Tips, Tricks & Just Good Advice! > Burn it in the Back Yard with Hub!

BASIC 3-2-1 Ribs for the Beginner

(1/3) > >>

Hub:
BASIC  3-2-1 RIBS

As stated in the title, this recipe is BASIC – meaning it is a place to start and a great learning tool for folks new to the mysteries of barbeque cooking.  This recipe is long, but it has to be because it is designed for beginning rib cooks.  If you follow the directions here you will most likely turn out some good ribs.  However, you’ll also most likely want to “tweak” things a bit on your next cook.  That’s great!  That’s why I posted this.  It’s a way to get started.  So, have fun and make changes and enjoy learning how to cook ribs while developing your own style and special touches.

Ingredients you’ll need:

Ribs
Rub
Sauce
Apple Juice (optional)

Tools you’ll need:

Your cooker (this recipe contemplates “smoking” at lower temperatures, not grilling.  Grilled ribs can be tasty but are usually less tender and don’t have as interesting a flavor profile.  Thus, you’ll need a cooker capable of sustaining controlled lower temps)
Foil
Tongs
Tray
Knife
Sauce Brush
Spray Bottle

Some things it’s nice to know about:

Ribs – use babyback or spare ribs as you prefer.  Spare ribs come in two varieties – whole ribs and “St. Louis” style.  The whole rib includes a large flap of meat and gristle that most cooks trim off and cook separately to use in other recipes.  St. Louis style is a spare rib with the flap meat removed and the bottom portion of the bone cage separated to make the ribs more even.  Babybacks are more uniform in appearance, have a little less meat than most spares, and cost a little more, usually.

“Peeling” Ribs – means removing the membrane on the back or concave side of the rack (both spares and babybacks).  If you do not remove it, it will toughen up during cooking and, in my opinion, makes the final product less appealing.  It also acts as a shield to rubs, smoke and sauces, preventing even flavoring through the meat.  To peel, insert the tip of a knife between the bone and the membrane and pull back a small “flap”.  Then, use a paper towel over your fingers to pull it.  On nice, fresh ribs you’ll often get the whole thing in one try.  On ribs that have spent a long time in plastic packaging or enhancing juices (softening the membrane a bit) it may take several tries.

Rub – A mixture of salts and sugars augmented with herbs and spices to create a tang on the exterior of the meat.  There are many commercial rubs that are excellent or you can look up some great recipes and do your own.  Caution:  Don’t use too much.  The goal is to add a little something, not dominate the flavor.  Many commercial rubs, particularly, have a lot of salt.  Go easy with rub until you’ve done several batches and get a feel for what you like.

Sauce – a tangy brew intended to add yet another layer of flavor to barbequed food.  Caution:  Like with rub, don’t overdo it!  Most often a little sauce is better than a lot.  You want to get a touch of it, not make it the whole show!  There are hundreds of good commercial sauces aimed at every palate.  Also, it’s fun to brew your own.

Apple Juice – a commonly used vehicle to assure moisture while smoking.  Often it is diluted with water to decrease the sugar impact (not only sweetness, but sugar has a tendency to burn and create char at higher temperatures).  In this recipe it doesn’t really impart any flavor and you can substitute water if you’d like.

Preparation and Cooking:

Fire up your cooker and shoot for a stable temperature in the 235 degree range.  This is BASIC.  You can tweak this on your next cooks to adjust the doneness you desire but it is a good temperature to start.

Peel the ribs and apply a light coat of rub.  This can be done several hours ahead of the cook or just before – the length of time the rub spends on the meat isn’t all that critical.  If your rub contains MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) you don’t want to work too far ahead since it is a tenderizer and may make the exterior of the meat a bit mushy.

Place the ribs, bone side down (concave down) on the cooking grids, close the lid or door, and walk away.  Don’t peek every few minutes!  As the old saying goes, “When you’re lookin’ you aint cookin’”.  At the end of the first and second hours, apply a light spray of water or diluted apple juice, quickly, and get the lid down again.

