Baby Back Method from Thermoworks


 

PHolder

TVWBB Pro
Sometimes the stars align. Baby backs were on sale at the local store and I received this article from Thermoworks.
Essentially 3-1-1 if you want competition ribs or 2-2-1 if you want fall off the bone. Great read.

Gave it a shot and worked out very well. They were done in 5 hours and were wonderful.
 
I've found that baby backs are more sensitive to smoker temp, and I like to use Johnny' Trigg's variation:
  • WSM at 275 (I learned to BBQ on an OTG with Cajun Bandit. It's sweet spot was 275, so I stayed with it on the WSM.)
  • 2 hours exposed to smoke.
  • 1.5 hours wrapped, with the Trigg variation: meat side down with squeeze butter and maybe half an ounce of apple juice. Mr. Trigg uses Parkay, but I've found a Land-o-Lakes product made with real butter that doesn't scorch.
  • 30 minutes unwrapped. This firms up the bark again and it's also when I put on any light sauce/glaze.
But it's all good! The best part of this hobby is experimenting... and eating... then experimenting more... then eating more... ;)
 
I had actually skimmed through this article as well as I was doing some baby backs yesterday. I decided to do a little experiment, wrapped versus unwrapped. Had two racks of ribs (cut in half to fit my WSM on a rib rack) and smoked those for 3.5 hours. Then I pulled one rack (two pieces), wrapped in foil, and placed in the oven for an hour at 250, leaving the other rack on the smoker (took out of rib rack). After the hour I returned the wrapped pieces to the smoker (discarded foil) for 30 minutes, lightly saucing the last 10. The ribs on the left are the full smoker, on the right the hour wrapped. You can see more pull from the bone from those on the right.

CE5735C2-7945-4653-A135-05AFA9C88121.JPG IMG_8948.jpg

I prefered the extra smokiness and thicker bark of the full smoked ribs, but my fiance preferred the juiciness of the wrapped. Both fell off the bone!
 
All these ribs look amazing, and that Johnny Trigg method looks simple and effective. And hey, it’s Johnny Trigg, right?
 

 

Back
Top