Posted on 07/09/2022 8:02:17 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Shortly before the Fourth of July weekend I was faced with a barbecue emergency. I had already defrosted a Turkey and started brining it in preparation for smoking it. However, Target had a great sale on baby back pork ribs and I couldn't resist especially since a lot more people than expected were going to show up at my July 4 barbecue party. So how to cook both smoked turkey AND baby back ribs? The answer was sous vide. I didn't have enough room on my smoker to cook both at the same time so my solution was to sous vide the ribs for 8 hours at 165 degrees and then sear it on the barbecue right after the turkey was done smoking.
In this video, you see how I prepared the sous vide baby back ribs. Was it absolutely as good as smoking the ribs for 5 or 6 hours? Not quite but it was definitely good enough. I also recommend sous vide when you don't have time or conditions available for complete smoking of ribs. You can sous vide your ribs ahead of time and keep it refrigerated in the vacuum sealed bags until a day or two later when you can finish them off by searing them on a grill. Tail gate parties come to mind for this situation.
BTW, my sous vide only cost me about $50 since I purchased one without all the bells and whistles which mainly means I can't pair it to my cell phone. Why I would want to pair it to my cell phone I have no idea but by not being able to do that which I wouldn't do in the first place I saved a lot of money on the purchase price.
PING!
Who’s the guy in the photo? Is that you PJ?
It's Florida Man.
Drape the ribs over top of the turkey.
Sous vide is great, but I have never been able to get it to tenderize tougher cuts no matter how long I cooked it. I made a huge mistake and bought a self contained sous video for WAY too much money back I mthe day ($450), when I should have bought the wand unit (around $40,or so for some models) and a cheap plastic tub instead.
The great thing about sous vide is that you can cook meat to lower Temps safely (ie, IF you wanted, you could cook chicken to say 130 as long as you cooked it long enough- safety is a result of temperature PLUS time. The 165 recommendation is for 1 second at that temp (as soon as it reaches that temp, it’s safe) whereas chicken held at 145 for say 20 minutes (cant remember the time now) is just as safe. There is a chart for time plus temp for different cuts of meat.
The other good thing is you can use it as a food warmer for hours on end and it Wil. Be safe as long as it’s at a certain temp, so,you can keep,cooking cuts for like a family reunion, and putting it I the sous vide cooker at temp, and it will keep,for,hours, a d not dry out or go,over the temp,you choose.
Another great thing is it is “set and forget”- you can put a roast in it in morning, set your temp, go to work, and come home and it’s done and waiting for,finishing (ie broil it till it gets a good crust- just be sure to set sous vid temp lower knowing that you will increase temp with broiler to,finish.)
A balancing act BBQ.
You’re so right about the sauce!
The texture on the ribs were great. No toughness at all.
Have you tried adding just a touch of vinegar to a tough cut of meat?
Sous Vide almost anything is so friction easy and relaxing. I had the lan over for Independence day and did chicken and Costco choice ribeyes. When they were done everything looked like a display of morgue inhabitants. Then I just layered everything in butter and took the blowtorch UT and turned the unsightly results into a total masterpiece of gourmet proportions. Viva la Vide!
If you check the ingredients, I think you’ll find the mustard you rubbed the ribs with has vinegar. It doesn’t take much to tenderize the meat, when it spends 8 hours simmering in it.
Mistake #1 - Turkey for Independence Day
Mistake #2 - Buying anything from Target
Mistake #3 - Not making your own rub
Mistake #4 - Not allowing the ribs to marinade with the rub for at least over night
Mistake #5 - Buying BBQ sauce
Mistake #6 - Putting BBQ sauce on ribs, particularly before smoking
Mistake #7 - Searing over charcoal
Mistake #8 - Thinking you can smoke without wood.
This guy is a klutz and pretty clueless. But with that said, if he enjoyed his ribs, that’s all that matters.
No. I know folks use ,ike,Italian dressing to tenderize meat, but have never tried it. (Don’t care for Italian dressing). I’ve tried pineapple, and it worked OK, but not a great deal. (The pineapple taste was not really detectable when the meat was cooked, which is a good thing)
Except that my turkey was SMOKED after having been dry brined for several days. A much different taste experience than turkey done other ways. BTW, I have also done sous vide turkey and will BOTH smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving as well as cooking another one via sous vide.
I got several bottles of Garlic and Herb spice a couple of years ago cheap via coupons so why not use it. Besides I loved that flavoring.
-PJ
Ribs are usually OK, but things like roasts are tough when cook,in sous vide. Better to cook, in crock pot I find,personally) I’ve seen video,of folks taking tough cuts and coo,ing for long hours in sous vide and claiming it tenderize it enough to eat, but I’ve tried it a couple,times and not found that it helped much if any. Maybe I didn’t coo, long enough (have tried 12 and 16 hours)
-PJ
I’ve tried thst too. Slathered in kosher salt. That did help some. Would be nice if we could,turn a chuck steak,into a filet mignon though lol. My teeth aren’t what they used to be.
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