I'm doing baby back ribs for dinner tonight, and I'm going to smoke them for a bit, cook them for a bit over low heat, then brush with BBQ sauce and continue cooking over low. I expect the entire process to take about 4 hours. Now, the pellets that I'm using for the smoke say they last 30 minutes. My question is: Should I do 1 packet of smoke, followed by another, so that it gets an hour of smoke? Or will 30 minutes be enough?

There no pat answer. I would just have two ready, and when the first one finish, throw the other one on and heat it up. The pellet on low heat should last an hrs, But each grill is different and depends on how much heat is applied after you got them smoking.

Hike

What kind of smoker do you have? You have to monitor the temperature to be sure, you want 225 at all times.

Some tips I can give you, if you want fall off the bone, do a 3-1-1 method. Three hours smoking, one hour in the smoker. With the sauce, if you're using bottled BBQ sauce you can make it into a glaze. Combine one cup of BBQ sauce and 1/4c of honey in a pot over low heat and stir for a minute, then turn off the heat. Also last tip I give you is sauce it during the last hour, resauce at 30mins later and one last time once off the smoker.

wfischer,

Well, how did they turn out? We were hoping you'd post some pictures of your cook. Hopefully they were sooooo goooooood that you are still lounging around in ecstasy and haven't had time yet to show us the fabulous results!

Anxiously awaiting: Mike (a rib addict)

LOL....yes, there is nothing like a cliffhanger rib post!

Sorry about the wait, it's been a busy weekend. Anyway, I didn't get any replies in time for the meat to go on the grill, so I ended up smoking (apple wood pellets) for 30 minutes, grilling on low for an additional couple hours, and brushed with sauce twice in the last 45 minutes. The results: crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. On the side: homemade potato salad.
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For dessert, I sliced up a fresh pineapple, grilled a couple slices, and put them in bowls with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
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And now for a couple of random Alaska pictures!

Here's me Friday evening, in pursuit of something tasty to put on my grill:
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And a nice sunset on the ride home:
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wfischer,

Excellent presentation! The ribs look so tantalizing, as does your side of potato salad! Is there egg in your salad? What's your recipe?

Of course, the pineapple ice cream is delicious looking - always a treat (pun intended) to see desserts!

Thanks so much for the local scenery shots - your quality of life is so much higher just given the breathtaking scenery surrounding you! I sure hope you don't take it for granted, we'd give an eye tooth to enjoy that every day!

Mike

With pictures like those, the population of Alaska will increase
Excellent bark on the ribs, and man-size serving

Hike

With pictures like those, the population of Alaska will increase
Excellent bark on the ribs, and man-size serving

Hike

I'm hungray and the great looking ribs aren't helping!

I can't give you an exact recipe, because I didn't measure most of the ingredients, but here goes:

5 lbs. russet potatoes, cubed (not peeled!)
4 hard-boiled eggs, diced
4 celery stalks, chopped
6 dill pickles, chopped
mayonnaise (about 4 cups?)
mustard (1/2 cup?)
paprika (1-2 tbsp?)
black pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until fork tender, drain. Allow potatoes to come to room temperature naturally. Combine all ingredients and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.




Always glad to share photos with anyone interested. Here's another! This is a shot of downtown Juneau, as seen from Blueberry Hill on Douglas Island. You can almost see my house from here
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wfischer,

Thanks for the tater salad recipe - I showed it to my Patty, and other than the dill pickles, she said you copied hers! I've used the pickles in chicken salad and always liked them, we'll try them in our next potato salad! You said you refrigerate - can't you just leave them on your porch?

Thanks for another great photograph! Looks like the ads for a vacation resort! Spectacular!

Mike

Thanks for everyones help on this board. I started my first smoke today and am trying the 3-2-1 method. I'm an hour into it and will let you know how it turns out.

Most will love all off the bone, a few will hate 'em...Bottom line, there's nothing else like 'em...

