3 2 1 ribs question

They won't get near as mushy.  3-2-1 severely overcooks ribs in my opinion, no matter if your cooking at 225 or 275.

Try 3 hours unwrapped then 1.5 in butcher paper at whatever temp you were planning on going.

I never have spare ribs take more than 4 hours.

It's 3-1-1

not a countdown, but it is becoming remembered that way. Kinda like how words change with usage. 

You might want to try Car Wash Mike's method.   Very simple and they turn out amazing.   I only foil while everything else is being plated.  Make sure to add a lot of apple or peach wood!  Great flavors. 

lot of ways to cook ribs.  dude is really asking if paper is a sub for foil, amd it really isn't.  unless it hold liquid i supposed.

it's a gentle braise.  the liquid never boils, so there's that.

foil alone works, without liquid (as with butts).  so it might work to try paper without any extra liquid too.  foiling though means you can pretty easily add liquid, and retain whatever comes out of the ribs (melted fat, for example) and use that liquid in your sauce as the ribs firm up in the last hour (unfoiled)

Sorry, I know this is a butcher paper question thread, but I'm going to piggyback...

We did our first rib cook this weekend. My girlfriend said she liked more of a bite to her ribs rather than falling-off-the-bone so I didn't foil at all. I probed the ribs after just shy of five hours @250 and they felt real nice and loose so I pulled them.

The ribs were...good...but they just didn't seem right. They seemed a little overcooked and pretty tender, but not amazingly so. We didn't have to pull the meat off the bone, but it definitely took a sturdy bite.

I guess the best I can describe it would be that they seemed almost like they were slow roasted in the oven. They would be considered world-class oven ribs, but they didn't have that low-and-slow smoked magic to them. Any suggestions?

malligator said:

... My girlfriend said she liked more of a bite to her ribs rather than falling-off-the-bone ...  They seemed a little overcooked and pretty tender, but not amazingly so. We didn't have to pull the meat off the bone, but it definitely took a sturdy bite....

I don't think it's possible that they were "overcooked" AND took "a pretty sturdy bite."  It seems certain to me that they weren't quite done, yet, and if you'd left them on longer, they would only have gotten more and more tender.

Different people have different tastes.  Some love ribs "falling off the bone," and others find that too done for them, and they want more of a bite.  I think the only way to find what you and your girlfriend like the best is to keep testing them the same way, and comparing what they tested like to how they turned out, and keep modifying how you cook them till you can tell by your testing (bend or toothpick) that they now are the way YOU like them.

I never foil ribs, partly because I'm lazy and it's an extra hassle that seems unnecessary to me, given how much I love my ribs the way they are, but partly because the idea of essentially "steaming" ribs in the foil just sounds lousy to me.  I don't want steamed ribs -- I want smoked ribs!  One of these days I'm going to try foiling just to see what it's like, but I keep not doing it because I keep wanting them the way I had them last time...  

malligator said:

Sorry, I know this is a butcher paper question thread, but I'm going to piggyback...

We did our first rib cook this weekend. My girlfriend said she liked more of a bite to her ribs rather than falling-off-the-bone so I didn't foil at all. I probed the ribs after just shy of five hours @250 and they felt real nice and loose so I pulled them.

The ribs were...good...but they just didn't seem right. They seemed a little overcooked and pretty tender, but not amazingly so. We didn't have to pull the meat off the bone, but it definitely took a sturdy bite.

I guess the best I can describe it would be that they seemed almost like they were slow roasted in the oven. They would be considered world-class oven ribs, but they didn't have that low-and-slow smoked magic to them. Any suggestions?

Frankly, I've never been able to quite perfect my pork rib technique. But there are two things I look for to judge when they are ready. Getting them both at once is the problem. The "bend test" is a good indicator of done-ness. Once I start seeing a bendable rack, I start tugging at the bone end. The sign of goodness is that the bones begin to pull loose, and are dry. Good ribs, or even mushy ribs have meat that doesn't separate from the bone cleanly. The 2nd quality I want is that any exposed fat is crispy. That's the hard part, 'cause the surface meat can get a little charred. A little jerky like. It helps to brush on a little water or oil onto the meat late in the cook.

If the ribs are foiled tight there isn't much steaming is there? Plus the last hour or so without the foil returns the ribs to the right texture for me anyways 

NoobZero said:

That sounds to good to be true. Can anyone else vouch for this method?

I've tried turbo ribs twice with baby backs and each time I felt let down. Having said that, there are many folks on here who I respect greatly and they report great results so I say give it a try and decide for yourself. Lots of ways to skin this cat. I wish I liked any method that doesn't require foil better because of the convenience, but I am have found best results for my taste with some variation of 3-2-1.

fishindoc said:

I did several slabs yesterday, 225 for about 5 hrs, then 275 for 30 mins with bbq sauce. I thought the surface was a little jerky like, the meat was great. Any thoughts on a little less tough surface??

That is why I foil. I have perfected my technique to where I get tender juicy ribs that don't fall off the bone unless I want them to. The surface is never tough. It takes practice though.

If you don't want to foil you may try spritzing them periodically to keep the surface from getting dry. You may have had them in too long after saucing as well. It should only take 10 to 15 minutes to set the sauce which should never be gummy.

To answer your question, yes it is ok to wrap ribs in paper instead of foil.  The effect is that your ribs wont get the full steaming effect that they would get if they were in foil.  I am not certain about this, but I would suspect that they wouldn't cook quite as fast either.

Ladeback69 said:

smokeyw said:

fishindoc said:

I did several slabs yesterday, 225 for about 5 hrs, then 275 for 30 mins with bbq sauce. I thought the surface was a little jerky like, the meat was great. Any thoughts on a little less tough surface??

That is why I foil. I have perfected my technique to where I get tender juicy ribs that don't fall off the bone unless I want them to. The surface is never tough. It takes practice though.

If you don't want to foil you may try spritzing them periodically to keep the surface from getting dry. You may have had them in too long after saucing as well. It should only take 10 to 15 minutes to set the sauce which should never be gummy.

@smokeyw, I too like to foil for the reasons you say above.  I have done ribs without foiling, but I and everyone else I have feed love them.  I do spares at 225-250 with smoke for 2-2.5 hours, one hour with brown sugar, honey, squeeze butter and a little apple juice for then back on out of the foil for an hour and brush on a rib glaze in thew last 20 minutes or so.  They come out great every time so far.  I have people who said they don't like ribs, but like how I do them.  I only go a little longer in the beginning if the ribs are little more meatier. 

The same for baby backs?