Good rib guide

lentsboy007

can someone give me a good rib cook strategy ? I can’t seem to get them right . Only thing I have a problem with . 

Carolina Q

The late Car Wash Mike's baby back recipe/method has always been popular.
playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2002/06/baby-back-rib-class.html

Ladeback69

What is your current method?

thetrim

321

YukonRon

For baby backs, I do a low and slow, about 5 hours. I use a toothpick to check resistance. If no resistance, they are ready. I use mustard or olive oil as a base, add rub, place on the BGE bones down, at 225F, smoke with peach. Occasionally, I will glaze with a sauce or something in the last hour or so, if I know there are those that prefer it. Otherwise, we serve with sauce on the side.
I do not wrap, baste or spray. Turns out fine.

tenpenny_05

Not 3-2-1. That is just a complicated way to ruin ribs. 
You don't have to make them complicated and don't strive for low temps. Some of the best ribs I've ever had were cooked over 300 degrees.  Shoot for 275 degrees indirect and if you are a little over or a little under don't worry about it.  Don't even look at them for two hours, after that check every 45 minutes until the meat pulls back from the bone a half inch or so and you are able to easily pull the bones apart.

dmourati

I do 3-1-1. I don't think it is that complicated and it gives me more control over the final texture.

Ladeback69

I have have done what YokonRon does and I have been doing a 2-1-1 at 225 to 250 for spare ribs and have had no complaints about them.  So two hours of smoke.  Use what ever wood you like to use, I like apple and pecan.  For the next hour I double wrap the ribs in heavy duty foil with brown sugar, honey and squeeze butter.  Sometimes I add apple juice as well.  For the last hour I pull the ribs from the foil and put them back on the grill to firm up.  in the last 30 minutes I glaze the ribs with my favorite sauce.  Pull, let sit tented in foil, then cut when ready to eat.

 If you want fall off the bone you could go 1.5 hours, pull them off and slice them up.  This is how my wife likes them, but don't usually do it.  Of course our last neighborhood rib cook off my wife liked our next door neighbors because of the sauce and they were over done to me.  He even said some were overdone.

I would start with @YokonRon's method first.  I to use a toothpick and the bend test. When you pick them up and they almost bend in have they are done.

Good luck and lets see some photos of a rib cook soon.

thetrim

Bend test

lousubcap

As above all rib cooks are some variation around X-0-0 which translates into the following: Basically ribs are cooked as usual (bone side down for me) for the first X hours. Then they are removed from the cooker and wrapped with liquid (Q sauce, some other liquid for flavoring etc) in a foil pouch with the meat side down. This becomes step -0- mentioned above. The sealed ribs are then returned to the cooker.  At the end of the "0" time-frame, the ribs are removed from the foil and then put back on the BGE for the final "0" time-frame.  This is when sauce is added if your desire.  X-X-X defines the cook cycle.  Those of us X-0-0 run without any of the above extras.  It's all in what you like.  

And to determine when they are finished use a toothpick and insert in the thickest meat-in and out with no resistance and finished. 

Carolina Q

Just noticed I screwed up the CWM link above...

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2002/06/baby-back-rib-class.html

Theophan

I strongly agree with those above who suggest first, at least, trying it the simple way.  I've LOVE the ones I smoke in my BGE with no foil at all.  Like some others, above, I put a lot of rub on them, ideally the night before, then smoke them around 250°-275° until bend test or toothpick test tells me they're tender.

Sometimes I'll put sauce on them the last 10 minutes, or maybe twice over the last 20 minutes, sometimes I'll just have sauce on the side (I especially LOVE the "Bour-B-Que" sauce in the Smoke & Spice cookbook), but sometimes it's just the ribs just the way they are.

By all means, if you want to see what foiling does for them, give that a shot, too, but why not try it the simple way first?

lentsboy007

I’m gonna try the no
foil way first since the foil  way is the only way I’ve ever tried .  If the simple way doesn’t work I will try the more complicated ways.  Thanks for advice dudes. 

lentsboy007

First time making fall off the bone tender ribs.  Cooked almost 7 hours .  Taste isn’t the greatest though.  I recently moved and can’t find my Strawberry’s Rub, had to run to store and get some crap kind.  But I’m just glad I got them tender finally .  

gdenby

You've reached a milestone. Tender is most important. Getting the meat drawing back off the bone is a good sign. After sucking of the meat, the bones should be clean and dry. Good that you gave them all the time they needed. 7 hours is a bit long, I usually expect more like 5.5, dome around 275.

MotownVol

I feel like I have ribs down pat.   I go 2.5 hours x 2 hours covered with a little apple juice, butter and honey x .75 hours BBQ at around 250 degrees.  Works great for me, and I like them sweat.  

