Pork Dry Ribs

KC_Jeff

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4
Grill(s) owned
  1. Stampede
I have done the 3-2-1 rib recipe smoke on my Stampede a couple times now, and have had a challenge getting that juice when you squeeze them with a consistent bark... They fall right off the bone when I take them off the grill, almost too much to the point I can’t keep them together when cutting them to serve.

Here is a pic of the 6 racks I did racks yesterday with baby backs (Swift Meat Costco) and tried spraying a little apple vinegar/juice on the hour for the first 3 hours, and had an issue with some burning after the foul wrap period. Might have been from some of the brown sugar or apple juice in the bottom of the foil.

I was smoking at 250 from start to finish. My backup pork butt came out flawless, and those are tough to mess up as you all know.

Any feedback on a good and simple rib smoke with temp setting, time, etc. would be appreciated.

0A83BC16-53BB-4376-8A37-C6F721D6FD33.jpeg
 
First off, welcome aboard, and thanks for starting with a post that will likely help others.

Your fall apart/difficult to cut issue is a sure fire sign of overcooking. 3-2-1 works great for the larger spare rib (and St. Louis cut if it's a larger size) at 225, but is too much time for baby backs. If I do the nekkid/wrap/nekkid type of cook on baby backs I go 2-2-1 at 225 which tends to produce a nice texture and "competition" style pull when you bite the meat off the bone. Nothing wrong with going to 250, you just need to monitor it more closely for done-ness by temp or probe (or both).

And just to give you another example of the variety of ways to achieve the goal here's what I did with my last spare rib cook. I decided to go nekkid the whole cook and do it at 275. I was partly motivated by curiosity, and partly by time constraint...……..I wanted a shorter window of cook time. Not knowing exactly what to expect I gave myself a 5 hour window. The ribs hit 185 degrees in under 4 hours and probed fairly well. Not wanting to over cook them I pulled the rack and wrapped it in foil, buried it in towels, and dropped it into the cooler. About an hour and a quarter later we pulled them out and served. They turned out fantastic; juicy, still good and hot (I used my KONG 50 qt cooler, they only lost a few degrees), and had that competition pull. Very little of the bone ends were exposed which normally would be a sign of under cooked, but with the cooler time that was not the case. The connective tissue turned almost to jelly and was easy to separate. Bark was good (in part because sugar was the highest volume component of the rub). So there are multiple ways to get to a "perfect" rib, just need to manage cook time once you've mastered the basics.
 
Great feedback UB! I’m going to try another baby back rib round at 225 and shorten the cook time. Probing for 185 degrees toward the end sounds like the temp I need to shoot for on the competition pull / tenderness.
 
I have never done baby backs before...I think its time to give it a try. @Uncle Bob Youve done them both at 225 and at 275...Did you notice any difference in the final product?
 
clarification, it's spare ribs I've done at 275, not baby backs...……….yet. So, speaking of spare ribs at 275 specifically there were only two differences I note; time of cook was shorter and the connective tissues were more jelly like, though that may have been a product of the hold over time rather than cook temp.

BTW @KC_Jeff , thanks for acknowledgement, courtesy is much appreciated. Let us know how your next cook goes. Experimentation is part of the fun.
 
Baby backs can be finiky bastards, its damn near impossible to get consistent temp reads (and i have a couple needle probes) so i learned to use "the bend test" for those and spare (st louis - my preferred rib choice). Yes you can watch time and i do as a guesstimate to know when they are done but the bend test tells me when they are ready. Also prefer no wrap, for me it leaves a nice "chew" to the meat that the steaming you get from wrapping takes away. They still pull easily off the bone without what i can only explain as boiled texture.
 
First off, welcome aboard, and thanks for starting with a post that will likely help others.

Your fall apart/difficult to cut issue is a sure fire sign of overcooking. 3-2-1 works great for the larger spare rib (and St. Louis cut if it's a larger size) at 225, but is too much time for baby backs. If I do the nekkid/wrap/nekkid type of cook on baby backs I go 2-2-1 at 225 which tends to produce a nice texture and "competition" style pull when you bite the meat off the bone. Nothing wrong with going to 250, you just need to monitor it more closely for done-ness by temp or probe (or both).