IF doing BABY backs, which are already pretty tender and not super-fatty, do the 3-1-1 or 2-2-1 methods...Spare ribs are the only ribs you should consider doing the 3-2-1 method to Let us know how they turn out

Whats that funny looking white stuff on the edge of the water ? He asks while sitting in 80+ degree weather in Kansas . (It cooled down about 10 degrees after all the tornadoes and all went thru last night.).

You live in God's country don't you? What a great place to live!

Ok, I'm totally hooked. I found out about the 2-2-1 or 2-1-1 for babybacks a little too late so I had to adjust on the fly. I do think I let them smoke a little too long initially but the flavor is amazing. They were so much better than any I have had at a restaurant. I did 2 racks, one regular dry rub, one cajun dry rub and trued different sauces when I served them. I used mesquite this time because that is all I had but instead of water, I used apple juice and apple cider vinegar. In phase 2 I poured some of the apple juice/vinegar mix into the foil before sealing them up. Tomorrow I am going to do a larger smoke and try apple wood. Thanks again for all the advice. They weren't perfect but I'm very happy with the results for a first try.

I have never experienced ribs cooked with Mesquite, however I've heard from a lot of sources that the flavor is much too over-powering for pork...Not sure exactly what went wrong when you say "weren't perfect" bit feel mesquite was a contributing factor. You are right that 3-2-1 method will be better than anything in a restaurant. Like I've said a bunch of times, in the extremely rare instance a restaurant actually smokes, for a long period of time, they're usually cooked the day before and re-heated...For the most part, other than dedicated BBQ mom and pop shops, most BBQ is cooked in an oven and liquid smoke is used.

One more tip, if you've ever get bored feel free to search my posts, this season I've smoked about two dozen ribs and really didn't know what I was doing in the beginning...I've found cider/vinegar to not even be worth the effort. I used to marinade the ribs for a day or two with cider and then spray them every half hour with reduced cider...Again, waste of time and money as I couldn't taste any difference. Best thing I came up with is to simply brush on melted butter onto ribs, put the rub on and throw them right into the smoker...I don't even look at the ribs until 3 hours, then I just spray on some EVOO...Foil...Then sauce at the time of unfoiling...

I agree on the mesquite. I haven't used the wood for smoking, but certainly did try mesquite rub (the brand sold in Costco that looks absolutely delicious by the container). It was, to my taste, horrible! I posted on how I had to throw out all three racks that time!

On my grill, I've been in the habit of spraying "unfiltered" apple juice on my racks the last half hour or so, that was a very noticeable difference in taste vs the previous times without the spray. I think I'll stay clear of the butter - my arteries are already screaming out "choke choke"!

Thinking about a couple of racks this weekend, not China Reds, but just my traditional sauce. Still in debate about it, as I'm alone again for a bit - but that would give me lunches for a few days. Maybe tomorrow. We have a deadly heat wave rolling in - @ 100 degrees for the next five days or so! Coming off sixties temps, this is going to be brutal, especially combined with our sticky humidity!

Mike

Well, not to disagree being a novice and all but I loved the mesquite. The flavor of the ribs was amazing (to my taste). I just cooked them too long. 3 hours on the 1st phase should have probably been 2. I'm trying smoke # 2 as we speak. I have 6 racks on as of 12:00 with different combinations of rub/sauce. I am trying apple wood this time. I will probably check and see how far the meat is pulled back at around 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I will get the process all tweaked over time. Thanks for all the advice and lessons learned the hard way.

Mike, make ribs, and use butter just on one half rack! At some point, I need to follow your red recipe!

RJ...I still consider myself a novice too. Luckily for me, I did some experiments and experienced some trial and error. I'm glad you like mesquite! I have had a brisket smoked in mesquite in TX, I really don't like brisket or it's strong smoky flavor. So the odds are it's not worth the time or money. I have actually heard apple wood is better than hickory, but I've never tried it. I get my wood from wally world or lowes and only see mesquite and hickory.

RJ, what are you using for a cooking device, smoker? Oven? Grill? What temps are you using? What method and ribs are you using, 3-2-1? 3-1-1? 2-2-1? spares? babies?