Ladeback69

MotownVol said:

I feel like I have ribs down pat.   I go 2.5 hours x 2 hours covered with a little apple juice, butter and honey x .75 hours BBQ at around 250 degrees.  Works great for me, and I like them sweat.  

I feel I have them down as well and go 2-2.5 of smoke, 1 hour in foil with brown sugar, honey, squeeze butter and apple juice.  Then finish the last hour back on out of foil and glaze with rub the last 30 minutes at a temp of 225 to 250.

hogfan412

lentsboy007 said:

First time making fall off the bone tender ribs.  Cooked almost 7 hours .  Taste isn’t the greatest though.  I recently moved and can’t find my Strawberry’s Rub, had to run to store and get some crap kind.  But I’m just glad I got them tender finally .  

Where are you at.  I can help with the Strawberry's rub.   I know if I couldn't get it here - I would need a dealer as well.

SaltySam

I've had the best luck with baby backs using the 2-2-1 method.  

I rub it with a Memphis dry rub.  
2 hours, uncovered at 250-275ish
Then, drizzle honey, brown sugar and margarine on the top side and wrap in aluminum foil.  Back on for another 2 hours at 250.
Remove aluminum foil, and back on for one more hour. 

That was literally the only way I'd ever done it, until yesterday.   It rained here, and I didn't feel like going outside to remove ribs, wrap in foil, go back outside, etc.   So, I just let them go for five hours.   They were awesome.

Wrapping them in foil definitely makes them a little more tender, bordering on fall-off-the-bone.   The sugar/honey mix makes them sweeter.   But, the consistency and bite of the five hour straight cook were delicious.   

Part of the fun is experimenting with techniques to find what suits you. 

sirweighsalot

i have started to use @mickey's turbo method 
they came out great!
350 for 100 minutes

Thatgrimguy

Cook em till they are pretty. Wrap till tender then make choice about whether they need to go back on or not based on each rack. Works great for me.

bboulier

I have tried many, many recipes (foil/no-foil, low temp/high temp, etc.), but finally settled on a simple one that always seems to work.  As a warning -  I do not like my ribs falling off the bone tender.  I like little chew.  You can test for tenderness by seeing if they bend easily without cracking.  

1.  The night before cooking, remove membrane on bone side of ribs, rub with a mustard made with a little water and dry mustard, and sprinkle with Dizzy Dust (no-salt) and Snake Venom.  Keep in refrigerator.

2.  Grill indirect with 1 medium lump of hickory and 1 of apple at 280 for 2 hours, bone side down.

3.  Saucing.  Two alternatives:

a.  Use your favorite sauce and paint on ribs and return to egg (still indirect) for 30 minutes.

b.  Heat some brown sugar in a pan and add a little water to make a syrup.  Paint the ribs with the brown sugar and return to egg (still indirect) for 30 minutes or so.      

4.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes after removing from egg.

milesvdustin

I used to use strawberrys rub. I felt like it was too salty. Do you find that to be an issue?

I would buy it at walmart snd sams club

lentsboy007

milesvdustin said:

I used to use strawberrys rub. I felt like it was too salty. Do you find that to be an issue?

I would buy it at walmart snd sams club

I personally didn’t find Strawberry’s too salty .  Maybe it’s just my taste buds.  I bought Killer Hogs BBQ rub a couple weeks ago and find it waaay too sweet for my taste. 

njl

If you search here, there's likely no end to the ribs advice.  They're probably one of the most popular foods to smoke on the BGE.  Keep in mind, baby backs, spares, and St. Luis cut spares are different and will cook differently.  Baby backs are easier to dry out (less fat) with long smokes.  

I believe the mustard/no mustard before putting on a rub has been discussed here as well, and AFAIK, the consensus was, it really makes little or no noticeable difference. 
I've stopped doing it. 

For a simple St. Luis cut ribs cook, remove the membrane from the back side of the ribs if the processor didn't already.  Then just hit them with a roughly 1:1 mix of Bad Byron's Butt Rub and turbinado sugar (maybe a little lighter than 1:1 on the sugar).  Smoke at 250-275F for 5-6 hours.  When you're satisfied they're "done enough" if you wan to sauce them, do it, and give them another 15-30min.

rowmsu

I have never made good ribs until I purchased the Big Green Egg. I did a lot of reading on the forums and went with a 2:2:1. 

I have a Large BGE with the Woo setup and two half stones.

I did a rub over night. Full fire box and settle on 250 degrees. 2 hours bone side down. 2 hours foiled with apple juice. 1 hour meat side down with Lillie Q's Gold Sauce. (https://shop.lilliesq.com/collections/sauces/products/gold).

Turned out eggcellant. Unfortunately I was so happy they turned out I ate them and forgot a finished pic. 

Before pic:

Movingday

I usually cook at 225 and go 3, 1.5, 1. Will glaze in last hour or leave dry. I re apply rub and add butter during the wrap.