And just to give you another example of the variety of ways to achieve the goal here's what I did with my last spare rib cook. I decided to go nekkid the whole cook and do it at 275. I was partly motivated by curiosity, and partly by time constraint...……..I wanted a shorter window of cook time. Not knowing exactly what to expect I gave myself a 5 hour window. The ribs hit 185 degrees in under 4 hours and probed fairly well. Not wanting to over cook them I pulled the rack and wrapped it in foil, buried it in towels, and dropped it into the cooler. About an hour and a quarter later we pulled them out and served. They turned out fantastic; juicy, still good and hot (I used my KONG 50 qt cooler, they only lost a few degrees), and had that competition pull. Very little of the bone ends were exposed which normally would be a sign of under cooked, but with the cooler time that was not the case. The connective tissue turned almost to jelly and was easy to separate. Bark was good (in part because sugar was the highest volume component of the rub). So there are multiple ways to get to a "perfect" rib, just need to manage cook time once you've mastered the basics.
Thanks to both of you for the helpful post and cook timing suggestion! Cooking with a smoker grill is new to us, so learning by trial...and error! Still lots to learn!
 
Hi - i'm new to the smoking world and this forum as well. Recently purchased a RECTEC Stampede and my first smoke was St. Louis ribs using the 3-2-1 method.

Flavor was great but they were a tad tough and chewy. I did them at 225 instead of 250 based off of some reviews that I had read. I'm wondering if that temp was too low or if I just did not cook them long enough?? I did remove the membrane on the underside of the ribs, but it did not come off as easy as it does in all the youtube videos. Maybe i missed some of it and that is why the ribs were a tad bit chewy.

I love the Stampede, the look of it and the quality of it seems great. Just eager to make some amazing meals!!

Gonna try some juicy lucy burgers tonight!

Help!!
 
Hello, @wvgg2000 . Welcome to the board and to our family!

Any meat not just ribs , pork and beef....has their own time to take to finish cooking and they refuse to tell you in advance...LOL
Did you at any time take a temp reading of the ribs to see where they were at? I did some Spare ribs on the 4th and after the 3 hours I temp them and they were only at 155...I let them go 30 min longer and they were at the 163 mark so then I pulled them and wrapped them. 2 hours later I checked they were pulling apart tender and temp read 195 so I removed them...let them rest about 15 min and they were incredible! 3..2..1 is just a guideline....temp is everything and every piece of meat acts differently. Get a very good instant read thermometer, calibrate it and practice with it and your cooks will get better and better.


856
 
Thanks for the response! I did not check the internal temp of the meat. I guess that was foolish on my part!!

Just curious, what temp are you shooting for at each stage of the 321 process? and at what temp for ribs are you shooting for?
 
@wvgg2000 look at my post 6 up from your first above and you'll see there's more than one way to get the complete cook to tenderness. And no, the membrane had nothing to do with your texture (and yes, it always seems to look easier on vids :ROFLMAO:) Nu2 has it correct on the temp thing, and note, it wasn't the "magic" 203 you might often see suggested. Again, those are all guidelines.
 
I have not wrapped my ribs in a while now. I set temp at 235 for three hours or so. I usually spritz with a little apple juice 45 every minutes when I remember. If I am out during the cook, they don't get spritzed. After they have smoked three - 3.5 hours and have as much smoke as they are going to get, I crank the heat up to 275. When I start to see the meat pulling from the bone (usually about 2 hours) I do the break test, and if the meat is starting to crack during the break test, I sauce the ribs and back on for about 30 more minutes to set the sauce. The last three or four times I have cooked this way the ribs have had perfect amount of smoke, great bite and chew, and very moist and juicy. Not sure, but I might have posted pics of this type cook a while back.
 
I have not wrapped my ribs in a while now. I set temp at 235 for three hours or so. I usually spritz with a little apple juice 45 every minutes when I remember. If I am out during the cook, they don't get spritzed. After they have smoked three - 3.5 hours and have as much smoke as they are going to get, I crank the heat up to 275. When I start to see the meat pulling from the bone (usually about 2 hours) I do the break test, and if the meat is starting to crack during the break test, I sauce the ribs and back on for about 30 more minutes to set the sauce. The last three or four times I have cooked this way the ribs have had perfect amount of smoke, great bite and chew, and very moist and juicy. Not sure, but I might have posted pics of this type cook a while back.
What kind of ribs do you use this method on? Sounds like something that is easier to do.
 
Any meat not just ribs , pork and beef....has their own time to take to finish cooking and they refuse to tell you in advance...LOL
Love this and surely going to borrow it at some point. The wife always asks when its going to be ready. I've been telling here its done when its done. But next time I'm going to pull this one out.
 
Sorry to dig up an old thread but I think this question is close enough to the discussion.

If you smoke pork spare ribs that are trimmed but the tips are still on - would that alter the cook times much from traditional St Louis style cut ribs?? Seems like mine turn out great but take much much longer than 6 hours (at 225 - no wrap - spritz maybe 2 or 3 times). Sometimes 7-8 hours

Today is smoked three - one was perfect at about 7 hours (I use the bend test and temp probe test). The other two took about an hour an hour and a half more and I probably took those off too soon.

Any thoughts?? Thanks!!
 

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