Ribs: Oven + Egg or 100% Egg

rickybobby12

Help!

My wife is adamant that we slow bake ribs for 6 hours in the oven and then place on the Egg for 15 mins with heavy smoke vs 100% cooked on the Egg.  She is concerned they will dry out on the Egg if cooked the entire time.  Is this true?  Any feedback or recipes would be greatly appreciated?    We live at altitude and it is very dry climate.  Thank you 

WeberWho

Absolutely not. Your oven will dry them out way before the BGE will

WeberWho

What type of ribs?

Carolina Q

Your wife is wrong. Though wives will rarely admit that. And 15 mins of smoke is pointless.

rickybobby12

Thank you         Pork Loin Back Ribs

WeberWho

Baby backs will cook much quicker than 6 hours. Do you foil your ribs? That will help dictate timing

rickybobby12

I don't but I like that idea.  Holes in the foil?

dharley

Try to find a polite way to tell the missus she is mistaken. Use the search feature to find and share with her the 900+ threads concerning ribs. I would suggest the 3-2-1 method as it is my preferred method, but there are many, many methods. They do not involve six drying hours in an over and fifteen minutes of anything.

Welcome, good luck!!  

TN_Egger

Oh, Sweet Baby Jesus.  C'mon Ricky Bobby.

WeberWho

No holes. Everyone has their way on how to do ribs. If foiling, many use the "2-2-1" method. (The first two hours is left unwrapped on the grill. The second two hours is foiled. The last hour is unwrapped from foil and sauced the remaining half hour) 

To me that's too long. I usually let them go two hours on the grid. Than only wrap them in foil for around 30-40 minutes. I also don't go 5 hours in total. I start checking the ribs around the 4 hour mark. (Toothpick test them) You can add brown sugar, honey, butter, etc to your ribs in the tin foil if want for more of a flavor profile. 

Trust me, your wife will never suggest oven cooked ribs again after the egg!

rickybobby12

Thank you for the 2-2-1   This is great!

WeberWho

rickybobby12 said:

Thank you for the 2-2-1   This is great!

That is the typical guideline for baby backs.

For St. Louis style or spare ribs it's 3-2-1. 

Again those times are too much in my opinion. Just shorten up the foiling time and overall cook time. Those are just guidelines. The toothpick test will tell you when to pull them off. 

rickybobby12

Thank you   Do you, by chance, have a link to the 3-2-1 recipe.  I have read about it but don't actually have the specs

1voyager

We live at an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet. 3-2-1 for St. Louis, 2-2-1/2 for baby backs. Perfect every time.

Hans61

100% egg 

bikesAndBBQ

Cook them at 300-320 and they will be done in a few hours. 3-2-1 seems like a long time for baby backs. I also am lazy and don’t foil or wrap anything. The egg holds moisture well. 

WeberWho

rickybobby12 said:

Thank you   Do you, by chance, have a link to the 3-2-1 recipe.  I have read about it but don't actually have the specs

Here's a 3-2-1 video. It will give you an idea how it works with the video:

https://girlscangrill.com/recipe/competition-st-louis-style-ribs-3-2-1-method/

CincyTiki

@rickybobby12 . If you want good videos, start here. Malcolm knows his stuff.
http://howtobbqright.com/2016/08/15/spicy-smoked-ribs-recipe/

SaintJohnsEgger

Once pork gets above about 140 IT it no longer takes on the smoke and any smoke ring is already set. That's why its okay to foil in the 3-2-1 method.

Or at least that is what I read on here somewhere. 

lousubcap

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.

Regarding the ribs your battle but just cook 'em on the BGE one time and you will be home-free.

WRT ribs-all good info above and you will read different approaches to the cook.  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. Also look for a good meat pull-back on the bones.

Regarding protein and taking on smoke-

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/grill-and-smoker-setup-and-firing/what-you-need-know-about-wood-smoke-and  Give this a read if the link works. FWIW-

Carolina Q

SaintJohnsEgger said:

Once pork gets above about 140 IT it no longer takes on the smoke and any smoke ring is already set. That's why its okay to foil in the 3-2-1 method.

Or at least that is what I read on here somewhere. 

Actually, meat will take on smoke as long as there IS smoke. It's the smoke RING that stops forming at 140°

SaintJohnsEgger

Thanks @Carolina Q for clearing that up.

lousubcap

@SaintJohnsEgger - Give the above linked article a look for the science behind the process.  FWIW-

Theophan

I hate to complicate this, but many people here have agreed that 2h foiled is too much, makes ribs too fall-off-the-bone and a bit mushy.  We all have different tastes, and clearly many people here love the 3-2-1 method (or 2-2-1), but I've also seen many people here say that 1h in foil is better than two.

There are also many of us here who don't foil at all!  I've never foiled ribs and I love my smoky ribs so much I've just never had an incentive to try them foiled.

To me, the most important bottom line is this: you can ONLY tell when ribs are done by TESTING them for tenderness, NOT time!  The two tests people swear by here are the "bend test," where you grab several ribs at one end of the rack with tongs and pick up the rack and see whether the rest of the rack bends to a 90° angle as it hangs down, and the "toothpick test" where you stick a toothpick into the meat between the ribs several places to see if it goes in very easily, almost "like buttah."

If you decide how long you're going to cook them (say, 3-2-1, or 2-2-1) and you don't test them, you can't know whether they were actually getting overcooked before that process was completed.  And if you take them out of the Egg because the time is up without testing them, then you can't know whether they were actually done, yet, or not.  So I urge you to determine whether the ribs are done or not by one (or both) of these two methods.  It will help you make sure they're not overdone or underdone.  ("Dry and tough" makes most people think they're overdone but it usually means they actually weren't done, yet.)

StillH2OEgger

You'll figure out what method and times you prefer for your tastes. For us, an hour in foil produces the right tenderness without getting mushy.

blasting

I'd have to remember to move a bunch of paperwork if I were ever to use my oven.  Another vote for egg only.

RockyTopDW

The oven is for sides that won’t fit in the egg.  If you want to cook them fast (3.5 hours), use this:

RockyTopDW

This is works great when you don’t want to be on the egg all day.