I've been experimenting with sous-vide ribs and have had some excellent results sous-viding direclty in brine for 24 hours and then finishing them off on the smoker for a couple of hours. Other times, not so much. I've started to catalog my experiments and would love some input on what works & why!
Experiment 1:
removed silver skin from slab of baby back pork ribs
cut in half, put in crock pot with chicken broth
sous vided at 140F for ~50hrs
sprinkled rub on ribs, put in smoker set to 180F (actual 180-220F) for 1 hr
basted ribs in "bulls-eye brown sugar and hickory" bbq sauce, allowed to smoke for 1 more hr
Experiment 1 verdict:
smoking the ribs dried out the meat, and did little to add any "smoke flavor" to them. It had a mushy, dry texture. There was no noticeable red ring around the meat (an indicator of smoked ribs vs boiled ones). I was originally planning to put the 2nd half rack on the hot gas grill also, as a 2nd experiment, but after tasting how dry the other ones were, I didn't bother. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't try taste testing the ribs earlier in the smoking process, as I'm guessing there's a "sweet spot" at which point the gooey mess that comes out of the SV gets the crispier edge.
Experiment 2:
remove silver skin from slab of baby back pork ribs
cut rack in half
sprinkled rub on ribs, put in smoker set to 225F (actual 225-250F) for 1 hr
Extracted one of the halves, sealed in plastic bag, put into the SV at 140F for 48hrs - more on these later
the other half remaining i allowed to smoke for 1 more hr before basting w/ bbq sauce
allowed to smoke 1 more hr (3 hrs total), basting every 20-30 min
I continually cut off single ribs after 3 hrs, 4 hrs, and 5hrs total to taste them, basting in between
For the ribs that were SV'd, i finished them off by basting w/ bbq sauce and cooking on the gas grill for about 2 min/side
Experiment 2 verdict:
For the ribs that were only smoked- as expected, they got more tender with more time. the ones after 3 hrs weren't very good (too tough) but the last remaining rib which cooked for 5 hrs total still had some moisture, but a flakier texture. a little effort is needed to get the meat to come off the bone, but it does come off cleanly. taste was very smoky.
For the ribs that were also SV'd- these ribs were very tender, and came off the bone with zero effort. the texture was a little too soft throughout, especially on the outside which we normally expect to be crispier. the taste was very good, and a little smoky, but not enough to convince me it was bbq.
Experiment 3:
i think the next time i'm going to try the same method with the SV, but instead of the gas grill, use the smoker at 350F to finish them off...maybe try a rib every 30 min or so to see if/when they get dried out beyond the point of being good to eat...
Thoughts on Experiment 3? Does anyone have any good experiences or advice to share in general?
