Pre cooking bbq

[Mo Smoke]

So as I inch my way towards trying some catering, I realize my limitations having one medium sized smoker. So one of the things I plan to experiment with is pre cooking my ribs. Option 1 - Maybe smoke them a day or so before, leave them wrapped, put them in the fridge, finish them off on the grill the day I’m ready to serve or deliver. Option 2 - smoke them a few days to a week in advance. Wrap them tight in Saran Wrap, Freeze them. Then pull them out, toss em on the grill, and finish them on the day I’m serving or selling. Any thoughts or experience pre cooking this way or something similar?


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[towtruck]

One of the bbq places I ate at pre cooked ribs and refrigerated them. They steamed them in a covered pan in the oven to warm them back up. They would dump the sauce on as they served or served the sauce on the side if you wanted. It worked for them. The ribs were bbq'd and not slow smoked....the steam to reheat put the final touch on them.

I would practice until you are happy with the final product.

[Pete Mazz]

I've sliced and put them in foil pans and refrigerated. Heated them up the next day in a 200 degree oven. Worked fine.

[pr0wlunwoof]

So I have been doing this for a while now. Sous vide the ribs for about 24 hours then throw them on a hot grill to finish and glaze. Sous vide has really been a life changer when it comes to meal prep and even bbq. Some things I still do 100% on the smoker, but with two rug rats I find sous vide gets me a product as good without the need to babysit.
I also cook my butts in advance, chop them and then vacuum seal them in 2lb portions. I pull out of the freezer and warm them to exactly 160 degrees in the sous vide. Perfect every time.
If I were catering I would definitely get into some sous vide setups. I already convinced one outfit in town and they love it.

[Mo Smoke]

Towtruck.

Did you try their ribs without the sauce? How would you rate them compared to yours? Any notes about the smoke/grill flavor or texture of the meat especially being they are steamed in the end?


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[Mo Smoke]

I've sliced and put them in foil pans and refrigerated. Heated them up the next day in a 200 degree oven. Worked fine.

I have done this too when reheating leftovers just to eat at home and it was good. Did them straight out the freezer so I kept the oven temp low to not dry them out. I also prefer to heat mine out of the fridge in the oven on 350 instead of the microwave. I think it keeps the texture a little more like the grill. Just wondering about doing either on a larger scale and selling them.


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[Dirtytires]

One thing I struggle with when cooking large quantities for future use is how to get them chilled down properly. Foods should not remain in the 40-140 degree range for longer than 2 hours to be safe. This means throwing a catering pan with 20# of hot pulled pork in the fridge and walking away is not going to cool off fast enough due to its mass. Thin layers, keeping it rotated and ziplocks of ice are useful but it's just a huge pain so tend to cook fresh whenever possible. Suppose a guy could make it work with a dedicated chest freezer to cool things off quickly but I don't have one.

Definitely something to think about. Sick customers usually don't give good reviews, lol.

[Mo Smoke]

So I have been doing this for a while now. Sous vide the ribs for about 24 hours then throw them on a hot grill to finish and glaze. Sous vide has really been a life changer when it comes to meal prep and even bbq. Some things I still do 100% on the smoker, but with two rug rats I find sous vide gets me a product as good without the need to babysit.
I also cook my butts in advance, chop them and then vacuum seal them in 2lb portions. I pull out of the freezer and warm them to exactly 160 degrees in the sous vide. Perfect every time.
If I were catering I would definitely get into some sous vide setups. I already convinced one outfit in town and they love it.

I’ll be honest. I’ve seen the term “sous vide” a 100 times, but never had the interest to look it up but after your response I decided to. Still don’t know much more than the basic idea but I kinda get it. I could see where it would be a help in reheating for sure but don’t think I would want to cook the meat that way. But when it comes to reheating, wouldn’t slow warming in a covered pan or wrapped in foil produce the same effect?


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[pr0wlunwoof]

I’ll be honest. I’ve seen the term “sous vide” a 100 times, but never had the interest to look it up but after your response I decided to. Still don’t know much more than the basic idea but I kinda get it. I could see where it would be a help in reheating for sure but don’t think I would want to cook the meat that way. But when it comes to reheating, wouldn’t slow warming in a covered pan or wrapped in foil produce the same effect?


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Well the problem I find with warming in foil or a covered pan is it inevitably gets dried out. Warming the vaccum sealed bag makes it idiot/accident proof.

