3,2,1...RIBS!

No, that's not a countdown.  It's actually a technique, and one that I've used to great success with BBQ Ribs on the Big Green Egg.

The general approach behind the 3-2-1 method is this:

• 3 hrs on the cooker, using an indirect setup
• 2 hrs wrapped in aluminum foil with a cup of apple juice
• 1 hr unwrapped, back on the cooker with sauce if desired.

This would give you a total cooking time of 6 hours, but I've found that using a slightly modified version of this method I can have great ribs in about 5 hours.  So here's the blow by blow on how I do ribs.

• The first step, and a very important one, is to remove the membrane from the underside of each rack of ribs.  Removing the membrane allows the rubs to penetrate the meat.  When cooked, it also has a papery consistency if you don't remove it.
• Just like pork butt, I slather each slab with a coating of yellow mustard followed by the BBQ rub of your choice.
• Setup the cooker for indirect cooking and stabilize the temp at 250 degrees.
• Put the ribs on the cooking grate with the meaty side up.
• Cook indirect for 3 hours.  By the end of 3 hours, the meat should begin to pull back from the bone nicely.
• After 3 hours, wrap each rack individually in foil.  Add a cup of apple juice to each foil pack and return them to the cooker for 60-75 minutes..  I usually put them on with meaty side of the ribs down for this step.
• After a little more than an hour, remove the ribs from their respective foil pouches, brush both sides lightly with sauce (optional), and return them to the cooker for 45mins to an hour,  to let them firm up and the sauce get good and sticky.  Be careful removing them from the foil because they will likely be falling apart.
• That's it!  Serve 'em up and enjoy!

I was asked to cook 6 racks for a birthday party last Saturday.  Here are some pics of my effort.



3-2-1-Ribs

As I've said before, every cooker cooks a little differently.  So you should play with the timing of each step until you find what works for your setup and your taste.  If you have a variation on the 3-2-1 method, I'd love to hear about it.

Cheers,
Braddog

Comments

[BBQ Addicts]

Those are some mighty fine eats you've got there!!!!

Jason

[braddog]

Jason,

Thanks for the note!

Cheers,
Braddog