Super Bowl dual cook advice

[Team PCBeach]

I am planning on doing 3 slabs of Baby Back Ribs and Pork Belly Burnt Ends for the game.  I will be cooking on a KJ III Classic.  I am looking for suggestions on how to get these both done at the same time.  The 3 slabs of ribs will take up the entire cooking surface.  I was thinking of doing the Burnt Ends first and taking them almost to the finishing stage.  I didn't think it would matter if I did the final hour or so of the sauce phase in the oven since they would have gotten the smoke earlier.  Not sure if I should hold them in the refrigerator or cover the pan and hold them in a cooler.  I thought about doing the ribs first and holding them in a cooler, but was afraid if would affect the texture.

 

I know many of you do these types of cooks where you need to hold things for an event, so just looking for suggestions.  

 

Thanks!

[Brandon Store]

I would definitely knock out the burnt ends first and hold em. You could probly hold em in a crock pot on the “warm” setting. Something also to consider, you can use your indoor oven to finish bbq. Ofcourse its always more fun to do 100% of the cook on the smoker BUT once the food has the smoke profile on it, a regular oven can finish them off. 
 

so if you wanted you could smoke your ribs first until you get to the stage for the foil wrap, wrap em and continue in your oven. And start the burnt ends. 
 

but i would just do the burnt ends first and hold em in a crockpot. Thatll be easiest option. 

 

[CentralTexBBQ]

this is exatly where second tier racks come in handy. Also, I can't remember the posts but some members have replaicated using this kind of rack by just utilizing toothpicks.

 

 

found a pic of one version online:

 

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by CentralTexBBQ

[Team PCBeach]

Yes I thought about using the extender rack to do the burnt ends, but I was not sure how all the fat dripping off them would affect the ribs underneath.  I like the idea of holding the burnt ends in a crock pot. 

[Team PCBeach]

Decided not to over think it and just do the pork belly on the extender rack.  What could be wrong with a little extra pork fat dripping on to the ribs.  Turned out great and both finished at the same time.  This was my first rib cook with my KJIII and the sloroller.   Love the edge to edge even temperature the sloroller provides.  Used to have to put foil under the ends of the ribs to do 3 racks on my classic II due to the heat coming out around the deflector plates.

[CentralTexBBQ]

5 hours ago, Team PCBeach said:

Decided not to over think it and just do the pork belly on the extender rack.  What could be wrong with a little extra pork fat dripping on to the ribs.

 

I was going to mention that but trusted that, in the end, all great minds think alike... Nice looking ribs... 

 

5 hours ago, Team PCBeach said:

This was my first rib cook with my KJIII and the sloroller.   Love the edge to edge even temperature the sloroller provides.  Used to have to put foil under the ends of the ribs to do 3 racks on my classic II due to the heat coming out around the deflector plates.

 

Great info– nice to know, if I break down and get a sloroller one day, saving the ends of the ribs, etc., will be the #1 reason. Right now, the #1 reason I'm holding off is because I heard that a second rack wouldn't work in my Big Joe II. Well, that and losing a drip pan of sufficient depth to actually handle the fat of two or more briskets.

 

Did you use a drip pan?

[Team PCBeach]

No drip pan because I had to put the cooking level on the lower spot to fit the extender rack in.  No place for the drip pan to go.

 

 Don’t know that I will do that again.  The sloroller is a pain the the butt to clean without a drip pan.  The sloroller is limited to 400 deg so you can just crank up the heat to burn everything off.  This is only my third cook with the sloroller and the paint is already coming off in places where large amount  of grease stuck to it.  I soaked the entire thing 30 minutes with Dawn, but still had to use a plastic scraper to chip big globs of charred grease off.

 

Based on a tip I saw from @Smokingdadbbq I bought a 10” and 14” drip pan from Smokeware and will use that when using the sloroller.  The 10” is the same size as the lid of the sloroller so should not affect the smoke flow.  The 14” is bigger than the lid so not sure how that will affect the smoke pattern created by the sloroller.  Not sure I care on cooks like ribs as the edge to edge even temperature is more important.  @Smokingdadbbq did a test that showed only a 1 difference from center to edge when using the sloroller.

 

I had planned to wrap the ribs, but they looked so moist at the 2 hour mark that I just let them go at 270.  They came out great!  With the sloroller giving edge to edge even temp and the KJ keeping moisture like it does, I am not sure I will bother with wrapping any longer.

[CentralTexBBQ]

i never wrap anything

[MrA]

Thanks for the sloroller info. I got one still in the box. Even temps seems like a good feature. Sloroller is for low temps, so I haven't read anyone mention using some canola oil to help make it non stick, easier to clean? Cleaning seems to be the issue with the sloroller. 

[ajbart]

Did 5 racks of baby backs on my Joe Jr for the superbowl. Turned out great. Made sure to keep some space in between the racks to allow smoke to penetrate. Spritzed the outside racks for the first few hours to stop any drying out with the airflow round the deflector. Rubbed in meathead memphis rub and glazed for the last 30 mins with a bbq sauce thinned with apple juice and whiskey

[MrA]

I like that set up. I was about to get those rib rings. Now, I'll just buy more ribs and some toothpicks.