3-2-1 st louis ribs let me down


 
S

Sandy B

TVWBB Super Fan
It's been a while since I tried ribs and they were bogo so I figured why not? Threw on a small butt on the lower rack then planned for the 3-2-1. The three went good but by the time the 2 was up, they were pretty much mush. I sauced them and had to lift them with a spatula.

Pretty bummed, the good thing is that this disappointment was half off. The other sibling in to bogo will be cooked way less next time.

Live and learn.
 
Really, mine are great using that method, what heat were you using, on what type grill/smoker, etc.? I usually don't go the full 6 however, mine are more like 2.5--1.5-.45 or so, or until they are where I want them. I keep mine in the 225 to 250 range in the 22 wsm, and yes, sometimes I foil and cook less, sometimes I don't. I cook then until they will crack when picked up by tongs, gently shaken, held at about the 1/2 point..............................d
 
David said:
Really, mine are great using that method, what heat were you using, on what type grill/smoker, etc.? I usually don't go the full 6 however, mine are more like 2.5--1.5-.45 or so, or until they are where I want them. I keep mine in the 225 to 250 range in the 22 wsm, and yes, sometimes I foil and cook less, sometimes I don't. I cook then until they will crack when picked up by tongs, gently shaken, held at about the 1/2 point..............................d
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My temp were similar but the probe was on the lower grate ( for the butt that I'd still going, I suspect the upper grate could be hotter). I usually don't foil but tried it this time to try and get the timing right. I should have been more dilligent.

If I foil next time ( I probably wont) I'm going to short it (2-2-1)
 
Sandy, I've had the same problem on my mini so now I do 2-1-.30 at about 250 -260. Seems to work well.
 
I only.tried.3_2_1,once. Now I cook my ribs to color, foil till done, almost, uncover, sauce and eat.

Mark
 
See I keep telling you guys foil ruins ribs.

P.S. Before someone gets all up in arms about that IT IS A JOKE!!!!!

But I don't foil.
 
I started out 3-2-1... mush. Then kept decreasing it til they were only in foil 30-45 minutes. The last 2 times I have done ribs, baby backs and beef ribs, I didn't foil at all and I feel like they were the best ones I have done.

But if you have to foil, definitely 2 hours is too much
 
Rick Body said:
I started out 3-2-1... mush. Then kept decreasing it til they were only in foil 30-45 minutes. The last 2 times I have done ribs, baby backs and beef ribs, I didn't foil at all and I feel like they were the best ones I have done.

But if you have to foil, definitely 2 hours is too much
Click to expand...

In my best Adam Sandler voice " this is information that would have been helpful yesterday"

I'm not against foiling per se but it's way easier to be able to be dilligent if you can see it, in the foil it's a black box and I'm convinced it was at this point things went south.

The saving grace is that the butt turned out good and the wsm was put away before the rain.

But 3-2-1 is dead to me, at least for now.
 
I have not foiled in a long time, this is what I think I like best. I have been asked to cook for 20 people this 4th, they all asked for "fall of the bone" so I will use the foil pan method for this cook. It's BBQ and everyone has their own preference, but I would prefer a little bite to pull off the bone
 
I, like many tried the 3-2-1 but ended up with Mushy ribs....so I just do 3-1-.30 then I start lifting up one end to look to see if they are separating from the bone underneath, if so, I take them off right then, if not I check every 15 minutes till the start to tear.
It's not an exact science coz they're ready when they're ready....but we can narrow it down.
I don't usually sauce my ribs as I like to taste the power of the rub with each bite...oh talk about that...I like a bit of bite:)

cheers

Davo
 
I used to do 3-2-1 but like yours they were overdone. I started shortening the wrap time until now. Now I don't wrap at all.
 
3-2-1 is a good starting place guideline at best and is meant for spares. 2 hours is way too long to foil ribs. They WILL turn to mush so much so that when you take them out after the "2" you can't keep them intact for the final 1. With baby backs I'd do a 2-2-1 and had the same issue. Now I just don't wrap. If you do wanna wrap I'd suggest cutting back the wrapped time considerably like others here have said.
 
I did some 3-2-1 St. Louis spares last night...like many of you, I'm done with the foiling...I can't get it right to save my life...they just fell apart when I tried to cut them...I was very, very gentle and careful taking them off with tongs so as to not break them...I knew they were way overdone before I took them off just by looking at them...they were done before I took them out of the foil, but I wanted to stiffen up the bark and mop I put on them after the foil so they went back on for a half hour.

The wife's reaction to the 3-2-1 ribs last night, "These are great! Can you do them like this from now on?"...NO!! I said...they're not done, they're way past done...

My personal taste for ribs is they should pull cleanly from the bone when you bite and pull on the meat...the meat shouldn't fall off the bone by itself...I held one of the ribs last night by the meat and the bone fell out of it...that's crap
 
I have noticed that they will solidify up some after you open the foil. Taking them out of the foil the bones will just fall out. An hour with dry heat will help de-mushify them. Personally I like to sauce them over high heat and carmelize the sauce at the end of the cook, that doesn't work if the bones all fall out!

My wife likes the mushier ribs, and don't even get me started on baby-backs vs. spares. That was the closest we've ever gotten to a real fight.

I'll be in the back yard cooking some mushy baby backs!
 
I'm with Bob, foiling ribs is more for show than for backyard BBQ. Basically, show has 3 scores; Taste, Appearance & Texture while backyard cooking only has one score; taste.

I've found that Baby Backs are done in about four hours, and you can start putting BBQ sauce on (lightly) as soon as the meat starts to pull back from the bone, which can occur as soon as 3 hours. Check for tenderness (using a toothpick) as you apply additional BBQ sauce, and pull them off when they're good and tender.
 
Is foiling good or bad? I think you have to know why you're foiling to answer that. I do it because when I don't they get too smoky for my taste. If they come out mushy after foiling you are cooking them too long or too hot or both.

BS
 
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