I am using babybacks from Costo, well not this batch, but I usually use Costco. Interesting that there appears to be a difference in the membrane in the meat I have gotten from there and what I got today but that is a topic for another post. I like them between 3 and 4 pounds. I am using the Masterbuilt stainless electric smoker from Sams Club and have the temp set to 225. The trial run I did yesterday was 3-2-1 but I think that was a but much so today I'm shooting for 2-2-1 depending on what they look like after 2 hours. As for the seasoning, I am trying a combination of yellow mustard and three different rubs, each with and without the mustard. I guess the intensity of the smoke flavor desired really depends on how flavorful the rub is. Anyone try the "butt rub" brand? I believe they won last years BBQ nationals.

This must be RIB DAY!!! I have two rack defrosting now

You could try my NapaGrill's Rub recipe.

My wife has three friends at work that are always asking for more! I finally ask them to return the spice bottles since I ran out...

Looks good! I'll have to give it a try, the butt rub brand seems to have a good bit of cracked pepper in it. A friend of mine who does BBQ competitions for fun recommended it so I thought I'd give it a try. I also like the the Big L brand, good thing I got a smoker big enough to experiment in. If they taste as good as the smell coming out of this thing now then I'm in for a nice evening.

Mental note, every first Saturday in July from now on is now officially rib day!

Every day is rib day here!


Mike

Drawing inspiration from you guys and these rib posts, yesterday I decided to smoke 2 racks of ribs on my S-450. I know, Its not a smoker its a grill. However, these ribs really got smoked - a little over 4 hours - with a blend of apple wood, sugar maple wood, and some ol No 7, Jack Daniels whiskey barrel chips. I changed the wood every 45 minutes, kept the smoke thick and the temp at an even 225, opening it only to change the wood and spray with apple juice. In the drip pan I put more apple juice and some ale. I used a dry rub called "Bone Suckin' Sauce" and in the last 2 hours after smoking, I mopped with a thick tangy version of 'Bone Sucking Sauce" and let these babies just get nice and sticky.

They are/were fantastic IMO. Here are some pics.

FarCry,

Finger licking good for sure! I haven't seen the Bone sauce herabouts, where do you get it? Did the oak chips dominate the flavor, I'm thinking the sweetness of the apple would be masked by the oak/whiskey? Then again - the ale maybe came to the forefront?

Great looking shots! Sure do look delicious!

Mike

Mike,

With the wood chips, I did 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3 with the apple, maple and oak. The oak chips, since they are whiskey barrel chunks, really had a strong aroma (just a whiff of the bag gave me a contact high, lol) so I used them very sparingly. Its not overpowering. I think the apple really mellowed them. The biggest difference this time for me was the sauce (http://www.bonesuckin.com/) which I got at a place near me called Chef Central. I was enticed by the other post on China Reds and was really wanting wet ribs. I did the dry rub just for the overnight marinate in the fridge. The other main change for me was the apple juice spray, every 40 minutes I'd soak them as I added more wood.

Today there are glorious leftovers. And beer.

:-)

Today we are in day 2 of a projected four day heat wave. In the nineties, which would not have been so bad had it not come so unexpectedly following springlike 60's for the last few weeks. Came on way too fast! So............. the BEER (in a chilled and iced mug) works!!!

Mike

Day 3 down here in DC. Can anyone point me to a thread that describes in more detail all of these references to 3-2-1, 2-2-1, etc.? What on earth are you all talking about???

We are doing babybacks this afternoon. Dry rubbed them last night. The only chips I have is mesquite so that will have to do...I saw somewhere (maybe the weber website) that the wood smoke has its strongest effect during the first hour. Using an S-470 and have had trouble with the smoker box. Even on the lowest setting the soaked chips soon catch fire...I may go with a foil pouch instead - anyone with a Summit that can give me some smoker box tips?

Thanks!

