Which is easier, ribs or brisket?

If you read LTH poster Leah Z or even spend a modicum of time around GWiv, you know about his 5 step theory. The idea that you learn BBQing via the easy chicken, move up through ribs and pork and finally graduate to brisket. If you know me, or spend a modicum of time around me, you will not be surprised to hear that I disagree with that. I have a much easier time with brisket than ribs.

The only time I ran into real trouble with brisket was the first time I threw 3 full, packer cut, briskets on the grill for a Chowhound event at Inspiration Cafe. I wildy underestimated the amount of heat needed to cook all of that meat. With some advice from the Q savant himself, I learned to up the heat, and since then I've presented people several wonderful hunks of cow belly. Ribs, on the other hand...

On Monday I totally smoked, that is with all off-set heat, no flames under the ribs, several slabs. The results were good but flawed. Overall, I give myself about a 7.5 on a 1-10 scale. Really, this stems from some slabs being close to ideal, say a 9 and one slab that got singed from a flame-up at about a 4--so 7.5 is the average of all the slabs. Still, I find ribs a lot more tricky than brisket. Brisket allows more mistakes. If you burn a corner it actually still tastes good. Burnt ribs never taste good. The bottom line for me, brisket with its larger mass, just gives you a lot more meat to work with. Also, if you use the kind of off-set cooker I do, you got to pay a lot more attention to positioning of the ribs, moving them around a fair amount so they cook even. I turn around the brisket maybe once the whole time.

So what do others think is easier: ribs or brisket?

Rob

Rob,

From my perspective the point of the 5-Step method is not whether brisket is easier than ribs, or visa versa, but leaning fire control.

The secret to good BBQ is a clean burning, well managed fire, not the type of meat one is cooking.

Enjoy,
Gary

Such debate evokes a well known Sholom Alechim story: wherein polemicists discourse about the merits of soup with lukshen (noodles) vs soup with kreplach (liver dumplings).
--the kreplach partisan extols the virtue of with each mouthful knowing exactly what's on your soup spoon when you lift the spoon bearing exactly one dumpling up and into your mouth; while
--the lukshen partisan kvells about noodle ephemera, the taste, the texture, the excitement of not knowing exactly what the immediate future will bring each time a mouthful is taken.

I dunno, five steps, honey1, lukshen vs kreplach. Even if no else does, to me the path is clear.

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:39 am Post subject: Ribs

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rob

I also use an offset smoker with sometimes mixed results.Gotta agree with Gary on the clean and even fire.

The batch pictured below were started early on a sunday morning and smoked for about 5 hours using the remote controll method. With the rc method I start the fire and load the smoker,leaving out an ample amount of lump charcoal and hickory for my wife. I then go down to the south side,work on the sailboat, drink beer and phone in the rest.

The results were stellar (as she constantly reminds me!!)

Besides proper fire tending I've found it's really important to keep the lid closed,especially on these offset cookers. NO PEKING!!

I think I need your wife (or boat)