JERKY STYLE RIBS

[TIM]

I HAVE BEEN Q ING FOR ABOUT 1 1/2 YEARS EVERY TIME I COOK RIBS THE OUTSIDE IS VERY TOUGH I COOK THEM AT 225 FOR ABOUT 5 HOURS THE OUTSIDE IS LIKE JERKY ? I ALSO NEED HELP WITH BRISKET I HAVE COOKED A FEW AND THE SMALL END IS DRY BUT THE FAT END IS GOOD IF SOME ONE COULD PLEASE HELP ME OUT I WOULD REALY APPREACIATE IT. THANK YOU TIM

[texasbill]

Tim:
First glad to have you here on the message board. And hope we can give you some answers to your predicament. I would first like to tell you don't feel alone out there as we have all "jerkied" (don't know if that is a word or not) some meats ourselves. It is part of the learning process.

I first would like to know if you are cooking on a smoker or grill or whatever. It sounds like you have got the right temp for the ribs, even though you could cook at a liitle lower temp. But I have cooked my share at 225 degrees and they work. Don't know what kind of ribs are you cooking? Spares, baby backs, beef? OK lets start with your process of getting the ribs ready and then go from there. You can follow the site on cooking or if you missed signing up for the newsletter do that and you will immediately get my recipes for both ribs and brisket.

Give me the answers to the above questions and we will have some folks post some solutions for your problems.

Brisket is what many consider to be the toughest single piece of meat to cook. Once you get the hang of it it is realitively easy. You should not trim your brisket when you get it. All I do is sprinkle on worcheschire sauce and put Texas BBQ Rub on the brisket or the ribs. Tell us what kind of rub or spices you are using. You may be pulling out all the moisture out of your meat. How hot are you cooking the brisket? If you are at 225 you should be fine. How long are you cooking the brisket. I will check back soon to see if you give me some detail.

We will get you on the right track. It won't be long now.

Bill
TexasBBQRub.com

[TIM]

BILL I HAVE A OAKLAHOMA JOE SMOKER WITH OFFSET FIRE BOX. I HAVE DONE SOME MODIFICATIONS TO THE UNIT. FIRST OF ALL I PUT A TRENT THERMOMETER RIGHT AT THE GRILL LEVEL. I LOWERED THE SMOKESTACK TO THE LEVEL OF THE GRILL ALSO A BAFFEL WHERE THE HEAT ENTERS THE COOKING BOX. THE BRISKET I COOKED I USED YOUR RUB I GOT YOUR FIRST COOKING INSTRUCTIONS I FOLLOWED THEM. THE BRISKET I COOKED FOR 9 HOURS THE INTERAL TEMP WAS 185. THE RIBS I HAVE BEEN COOKING ARE SPARE RIBS I COOK THEM FAT SIDE UP THEY SEEM TO DRY OUT . I HAVE NOT TRIED YOUR RUB ON THE YET. THE TOP SIDE OF THEM IS VERY TOUGH THE CENTER OF THE ARE PRETTY GOOD. I COOK THE RIBS FOR 5 HOURS. THANK YOU TIM.

[texasbill]

Tim:
The offset cooker should be what you need. If I remember the Oklahoma Joe pits they are made out of 1/4 in steel (if that thick). You said you are cooking at a temp of 225 degrees which should work just fine for the brisket and the ribs. It sounds like the brisket is a little to close to the firebox entry to the pit. In this situation I cook the point of the brisket closest to the heat source and apparently you have alot of heat coming thru the firebox. I would recommend at this time to cut down on the fire in the firebox as I am thinking that you are really cooking hotter than the temp gauge is registering especially up close to the baffle. This is a typical problem with a small pit. I have experienced the same problem on my small pit in the past. You could also move your fire as close to the door of the firebox as possible and keep the flame from the wood from going into the cooking chamber. This will cut down on any burn you have on the meat.

As for using the rub, it will be perfect for the brisket if we can get the temp down a bit. You may try laying either aluminum down under the brisket after the first couple of hours to shiel it from the direct heat or better yet would be to place a pan with some water in it under the brisket to cut down on the heat a bit.

This should help with the probelm. All pits have a few hot spots in them and all of them have a hot spot close to the firebox. Move the heat back in the box and the meat as far from the heat source as possilbe. You may even rotate the brisket during cooking every two hours or so to prevent burns.

You will need to do the same for the ribs. I am headed out to the Houston Rodeo Cook-off now and will be back on Sunday. Try out these methods and let me know. We will figure it out.

Bill
TexasBBQRub.com

[bigwheel]

Now if you are really cooking at 225 that be too low and too slow. Most offset pits in the log burning mode including the one you got tend to have a fairly brisk airflow through there in order to keep the wood from going into a smolder and turning it into a creosote factory. The copious air flow coupled with temps in the low 200's tend to be fairly close to a good environment for dehydrating things..i.e. making jerky. Ideal thing would be to boost your pit temps up to around 260. That is a good rib cooking temp..or you can trade the wood in for mostly charcoal and attempt to stifle the airflow to where whut little moisture you got in there from the meat dont escape out the stack quite so easily..which aint easy when your only cooking a little bit of meat. You can also add some moisture in the form of a water pan. Easiest cure is to boost the temps and wrap em after a few hours. After they safely cocooned in the foil be a good time to knock it down to 225. Also keep em moving occasionally. The firebox end going be hitting them harder than the far side. Just my .02 of course.

bigwheel

I HAVE BEEN Q ING FOR ABOUT 1 1/2 YEARS EVERY TIME I COOK RIBS THE OUTSIDE IS VERY TOUGH I COOK THEM AT 225 FOR ABOUT 5 HOURS THE OUTSIDE IS LIKE JERKY ? I ALSO NEED HELP WITH BRISKET I HAVE COOKED A FEW AND THE SMALL END IS DRY BUT THE FAT END IS GOOD IF SOME ONE COULD PLEASE HELP ME OUT I WOULD REALY APPREACIATE IT. THANK YOU TIM