Okay, I mainly do babyback ribs and as everyone knows, the standard recipe is 2/1/1: 2 hours in the smoker, 1 hour wrapped with some tweaks in the aluminum foil, and then 1 hour back in the smoker, unwrapped, to finish it off. I usually put a couple of pats of butter in the foil, with some brown sugar, and a spritz of water, and I had learned to turn the meat side down for the wrapped portion (otherwise meat side up). (St Louis style ribs are of course, 3-2-1.) Well, I was in the middle of stage 2 a few months ago and got stuck on the phone with DirectTV's so-called technical assistance group, transferred three times, .....you can connect the dots. Anyway, quite by accident, the 2-1-1- became 2 -1.5- .75. And guess what, it was perfect.....ribs cooked through, tender, moist. This is the way I do it now- and I have repeated this approach at least four times since and the ribs come out perfect each time. (I am not sure how this would translate to St.Louis-style ribs- probably 3-3-1? Thoughts or comments welcome.
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What are you cooking on, and at what temp?
And... a factor, too, elevation can change a lot of how things cook for you (5,280 ft?) vs me (702 ft). Definitely changes how a smoker runs, but temps we'll use, etc. -
Got about 3000 ft elevation more than you and this is what I have for St Louis. I don't wrap and mine take from 5 to 5 1/2 hours at 265. The ribs that I get from the butcher are always on the thicker side, lots of meat. Just wanted to give you that cook time as a reference. That 3 3 1 seems like a long time especially wrapped. You didn't mention your cooking temp so hard to know exactly what is going on. Also is your smoker holding even temps?Comment
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I don't do any 3-2-1 or 1-2-2 or whatever anymore. Use to do some variation of it, but have moved on. Great to hear it works to perfection for you, but you leave out a few variables. What temp are you smoking at and what type of smoker are you BBQing on, are you using any equipment to assist you in keeping your temps stable, etc.Comment
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Some of the greatest success comes from an oops. I'm glad this oops worked out so well for you!
We are of course visually driven children, so a picture or two of your cooking rig, and the finished product, is always very much appreciated.Comment
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I hang my ribs in my Bronco and don't wrap at all, cook until they are done at about 235. I like bark and I like my ribs to have a little bite to them, and this works out for me.Comment
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bardsljr Have you had time to look at the responses?Comment
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Yes, just now I did. These are good questions and comments. My first oops- of course, the temperature. I cook at 225, and I use a Fireboard controller that keeps my temps plus or minus five degrees of that- very consistent and very steady. But that brings us to the second major point, which I was discussing with another friend visiting from Chicago this weekend: he uses an offset smoker, and I have a Kamado-Komodo- I have had an offset in the past. My Kamado only allows for a whisper of smoke.
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And to finish the thought, an offset smoker, in contrast to my Kamado, which is SO thermally efficient I can only allow a whisper of a stream of air to pass through it, and an offset smoker passes a tremendous amount of smoke over the surface of the meat - so it would be possible to maybe get a piece of meat smoked in an offset n maybe 20 minutes that might take me 2 hours. Very different..... Also, Captain Lee's and Dog Faced Pony Soldier's observation about altitude is spot on. Everything matters- ambient temperature, humidity, altitude. The 2- 1 1/2- 1/2 method is working well for me here, at this altitude, on my particular smoker- maybe not so much for you, with your type of smoker, at your altitude, in your climate.Comment
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That is smoking! You may want to check out Meatheads new book coming out in a few days now. There is going to be information on high altitude cooking. I am anxious to see what he has to say compared to what I think that I know. Always looking for good factual information. Nothing wrong with wrapping, I'm just satisfied with my results without. There are 1000 ways to cook bbq, you do however you like the results. I found that I get better results about 250 to 260 degrees for ribs. Part of the fun of smoking is experimenting, trying new things. I can't help you with the Kamado, maybe somebody will see this.Comment
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