This page contains posts from Smoking Meat Forum where a cook does a lot of smoking commercially but is not a restaurant and he relates how he does it.

I stopped wrapping ribs a long time back. I have a better result without wrapping. imo. Nothing against those who do I’ve seen some pretty good ribs here that were wrapped, I’ve become a bit of a minimalist when it comes to my smoking. No fancy electronics other than a Thermapen. I do pan pork butts and brisket but don’t cover them with foil. I like to capture all the juices.

I dry rub everything but have never once injected a piece of meat with anything. I do cooking for weddings and other events during the summer even a few in the winter. This has taught how to eliminate some steps but without sacrificing food quality.  One of the reasons I stopped wrapping ribs. Wrapping a rack or 3 is no big deal but wrapping 25 to 30 racks is a time issue not to mention the expense of a lot of foil. I use to make my own rubs but found that there are some good quality rubs out there that give me some excellent results and saves me time from hand mixing my own. Specifically, Oak Ridge BBQ has some of the best blends out there. Always fresh and with a superb flavor.

I will on occasion glaze ribs with my favorite glaze Swine Apple. but usually, serve the sauce on the side for those who want it. I do brine all my poultry and pork chops, tenderloins etc.  but never brined a pork butt but haven’t ruled out trying it sometime. Usually, when I do pork butts I buy a case of them and cook them all at once then vac pack and freeze in 3lb bags. So brining that many butts poses a problem.

I cook most things around 250 but I don’t worry about 20 degrees either way. I do spritz ribs with a fruit juice of some kind and usually, add some cherry schnapps to it. I read somewhere a long time ago the alcohol helps in dissolving the spices into the meat. Who knows? I found I can control the bark texture with spritzing. The sugars will build up a caramelized layer The more you spritz the more bark.

I cook for a lot of events during the summer. Usually around 8 sometimes more. Weddings, grad party’s family reunions, groomsmen dinners etc. Ribs are always a popular request. Over the last 5 years or so I’ve done hundreds of racks of ribs. It kind of keeps me in a rut of smoking the same things all the time. All the standard bbq fare so I’m always looking for time where I can cook something different for myself but it’s hard to find the time.   By 3montes in Michigan.