Page 80 - Amazing Ribs - Book

Like everything in barbecue, there is controversy over the crutch. Some swear by foil, others prefer the butcher paper. We find the differences minor and inconsistent.
Are they ready yet?
There is an old joke among some KCBS competition cooks about how to tell if the St. Louis cut ribs are ready (that’s the cut they favor). Take a slab of SLC and a slab of babybacks and put them both in the smoker. When the babybacks are dry, the SLC ribs are done.
OK. Maybe that’s a bit extreme. But it underlines how hard it is to tell when ribs are ready. That’s because ribs come in so many different weights and thicknesses. Not to mention the fact that keeping an outdoor oven at a precise temp is tricky. So here are some guidelines and techniques for telling when ribs are done.
We like to differentiate between “done” and “ready.” It’s a fine semantic line, but an important one when it comes to barbe- cue.
Meat is “done” when the temperature at its thickest reaches the point at which it is safe to eat. But that doesn’t mean it’s “ready.” According to USDA, pork is “done” when it is 145°F in- ternal temp (that’s “medium”), and that is fine for a pork chop (actually we prefer chops at 135 to 140°F), but ribs will still be tough at those temps. If you take them up to between 200 to 203°F, the collagens and fats melt and make the meat more tender and juicy. That’s well past well-done (155°F). But they’re ready!
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