As most of you know, if you can’t make ribs, you can’t make BBQ. So to seal up the title of pit master its time to start working on mastering those BBQ ribs. My outline is based around beef back ribs (more information about cuts), however just like my outline for brisket also works for pork shoulder my outline for beef ribs works just as well on pork spare ribs. When picking out a rack I typically I look for a rib that has good marbling or a nice even mix of fat and meat. Now for my cooking process it is pretty simple, low and slow just like traditional BBQ should be. I use a method that is commonly referred to as 3-2-1 (or as Shawn likes to say, 3-2-1-plate-stomach), three hours naked (not in foil) two hours dressed (wrapped in foil), and one last hour naked. I use this as a baseline, and adjust as needed. The two hours dressed is where the ribs really get tender, so if you like your ribs fall of the bone try two or maybe a little more, the last hour is used merely to firm the ribs and the dry rub back up so your not eating pot roast on a stick, if you like your ribs smothered in sauce you can add your sauce in the last 5 to 10 min so the sugar in the sauce will caramelize around the ribs.Step 1: Get your fire started.
You should know this by now and it should be habit, but just in case you forgot don’t waste time playing around start working on getting your temp up to heat. For this example you are going to be looking for a temp around 200 - 250.
Step 2: Prepping the ribs.
The first thing you must do is de-membrane the ribs. With your ribs turned over (bone side up) you will see a layer of membrane that covers the back side of your ribs. You want to take this membrane off so you won’t have to eat shoe leather. The best process I have found is to take a butter knife and get one corner started, once you have enough started that you can grab it, use a paper towel and pull the membrane off (otherwise you will be fighting the membrane longer than it take to cook ribs). Once you have removed all the membrane from the back of you ribs you can now precede with coving the ribs with my famous secret rub.
Step 3: Naked.
Now with the smoker up to heat and your ribs covered in rub you can put your ribs on the smoker. I typically place them bone side down, however I have not found that bone side up or down makes much difference. So this first trip naked is going to be three hours at the desired 200 – 250 degrees, this is when the ribs grab most of the smoke flavor so this is one of the most important times to watch your smoke level and make sure you are working with that thin blue line.
Step 4: Dressed
After the three hours naked its time to wrap your ribs in foil, this is when most of the cooking really happens. Now you can keep your ribs naked the entire process but just like the brisket I don’t find any value in doing so, it will only add to your cook time. Note since this is when the cooking really happens you can back off or add to as you see fit. If you like your ribs falling off the bone (pot roast on a stick) let them go longer, if you like your ribs to have some form to them try cutting the time down, either way just take a peek in the foil and see if they are cooked the way you like them, once they are then move on to the last step.
Step5: Dressed
As you probably noticed your ribs are very moist and your rub has turned almost soggy, this is where the last naked hour comes in. It gives the rub exposure to a dryer heat and lets the ribs and rub firm up just a bit, bringing them back to a state of palatability. Here again watch your fire and your smoke, with all that moisture if there is any kind of dragoon lurking in your smoker (creosote) it will gravitate to the moisture and ruin your ribs.
And there you have it, the simplest ribs you can make that yield the best results. I have tried ribs using just about every method from boiling to mustard covered and this is by far is the easiest way to make some of the best ribs you will ever eat. Enjoy!
