Question on the 3-2-1 rib method


 
L

Long Nguyen

TVWBB Member
Hello... For all you guys who use this method.

The day after Xmas I was smoking 4 St Louis racks on my 22 wsm... During the foiling stage, I saw that this would be going through a ton of foil for wrapping each rack by itself.

So I was thinking.. The next time I smoke many racks of ribs, would it be better to place them all in a roasting pan, then pour in some liquid and cover the top with foil? That would save several feet of heavy duty foil each time I smoke many racks of ribs..

Everyone's input is appreciated..
 
Hi Long,

The stage in which the meat is foiled is the braising stage, if you will. You want some steam action, but with no steam movement within the package. In many bbq classes we are taught to wrap the meat as tightly as possible to prevent that steam movement. Also, we only use a Very Small amount of liquid in the foiled package !

BTW... Welcome to KCBS !
 
If you like FOTB ( fall off the bone ) ribs then yea that will work, but if you like a little tug and chew then go with Bob's guidance.
For the record I don't foil spares or BB"s anymore.:wsm:
Tim
 
I foil these days. The last batch I did 2, .5 , .5 at 275 and they turned out great. It all depends on the size of the ribs. I used no liquid. It all depends on how you like them and your cooking temp. 3 -2-1 is probably for large full spares at 225.
 
The last cook, I did 4 St Louis racks. Did a 3-1-1. 2 hours wrapped is just way too long.

Bob's advice does make sense to me. I wrapped each rack individually and although monetarily it is not a huge deal to do so, It just looks like a lot of foil. I get mine in the 500 ft rolls from Restaurant Depot....

Thanks for the input. I will want to try not wrapping the ribs next time to see how they turn out.
 
I don't do a full 3-2-1. For me, the two hours in tightly wrapped foil is too long. In my experiences, the ribs fall of the bone and are more like cooking in the crock pot. I adjust my time of the foiling depending how my ribs look after 3.25 hours. Usually I wrap for only .75 to 1 hour, then throw them back on the smoker for another hour unwrapped. They always turn out great.
 
Look at a restaurant supply to see what foil they have. I got an 18" x 500' roll of HD foil for like $20. Now IDGAF about foil and how much I use.
 
I was watching Project Smoke and the guy was making a pork rib sandwich. He was basically doing the 3-2-1, but when he went to wrap, he stacked 3 racks and wrapped them all together in foil. When he was done he slid the bones out to make amazing looking sandwiches. Seems what they are saying above is right, wrapping them all together is great for falloffthebone.

rb
 
Just tried the "3-2-1" for the first time this weekend.

My cook was impacted by TWO main factors:
-A bit of difficulty with Temperature Control (ambient = 16-F as in brrrr.....)
-MONSTER spares (started at almost 10 pounds for a two racks)

Started a bit slow and ended a bit Hot - but results were some of the best I've ever had.
I had (3) Foil packs - two individual racks and one pack with the Sternum pieces and a few "nibblet-trimmings".
About 2-1/2 Hours low at 225-250ish Lid
Foiled for around 1-1/2 hours (got a bit hot, they came out of foil nearly done and floppy but not too soft)
Finished around 275-300-ish for about 20 minutes (racks broke apart while flipping)

I don't see how wrapping a few racks together, to save foil, would be a BIG problem - as long as they're wrapped tightly and don't over-do the liquid
(I used 1/3 bourbon & 2/3 water - with a sprinkle of brown sugar and honey like Chris shows on the 'Bullet site...)

I used the "Kentucky-Style Spares with the Bour-B-Q (bourbon) sauce from "Smoke and Spice"
-Sauce was nicely caramelized
-Ends of bones had a nice char (just like I LIKE them :))
-Tender, but not mush (seal of approval from wifey!)

If you haven't tried that recipe - give it a whirl, it's really good IMHO
 
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Sorry to highjack a bit ................... can anyone tell me what is the max. number of spares is possible on a 22 inch WSM? I just got asked to do a party of spares for about (25) guests (many women and kids). Figure I'll have to use rib racks on both grates. I'd be picking up the spares at Costco. Thanks much !!!
 
Rick-Masters said:
Sorry to highjack a bit ................... can anyone tell me what is the max. number of spares is possible on a 22 inch WSM? I just got asked to do a party of spares for about (25) guests (many women and kids). Figure I'll have to use rib racks on both grates. I'd be picking up the spares at Costco. Thanks much !!!
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On Xmas, I did 4 racks using rib racks on the top cooking grate on my WSM 22. So I would assume at least 10 since the racks will hold 5 racks each. I have read somewhere of people getting 12 or so per cook.
 
On Xmas eve I did three racks in a rib rack on the top grate and two racks flat on the bottom rack. If you have two rib racks you can easily smoke 8-10 racks on it.
 
I have gotten away from foiling my ribs and feel it gives the meat a firmer bite. I find that wrapping will steam the ribs no matter how tight the foil is and make the ribs a little looser and hard to gauge when they are done.
 
There are no hard set rules for cooking ribs, 3-2-1 is a pretty good starting point for either BB's or spare ribs.
Everyone needs to cook a few times and see what they (and the people they are feeding) like.
I smoke ribs starting @~150 letting the cooking temperature rise slowly to ~230 over ~4 hours, foil them, cook until falling off the bone.
This is the way my people like them cooked.
 
Bryan S said:
The 3-2-1 method is for baby backs cooked at a constant 225 no higher.
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That'll get you really fall of the bone/so tender with zero bite b.b. IMO.

I reserve 3-2-1 for spares. 2-2-1 for b.b. but I never foil b.b. as I like some "bite" to the meat so it's just 4 to 4.5 hr for b.b. (untouched).

BUT as Charles says, you have to experiment and see what you like.
 
This thread is getting a bit old, but thought I'd add on thing that helped me a lot with the crutch: This article from Greg Blonder is great: http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/thecrutch.html
and highlights that a tight wrap (as a number of peoople have mentioned) is really important.
In a nutshell, the tiniest gap will cause evaporation, which will cause undesired cooling to happen on your meat, potentially drastically increasing your cook times.
 
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