DCswede - the 3-2-1 method (and variations) refer to how many hours to smoke, then foil, then finish uncovered (3 hours smoke, 2 in foil, 1 hour uncovered to mop and sauce, etc.

try this: http://www.bbqsource-forums.com/invboard/i...?showtopic=3202

If not enough info, just do a google search on 3-2-1 ribs and you will find info you seek. This is a good brief explanation here:
http://www.wyntk.us/food/3-2-1-rib-method.shtml

98 today in New Jersey!

Thanks very much - it's all making sense for me now! One other question. If one is pressed for time, does raising the temperature a bit, say up to 275, shorten the process at all? Guests are arriving at 7:00 and I don't think we will have time for the full blown 5 hour (3-1-1 or 2-2-1) process for these babybacks!

*Newbie answering question blindly alert*

My guess would be you could increase the temp, decrease the time and end up with a chewier rib isntead of fall-off-the-bone. More experienced guys care to chime in on my guess?

If pressed for time I'd sooner cook something else than risk quality. When I cook it's all about having my face tagged to that meal in people's heads. If you cook some bad ribs, or "okay" ribs, all the excuses in the world won't wash away that mental tag when they recall "Ribs at Logic_Bomb's place". I'd much rather them have amazing steaks three visits in a row than sub-par ribs once.

Needless to say, cooking new meals for the first time for guests stresses me the hell out

In addition to Logic's post, I'd add that if you are pressed for time, grill something more appropriate, like steaks or kebabs. Ribs deserve a nice slow cook. Quick grilling tends to make a tougher rib. But I will say that there is a recipe I tried a few times on my old Weber from FoodTV (Alton Brown) its a rib recipe really made for the oven and its all-foil, with some liquid in the foil to keep them moist. They come out pretty darn tasty and the cook time is much shorter.

DCSwede,

Increasing the temp won't be good. Good things take time! If you have actual babybacks, they won't need 5-6 hours as there is not that much meat, and you risk drying them out. I'd say you still have time to cook them, but not "fall off the bone". Good rub and a good sauce will make up for the extra tenderness, many guests would prefer a bit of "chew" to them anyhow. I'm saying you are out of time at this point, though if the guests arrive at seven, you can kill an hour with appetizers and drinks. Good luck, my thought is to go for it, nothing to lose! Do you have anything else prepared? Probably not, so you have no options. Remember, even bad ribs beat no ribs! But I'm sure you'll do just fine anyway, I've cooked babybacks on my grill in three hours or less with success. Try one hour unfoiled, one and a half foiled, and the last half unfoiled while basting (remember - INDIRECT only)! Be sure to let us know the outcome!

Mike

3-2-1 = Smoke for 3 hours - Wrap in Foil for 2 Hours in Smoker, then Take out of Foil for 1 more hour in Smoker.

This really depends on whether you want it to fall of the bone or not. Wrapping in it Foil for a couple of hours, kind of steams it.

Also, beware of Mesquite a little bit, it is strong, and if you use it too long, it can get a little bitter. I have heard that try not using Mesquite longer than 1 Hour, but others can pipe in there.

Depends on taste, many people here have said that Mesquite would be bad but I really enjoyed the flavor. A lot of it depends on the marinade/rub/sauce you decide to use and how intense the flavor.

I really appreciate everyone's excellent advice and suggestions which unfortunately I did not see until this morning! However, the ribs turned out great; the rub (from the night before) added some great sweet yet spicy flavor. I used mesquite for the first hour (three handfulls spaced every 20 minutes) and then kept them on another 2 hours before foiling for 45 minutes and then basting with sauce directly on the grate for the final 15 minutes. They ranged from slight chewy to almost falling off the bone down at the narrower ends - overall I was very pleased and the guests ate every last rib which I guess is the acid test. Next time I will make sure to schedule it on a weekend so I can plan accordingly!

Nice! Glad it worked out for you! But you now you have to continue with these cooks, the guests will never relent in their quest for more ribs!

BUT - we need our pictures! We thrive on our grill porn! Here's a couple of mine from Sunday:

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Mike