3-2-1 method for smoked ribs

[FN Phat]

I prefer BB's but that may have everything to do with the fact that I have yet done a spare rib that I thought came out well. I will have to give spares another shot.

[Guest]

Way to go. What kind of smoker do you have?

I'm sportin a Traegger Lil'Texas Elite. It's been great so far but I'm by no means an expert smoker.

[cougjunkie]

Deadspin mailbag on how to cook ribs, I thought it was pretty funny:

Aaron:


How the f*** do you make ribs? I tried it once, where I seasoned the shit out it (mmmmm dry rub) left it on the grill for a while, then added bbq sauce near the end so it would caramelize and get all gooey and burnt and sticky and taste amazing. The ribs were tough and a little too chewy for my taste. I'm lost. Help?

Aaron, there are as many different ways to prepare ribs as there are undersexed provincial weenies in Valvoline baseball caps to care wayyyy too much about them. Dry rub weenies versus barbecue sauce weenies. Charcoal grill weenies versus the ludicrous smokers-only idiots, and then both of those groups versus anyone who dares assert (correctly) that perfectly delicious ribs can be made in a regular oven. These sad, poorly-endowed goobers congregate, online and in the real world, to wag their Truck Nutz at each other and make the inarticulate porcine grunting sounds which are meant to be understood as advocacy for their various rib-making techniques. It is exactly—exactly—as sexy as it sounds.

The great news is, you can tune out all of those weenies, because there's really only one trick to making tasty ribs, and it's this: very low heat, very slow cooking. Really, that's all there is to it. Once you've gotten that part down, your ribs will be tasty, whether you go for a dry spice rub or a gloopy barbecue sauce or a thick mustard coating or some unholy combination of all of them; whether you use your oven or a shitty charcoal kettle or a propane grill or a dumb, dumb, incredibly dumb backyard smoker; whether you remove the membrane from the ribs or leave it on; whether you cook them naked or wrap them in foil or friggin' banana leaves or whatever the hell. Low heat, slow cooking, tasty ribs. That's the important part.

200 degrees is a good temperature for cooking ribs. Use indirect heat if you can. Give them at least four hours, but probably more like six or eight, until the meat just slides right off the bone and breaks apart when you press it against the roof of your mouth with your tongue. And, for God's sake, if you like gloopy, messy barbecue sauce, f***ing use gloopy, messy barbecue sauce. What matters is whether your ribs taste the way you want them to taste, not whether they appease the culinary standards of the kinds of guys who segregate their f***ing Zubaz pants into "casual" and "formal" categories.

[FN Phat]

[Donuthole]

Deadspin mailbag on how to cook ribs, I thought it was pretty funny:

Pretty much dead on with the exception of the "fall off the bone" part; I want just a dash of fight in my ribs.

[MarkGrace]

Deadspin mailbag on how to cook ribs, I thought it was pretty funny:

haha

[Coach McGuirk]

that was pretty great.

[FN Phat]

Pretty much dead on with the exception of the "fall off the bone" part; I want just a dash of fight in my ribs.

You can put me in the smokers section but I much prefer a touch of smoke on my ribs. I'm also in the BBQ sauce camp.

[Coach McGuirk]

So I went down and tailgated at 8 am at the broadcast center lot. There were a lot of texas fans, like a ton. outnumbered us. I cooked up some ribs and served them up to the Texas crowd, basically giving away 2 racks. I had complement after compliment. They would walk back over to tell me some of the best ribs they ever had and they are from Austin, etc. Ive had lots of good feedback from neighbors, family and friends, but most are bbq noobs.

I officially believe I can cook ribs.

[FN Phat]

So I went down and tailgated at 8 am at the broadcast center lot. There were a lot of texas fans, like a ton. outnumbered us. I cooked up some ribs and served them up to the Texas crowd, basically giving away 2 racks. I had complement after compliment. They would walk back over to tell me some of the best ribs they ever had and they are from Austin, etc. Ive had lots of good feedback from neighbors, family and friends, but most are bbq noobs.

I officially believe I can cook ribs.

[ERCougar]

What a day to do some smoking. Cool, crisp--feels like football weather. Without the game.

Smoking up some St Louis ribs for some friends who are coming over at 7. Just threw them on at 220 over some hickory. I haven't foiled in a while, so I think I'll go back to that for today. I'm going to try the brown sugar-Parkay-honey-Tiger sauce combo for a few of the racks. Coach--have you settled on this one over foiling in apple juice?

I may cook up some red potatoes for the last hour with the ribs. Probably just olive oil and some herbs, unless anyone has some fantastic idea?

For some reason, Tapatalk is no longer working to put pics up.

[Jeff Lebowski]

What a day to do some smoking. Cool, crisp--feels like football weather. Without the game.

Smoking up some St Louis ribs for some friends who are coming over at 7. Just threw them on at 220 over some hickory. I haven't foiled in a while, so I think I'll go back to that for today. I'm going to try the brown sugar-Parkay-honey-Tiger sauce combo for a few of the racks. Coach--have you settled on this one over foiling in apple juice?

I may cook up some red potatoes for the last hour with the ribs. Probably just olive oil and some herbs, unless anyone has some fantastic idea?

For some reason, Tapatalk is no longer working to put pics up.

Good idea to do the Johnny Trigg thing on only part of the racks. Very unique and fun flavor, but man are they sweet.

[Drunk Tank]

3 brisket and 15 racks of spares for a Christmas party tonight. Hoping to pull everything off around 5-5:30.

[FN Phat]

Wow


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[Green Monstah]

Smoked a rack of spare ribs yesterday for dinner. My kids complain that my rub is too spicy, so I watered it down with a bunch of sugar (we were out of brown sugar--to my dismay--and they loved it). Topped it with some Head Country sauce, and the fam went to town.

Ribs 0413.jpg

Bones.jpg

I dumped leftover pulled pork, a couple of cans of Bush's baked beans, and two cups of apple juice in a tin pan, which sat underneath the ribs on the smoker to catch the drippings.
beans.jpg