Sous vide is pretty much exactly like the basic point of low and slow bbq methods. Your breaking down connective tissue and turning it into deliciously tender meat. Sous vide just allows for much lower temps 132f - 150f and much longer processing. You can take eye of round roasts and turn it into the same consistency as a medium rare prime rib. Alton brown has an episode of it on Good eats and he does a great explanation. After adding it to my cooking repertoire I can now do some Michelin start stuff with little effort. A very basic sous vide setup can be done for $150. I tell everyone I meet with a sous vide, air fryer, and cast Iron pan I can out cook any restaurant in my town.

[Mo Smoke]

You must have it down to a science. What kind of set up would you use for warming ribs that were smoked and then either frozen or refrigerated a day or 2 before? Can you do chicken the same way?


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[Mo Smoke]

Does anybody pre cook chicken? Smoked or otherwise? I think chicken has got to be made fresh but hey… I’m open to learning new stuff.


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[pr0wlunwoof]

You must have it down to a science. What kind of set up would you use for warming ribs that were smoked and then either frozen or refrigerated a day or 2 before? Can you do chicken the same way?

Alright so at the heart of sous vide is the understanding of the Food Safety and Inspection Service appendix A.

It lists the information for cooking times and temps starting on page 35. Pretty much this is why the magic of sous vide works and is still safe to eat. Take chicken on page 37. It states you can cook a 12% fat bird(which is fatter than you can find) to 145 degrees and hold that temp for 13 minutes and it is then safe to eat..... Thats a huge difference from cooking a bird to 165 and trying to retain moisture. Sous vide allows you to set the temp to exactly 145 and cook at that temp for as long as you want breaking down connective tissue. You then take the bird and throw it on a higher heat smoker/grill to add color and flavor from the Maillard Reaction and Shazam your a magician.

As far as setups go I would start small. They make commercial sous vide machines, but the major difference in them is the amount of water they can heat and circulate. I tell people to start out with a sous vide stick from amazon. I am not very brand loyal, but one with actual buttons that doesn't require a Bluetooth app and has a 4 star review is my go to, something around $100. Then you need a vessel of water that can hold 180f water indefinitely, a large pot works well to start with.

Sous vide is not a silver bullet, but it does make food prep and cooking to the perfect temp every time so easy. You will need to create the maillard reaction on the meat either before and after or at minimum after so a higher heat source is necessary. Allot of smoking guidelines say meat can only take smoke flavor the first 2 hours of a cook, so this is where you can begin experimenting in your process of initial heating, storing, and reheating to serve.

[Mo Smoke]

Interesting stuff. I do love a lil experimentin… may have to see if I can work a lil sous vide into my process when I get a chance.


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[towtruck]

Towtruck.

Did you try their ribs without the sauce? How would you rate them compared to yours? Any notes about the smoke/grill flavor or texture of the meat especially being they are steamed in the end?


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They are not a bad rib naked for a bbq'd rib. Decent smoke flavor but little to no smoke ring. Nice bite that cleans off the bone. Their rub tastes good all by itself as well. Top notch for a bbq'd rib.

My smoked ribs have good a smoke ring and flavor, are flaky tender using the crutch method, and mine are moister but mine are about the same as his, when served, as mine are reheated. Their big strong suit is the sauce. It's a molasses base that I cannot figure out how to replicate.

I have a ketchup based sauce that I have been using for almost 40 years and I have been playing with it and successfully made it hotter without ruining it, and adapted it over to a fruit base with apricot or blackberry as the main flavor. My crutch for those times I use a fruit flavor in the sauce is orange juice and not the apple juice I normally run. Yesterday a friend of ours was over for my birthday lunch of smoked ribs. She has never tried my current method of smoking ribs. She has eaten ribs of mine that I perfected on a Weber kettle. She raved about those for years. Yesterday she ate the smoked ribs with blackberry sauce and I watched her eyes roll to the back of her head when she took a bite!!!

For the life of me I want that recipe for the sauce they use at that rib joint I used to patronize. They had three locations and the one closed that I ate in. The second location was close enough to visit but they did not know me like the old gal at the first one did. Rough neighborhood for that location kept me away. I just never had the bad manners to ask how to make their sauce. I bought some when she was selling it in jars and tried to duplicate it but gave up trying.

His bbq'd ribs are about the best I have eaten....and I think it is his sauce that makes them for me. If I could put his sauce on my ribs I would have another winning rib on my hands!!!