i am nervous about ribs.....

[spanish fly]

i want to smoke some ribs today but i am nervous as to how to do it. i hear you all talk about 3-2-1 and other various ways but don't know which way to smoke them as this would be my first time. also i don't know which way to prep them and would like to know how to glaze them with a recipe of some sort using apple juice or pineapple juice for sweetness? :oops: any takers?

[Kirk]

Hopefully the creator don't mind liking to other sites, but here's a decent tutorial on rib prep, etc...
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/ribselect1.html
Since you're talking 321, I assume you're doing spares? Don't do 2 hours in the foil unless you want the bones falling out of the meat. When I foil, I do 4 hours for color, 1 in the foil for tenderness and 1 naked (the ribs, not me) to firm them back up, glazing in the last 1/2 hour or so. I use TPJ to glaze or maybe KC Masterpiece cut with honey (about 4:1). Use whatever you got, you won't be dissappointed. You don't have to foil to make 'em tender though. Spares will take between 6 and 7 hours between 225 and 250 without foil and you can tell when they're done with the toothpick test. When you can slide a toothpick into he meat with hardly any resistance (like into warm butter) they're done. Good luck with it, keep us posted.

[M38A1]

I'll bite....

DON'T WORRY about it is rule number one!

As for preparation and cooking, they are actually quite simple to do. Here's how I do them. Others will chime in I'm sure with some variations on foil or not, spritz or not etc.

Ingredients & Materials:
A number of racks of Pork Spare ribs. NOT baby backs
A binder of some type like wooster sauce or yellow mustard
A rub of some type like TXBBQRub or Uncle Mikes
Charcoal and/or wood
(optional) Apple or other juice
(optional) Little mister of some type
(optional) Alum foil

Start your pit in your normal manner. You can cook these on charcoal with wood chunks, or you can do them with all wood called burning 'sticks'. Bring it up to 225*F +/-. While the fire is going, prep the ribs.

To prep the ribs, I wash them under cold water first, then pat dry with some paper towels. Then I flip them over so the bone side is looking up and take a knife or spoon and look for the membrane on the bones. I slide the knife under a corner of the membrane to break it loose giving me a 'tab' to grab. Then, I have a piece of paper towel that I grab the little 'tab' I just made and pull across the ribs to remove it. Sometimes it does it all in one shot, sometimes it takes two or three times to get it all off using this process.

Depending on what 'cut' of ribs you got, I'll leave this step out for now. FYI - You can cook them whole or you can cut them "St. Louis Style". For the first time, whole is probably the way to go and in a nutshell, it leaves a chunk of meat on each rib on the back side. Otherwise, you trim off that chunk and cook it hotter/faster for cooks treats. Like I said, cook 'em whole for the first time and we'll go from there.

Note the 'cooks treats' on the side of the pan. They came from the back side that the flap was trimmed off for "St Louis Style"
http://www.m38a1.com/g503/060412a.jpg

Next, I get them all wet with wooster (wostershire) sauce, front and back and sides. Next, I apply my rub and work it in sort of to a thin paste. They will radically change colors with the rubs so don't worry. Make sure to get the front, back and sides with the wooster and rub/paste mixture. If you don't have any wooster around, you can use a yellow mustard. DB sent me some Jalapeno yellow mustard that was VERY good as a binder.

Here they are all 'woostered and rubbed':
http://www.m38a1.com/g503/051112c.jpg

Now check the fire and it should be about 225*F or in that range. For planning purposes count on the cook part taking somewhere between 5 and 7 hours.

When the pit is up to temp, I place the rib bone side down and the larger meat end towards the firebox. Ribs are placed in the middle of the pit on mine. If you are going to use the 3-2-1 method, cook them at 225*F for three hours just as you placed them on. DO NOT LOOK often as opening the door lets out a tremendous amount of heat and smoke. Now some will spray apple juice on them about once an hour but when they do, it's REAL FAST to not lose the heat/smoke. I just let them smoke without looking now. Maintain good fire management practices at 225*F for this THREE hours.

If your still going with the 3-2-1, after THREE hours of cooking the ribs, spritz them with some juice and wrap each rack in alum foil, making sure to add a bit of juice to the bottom of the wrapper. Do this for EACH rack you are cooking. Place them back in the pit and maintain good fire management techniques for TWO more hours. Since they are wrapped, there is NO need to look in the pit at them (unless you're doing sausages or chickens as well). Just let 'em go TWO more hours (so far 5 hours total).

Here they are after 5 hours (3 hours naked and 2 hours in the foil):
http://www.m38a1.com/g503/051231b.jpg

Still using the 3-2-1 method, after the two hour of foil cook is complete, remove the ribs from the foil and put them back on the pit. Spritz them with some juice if you want and let them cook 30 minutes or so. The last 30 minutes you can go out and glaze them with your favorite Texas Pepper Jelly. Most use the Pineapple Habanaro, but any brand of regular jelly you have in your fridge will work if you don't have TPJ. I'd suggest if you are doing two racks to do one with jelly, and the other without any jelly just to see the differences. Let them cook with the jelly for the 30 minutes or so OR UNTIL THE MEAT HAS PULLED BACK FROM THE BONE about 1/4" to 3/8" or so. When it has, they are most probably done. On a side note, I jelly them for the full hour - can't really tell a difference either way.

Note the meat pulling back from the bone:
http://www.m38a1.com/g503/3_2_1_b.jpg

Remove them from the smoker and let them 'rest' on a cutting board about 10 minutes before cutting. Cut down between the bones, plate and serve.

Cut and plated ready to serve:
http://www.m38a1.com/g503/060412e.jpg

Now for a twist - if you don't do the 3-2-1, just let them go for the 5-7 hours all by their lonesome. At about 5 hours check their status for pulling away from the bone. If the meat is starting to creep back, apply the jelly glaze and let 'em go 30 -45 minutes longer.