After three hours of low, slow cooking you’re ready to foil.  You don’t have to, though.  There are lots of folks who don’t foil and still get great results but they’ve done their “tweaking”.  Just trust me here and do it anyway if you’re in learning mode.  The foil, in this BASIC recipe, lets the ribs tenderize a bit in their own steam and juices.

Use heavy, large-size aluminum foil and prepare two sheets for each rack.  The double-foiling is necessary because, in moving the rack around, you may tear or split the outer layer and lose the effect if the steam and juices escape.  Use enough foil to get a good double wrap around the sides and ends.

Once foiled, put the ribs back in the cooker, concave side up this time, for two more hours.  That’s all there is to do in this step.

At the end of the two hour period, take the ribs out of the foil.  Be careful, they’ll be hot and there’ll be hot juice to contend with, too.  Use tongs and gloves to keep from burning yourself.

Place the “naked” ribs back in the cooker, concave side down, for the final phase.  You can apply the sauce now, using a thin coat.  Cook for one more hour. 

Now you’re done!  That’s the BASIC 3-2-1 rib method.  You’ll have ribs that are “basically” cooked barbeque style but that aren’t tweaked or fancy.  They’ll be done but maybe not perfectly depending on your tastes.

Final notes and thoughts:

It is easier to slice ribs concave side up.  You can see the bones clearly and make them more even.

Have some warmed up sauce handy for folks who want to add it to their serving.

If the meat “falls off the bone” the ribs are overcooked a bit (that’s part of learning to “tweak” until you get what you want).  Some folks like them this way and most restaurants serve them this way because it is easy to do and doesn’t take a lot of labor – some even parboil ribs to tenderize them (what a crime!).  If the meat pulls away from the bone cleanly but doesn’t fall off you’re doing well – it will be flavorful and tender but not mushy.  If the ribs are “chewy” and it requires lots of gnawing to separate the meat from the bone, the ribs are underdone – again, “tweaking” is necessary.

Cooking temperature, times and seasonings (rub, sauce, etc.) is all up to you.  The first time you cook ribs, do it exactly as I’ve described here.  The next times, adjust all of these as you see fit to achieve what you’re looking for.  It’s FUN!  Even if you make mistakes, they’ll usually still be edible!  As you progress, you’ll produce better and better ribs.

Good barbeque, and especially ribs, is an enjoyable, complex and interesting blend of flavors.  Everything comes together (the smoke, rubs, sauces, etc.) to create a unique taste sensation.  Bad barbeque, on the other hand, is one-dimensional.  The most common barbeque mistakes are over-smoking and over-saucing.  No one thing, especially smoke or sauce, should dominate the cook.

You can make good ribs, consistently, using this recipe.  To make great ribs, you’ll need to experiment and add your own touches and experiments. 

Please note:  This is not a competition recipe and is posted only with the intent of providing basic instruction.  The author is not implying its superiority over any other method or approach.

Hub   

smokeasaurus:
Great tutorial Hub!! This will be a great help for all rookies and some seasoned veterans as well! I think slow cooked ribs is the most common meat that gets people into smoking...IMHO......

If I may add one little tid-bit...to go to the next level...after the 3-2-1...have some hot charcoal in a grill and slap your ribs over direct heat for a minute on each side then add your favorite sauce and keep on turning.
They do that over at Famous Dave's and it adds another layer (charred) of flavor to the ribs.

Appreciate ya letting me add this to a well layed out instruction that took some time and typing..thanks Hub!!

africanmeat:
Thanks for the info

LostArrow:
Smoke since my gas grill is adjacent to my smoker I often foil & finish on it.in fact I use my gasser as a finishing oven & to sear smoked foods much more than grilling on it

muebe:
Also worth mentioning that when making smaller cut ribs like baby backs the 2-2-1 method or even 2-1-1 will work better otherwise they might get over cooked.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page