Home / Spice / Slow Heat / Smoke / Sauce / Store / Fun / Piggy Ribs' Pals / Link to us / Piggy Ribs Blog
Low and Slow Heat for Smoking Pork Ribs-
Piggy Ribs
Grilling never makes smoked ribs!
Grilling and Smoking are only related in heat and meat. Grilling is the use of high, direct, fast heat to cook food to the point of doneness, while low and slow heat is used to cook it to the point of tenderness. Grilling is convenient and adequate for burgers, steaks, and whatnot, but it cannot compare to smoking for meats (and ribs) that would be tough any other way. Someone said collagen makes bad meat, but good barbecue. Collagen will never be your friend if you attempt to grill it.
Maybe a little. Maybe more if you use liquid smoke. Meat isn't smoked just to get the smoke flavor. Low and slow smoke performs a magical transformation to the meat through nitric acid, which softens and enhances the meat...but I digress. Most of your 'smoke' from grilling is from fat hitting flame or coals, and can often produce a sooty, carbon-full residue that is not very tasty on anything. Besides, charred meat may have cancer-causing nasties in it.
Get barbecue wood, chips, and smoker boxes here.
How low for 'low and slow'?
Some folks argue on about the ideal temperature- 200, 225! No! 250 degrees. Perhaps if we can introduce a couple of 'No Zones', it will help you understand the ideal range of temperature. The first 'No Zone' is any temperature below 140 degrees, because this is the upper range of where bacteria can grow and multiply. If you hear of someone smoking meat at 165 degrees, you need to know whether that is the internal temperature of the meat, which is the recommended temp for ribs, or is 165 degrees the temperature in the smoker? I have never smoked any meat below 200 degrees. I would say that anything lower would drag out the cooking time and raise the risk of bitter meat from too much smoke over too much time.
The second 'No Zone' is around 250 degrees and up, because of two considerations. First, the higher you go in temperature, the quicker you will produce smoked ribs that are done (or overdone) without being tender, and these ribs will tend to be drier. Secondly, any sugar in your rub is going to start to overcarmelize or burn, and that ruins the ribs. If you read or hear of rib cookers using a base of 270 or 280 degrees, they may be cooking in a temp range with little room for error. One temperature spike could burn the rub. to top
A good range for low and slow is between 200 and 225 degrees. If you're using a smaller gas grill, plenty of ceramic briquettes, fire bricks, or lava rocks will help hold the heat, so you only need to fire the burner every 20-30 minutes. If you are using charcoal, you should only have to add fresh fuel every hour. A similar rule of thumb would apply for using all wood. to top
Need a better thermometer? Look Here.
How slow is s-l-o-w heat for smoking ribs?
There are several things to consider in answering how long it takes for ideal "low and slow" tenderness.
- How much rib poundage do you have? 60 minutes per pound times your rib weight is a good starting measure.
- You need to know BOTH the temperature in the smoker and in the ribs. Ribs below 165 degrees aren't done.
- Ribs at 165 degrees may be done but NOT tender.
- Look for two tenderness signs: meat pulled from bone ends and the rack 'sags' when you pick it up.
- An efficient (temperature-consistent) barbecue smoker will avoid temp swings and delays.
- The more you 'check' on the ribs or gawk at their beauty, the longer it will take. Stop it....now.
You want an ideal smoking range of 200 to 225 degrees, but you don't want to fiddle with the smoker every five minutes. We can talk about thermal dynamics without wearing a lab coat, so here goes. Two factors help make for efficiency: precisely adding heat and aggressively holding heat.
Most fuel types for smoking ribs can be precisely measured, be it charcoal, wood, gas, electric, or whatever. A gas burner can be turned off and on and flame-adjusted, you only need to measure the effect. You can learn by experience how much wood and what size is just right for adding heat. You will get experienced and know whether five or ten briquettes will be enough. And you can get the touch on the dial of an electric smoker for the temp range of the thermostat. There is no substitute for experience here.
Great buys on low and slow barbecue smokers.
By holding heat, we mean thermal mass, the capacity of materials for retaining heat and giving it off slowly. Good thermal mass is why you see lots of smokers made of thick steel plates or bricks rather than aluminum or plastic. Thermal mass is what's behind water pans and ceramic briquettes. There's one guy who made a smoker in the shape of a pig and coated it with nuclear reactor insulation. Stylish AND efficient. He has to add fuel only rarely. to top
Okay, but you can enhance and protect your thermal mass. Throw out the water in that pan and use sterile sand. It is a larger mass and doesn't evaporate. Maybe you can find a place inside your smoker for some fire brick, lava rocks or ceramic briquettes, the more stable temperatures will be worth it. If your smoker has no adjustable vent, try to install something to help regulate heat and smoke. Weather and wind can take away your heat in a hurry; insulate your smoker or maybe find a more protected spot, like your living room (joking). More importantly, get two thermometers, one for the meat and one for the smoker's interior near the meat. Most of all, if you like to take off the lid or open the door and look at your work, for the love of ribs, get some help and stop destroying your thermal mass. to top
Low and Slow Heat articles-
- BBQ Ribs
10 Oct 2008 at 4:14am
...wrong ways to make great BBQ Ribs. Fortunately there are many right ways too. Smoking pork ribs, low and slow, with the right rub and the right...
- BBQed some Country Style Ribs
6 Oct 2008 at 9:57am
...t ribs. They're from a pork ... grilling them and BBQing them, high heat versus low-and-slow. I went low-and-slow. I used some pork rub and...
- No invite required, y'all!
5 Oct 2008 at 1:24am
There's a whole lot of meat cooking low and slow. ... If you do well in all four categories of meat (Brisket, Pork Ribs, Pork and Chicken) you can...
- Low and Slow reminder; potting the pie
2 Oct 2008 at 6:18pm
...down, I've been cooking more and more like this, with low, slow dishes like a pork braise, cuban black beans, a short ribs braise, and even a...
- Living The High Life
2 Oct 2008 at 3:30am
They learned that by slow cooking the tough cuts of meat such as the spare ribs, or the pork shoulder and butt ... Barbecue is low and slow with
- Pork Ribs
30 Sep 2008 at 4:35pm
Pork ribs smoked low and slow will change the way you look at food and eating forever. There are few things in life better than this.
- Slow cookin'
30 Sep 2008 at 7:08am
Ribs. Rub a rack or two of pork ... Pulled Pork. Pulled pork can be made using several methods - generally you just want to cook it low and slow
Piggy Ribs
Low and Slow Heat
All content © 2006-2007 Piggy Ribs, any thieves will be hunted down and eaten by wild boars.