I had my first ever longer (5 hours) kamado smoking & grilling session last friday but didnt like the end result of my ribs at all.
They were dry, hard in some spots, not very tender and zero juice left. I need sone advice.
The taste was okay so I would suppose it had something to do with the cooking method.
In short:
– dried them with paper towels, took a picture (above) applied mustard and a dry rub
– 3 hours on kamado on 120-130 degrees celcius with deflector. After the 3 hour smoke they already were a bit dry, I hoped the 2 hour in tin foil with a sauce-glaze would reinject some moisture into the meat.
– Applied a bbq sauce and coca cola mixture and wrapped them in tin foil. Cooked for another 2 hours. The kamado went up to 150 and I had a hard time getting it down to 110-120 again, managed to do so after about 75 minutes. Deflector still was in the kamado
– Took them out of the foil, wanted to give them another hour but since they were overdone I skipped it and served them right away as grilling would only make it worse.
I did not use a drip pan as I did not have one on-hand.
I would suppose a drip pan with water/applecider/applejuice and a lower heat (100 degrees celcius?) might do the trick, but since it was my first time I’m not sure.
Can anybody confirm this or is there something I overlooked?
by MarkTimely9212
3 Comments
What temp did you pull them at? Might be undercooked than over if anything. 3 hours seems pretty early to call them “dry”, how did you decide they were dry?
There are many ways. Spareribs I do at 150C/300F for 45 minutes a side, wrap and 45 minutes a side again. Total 3 hours. Some small parts at the end might be dry.
I’m not really a pork person, but it seems a bit hot for “low and slow” and too long for “hot and fast”. Low and slow targets about 104 Celsius so the little evaporation cools the meat to under 100c and prevents it from drying up. Having a large margin above 100c dries the meat as it’s constantly evaporating while being too low for maillard reaction that browns the meat. An even higher temperature (180c) cooks the meat “normally”, browning it so it’s done much faster (about 45 minutes – hour). The fat in ribs allows for a much faster cook compared to brisket.