Hope it helps... Don't Worry... and GOOD LUCK!
~m38a1

ETA:
I used pictures from several different cooks. That's why some of the racks don't look exactly the same.

[spanish fly]

man! makes me want to lick the screen!!!! :)

[Kirk]

man! makes me want to lick the screen!!!! :)
Don't, I already did.

[3970010]

Screen Lickers!!!!!!

Those sure do look good though.


Come to think of it. " I am worried about my briskets". maybe you can give the same class on briskets you just gave us on ribs.

[M38A1]

Hey SpanishFly -

Give us an update..... You posted about 10:00am you were going to do some ribs. Have you purchased them yet? Is the fire going? Do you need more info?

Give us a shout!

[txpgapro]

Very nice pictorial Jeep!

[txpgapro]

And some good information as well! I usually don't foil mine. Just low and slow. Then after the TPJ goes on I finish them out a little hotter.

[spanish fly]

couldn't find spares so had to go to numerous places. finally found some. well i lighting the smoker now!!! wish me luck

[Thom Emery]

Doin spares in the BDS now

[wood_is_good]

good luck spanish fly and post some pics if you can :D

[spanish fly]

ok i kind of ran out of rib rub that i wanted to try from "pitts" but ran out considering i was doing two racks and didn't get to coat my ribs like i wanted; note: the small container . but i got a secret home-made thick glaze that will hopefully make up for the rub that contains pineapple juice and other ingrediants. i will post pix a little later. http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/7312/pitts0gt.jpg

[M38A1]

Hey SpanishFly-

It's about 7:15 so you ought to be pulling the ribs off and enjoying about now. How 'bout an update?

[spanish fly]

i got one more hr to go. i started a little late. i am down to my last hr. they will be ready about 7:45-8:00 :) they are already pulling away from the bone . i already tasted my home-made glaze and from the way it tastes, i could eat it alone without the ribs.

[spanish fly]

by the way...i love the way the new wood grate is holding up. thanks again M38A1

[spanish fly]

ok here are two pix and trust me.....they taste great!!!! thanks for all your help!!!
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3332/ribs9jn.jpg
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/9549/ribs24oz.jpg

[cleglue]

Good job! Looks good.

[BamaBBQ]

Dang that looks good! Hope the ones I do next weekend come out looking that good!

[Kirk]

Nice job 'Fly! How'd you wind up cookin' them tasty lookin' ribs? Did you foil, or no?

[ozzie]

Great looking ribs...........and to think you were nervous! Good job, it only gets better (& more fun) from here on out.

[HockeyDad]

Wow!!! Great thread!! All of those ribs looked great. I generally don't foil, just let em go 5-6 hours. I've been using ADAMS Brisket Rub on my ribs and spraying w/apple juice. It may be blasphemous to use brisket rub on ribs, but I've always gotten rave reviews. Also, I really like Bobby Flays finishing sauce; maple syrup, horseradish, and chipolte powder. Between the brisket rub, horseradish, and chipolte powder, it really has a nice 'glow'.

[M38A1]

Hey SpanishFly -

Glad to see they turned out just fine. See, I told you so......

Congrats!

[david brace]

Hey SpanishFly...Great job, man. And you were NOIVOUS??? About what? They look awesome. I hope you are shipping some to your buddy, DB... :lol:

Sincerely,
DB

[txpgapro]

Way to go McFly! Nice job! And you even figured how to post some pics. This is gonna be really easy for you. :lol:

[Paul Taylor]

Hey SF, I hope that you DO KNOW that they ain't perfect until they get the "Coon ***"seal of approval :P :) .There ain't but 1 way to get that. :) BTW, I ain't but just a coupla hours from ya. :lol:

Paul Taylor

[wood_is_good]

Looks like we have a winner. Great job :)

[TexLaw]

Fly, those ribs look fantastic!

You just learned one of the most important lessons about barbeque: Jump in with both feet, man! You have to start somewhere with ribs, and it looks like you started off in a great place. Now, you get to have fun tweaking the process. :D


TL

[3970010]

I dont know if color is important or not but I really like the red color on those ribs.

[spanish fly]

first off, thanks for all your kind words. ok well i thought i would try the 4-1-1 considering i heard that 3-2-1 were too mushey. to be honest with you, maybe i shouldn't have wrapped them at all. despite the taste, which were pretty good, they were still a tad bit mushey in some spots. i think next time i will do them totally unwrapped which will do away with the mushiness; right? they were good though. and thank god i had that home-made glaze to make up for the rub i ran out of

[TexLaw]

Getting rid of the foil should get rid of all the mushiness, too. Enjoy!


TL

[david brace]

Hey SF, I hope that you DO KNOW that they ain't perfect until they get the "Coon ***"seal of approval :P :) .There ain't but 1 way to get that. :) BTW, I ain't but just a coupla hours from ya. :lol:
Easier than mailing them. Ribs don't ship too well...

DB

[kickassbbq]

Spanish Fly Man,
Hey, I can smoke a rib or 2 also.
http://www.kickassbbq.com/ribs.html
Just jump in there and try any method you like. Find out how it's done on your own (the best way) and then you can tell all of us how to do it.
Smoke On!!!!! Good Luck
ed

[Hot_Damn]

M38A1, That was an excellent write up and now I want to get off early from work and cook :)

*** also you mention not for baby back ribs. Do you recommend a different procedure for cook/smoking some baby backs (This is what I have sitting in the freezer right now) ?
Thanks

[Mic]

Great job, bro! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Mic

[TboneinTX]

Great Looking Ribs!! Makes me want some for breakfast!!!