster foil ribs has now convinced me to try again. I think the key is the heavier braising mixture. I can't wait to give this a try.

This kinda reminded me of Alton Brown's ribs from years ago. He did not smoke his ribs, but he did braise them. One note, Alton drained the braise liquid and reduced it into a glazing liquid. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

What's this 3-2-1 method you are speaking of? Is it 3 hours in the smoker, 2 hours foiled and then 1 hour of glazing?

Yep.