hornian
1,000+ Posts
Hi. Many of you know me from my "Smoked Pork Spareribs" thread. They have served me well for years and years, so I never saw a reason to smoke the other pork ribs - they are smaller and cost more per pound.
But my HEB was out of spareribs when I was in there on Sunday, and I needed to smoke ribs for a barbecue on Labor Day, so I took the more expensive plunge.
After a quick bit of googling, I found that I could modify my 3-2-1 method for spareribs into a 2-1-1 method for baby backs. Less meat and smaller ribs equals less time needed to cook them, which is a plus.
For those of you not in the know, 2-1-1 refers to cooking times. In this case 2 hours on the pit in the smoke, 1 hour wrapped in foil, and then 1 hour back on the smoke.
With that introduction out of the way, on to the pictures!
I did my normal rub procedure:
Mustard (I use brown deli mustard, but plain yellow works fine) on the ribs:
Rub the mustard in:
Sift on a mixture of Bohlner's Fiesta Brand Rib Rub and Montreal Steak Season:
Then rub that all in:
7 hours later, after the ribs have been in the fridge letting the rub work in and you've gotten your fire going in your firebox and your temperatures up to about 250, you put the ribs on the pit:
Those stay on the smoke for 2 hours, your temperatures should be higher than brisket, around 250 or so up to maybe 275 is fine. After 2 hours, you open your pit up and you see this:
You wrap them in foil, and put them back for another hour:
After another hour, you open the foil and are presented with a sight and smell that will make a grown man weep for joy:
And then throw them on the pit for their last hour:
At this point, before I closed the pit back up, I decided that I wanted to do an experiment. I had some Salt Lick Lauren's Spicy Barbecue Sauce in my fridge, so I put that on half the ribs. Now, these did NOT need sauce at all, but every time I've ever had baby backs at a 'cue joint they have had sauce, so I figured why not try it and see how it went. So I put sauce on half of the ribs:
Then you close up the pit, make sure your fire is heating your pit up to about 250, and let them smoke to "firm up" just a bit. They're still tender, but the meat doesn't just slip off the bone when you slice them - some people may like that, I don't, ribs that you can't slice and eat with your hands aren't ribs for me.
After the final hour, here's the finished product:
I let them rest for about half an hour and then slice the ribs.
Here's the first rack, with sauce:
The second rack, half sauce half dry:
The third rack, all dry:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/longhorn63/barbecue/babybacks/CIMG2721.jpg[IMG]
Then put the ribs in a container, and take them to the barbecue. Sauced ribs are towards the back, dry ones up close:
[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/longhorn63/barbecue/babybacks/CIMG2722.jpg
Oh, and did I mention the "barbecue" I was going to would be out on a Dove Lease for opening day? Yeah, that was awesome. Here's the spread on the back of a tailgate (the brisket was courtesy of none other than brisketexan himself, and it more than lived up to its billing; from the rub to the smoke ring to the tenderness of the meat, it was one of the best briskets I've ever eaten - the pictures don't do it justice):
Not a bad way to spend Labor Day. Not bad at all.
But my HEB was out of spareribs when I was in there on Sunday, and I needed to smoke ribs for a barbecue on Labor Day, so I took the more expensive plunge.
After a quick bit of googling, I found that I could modify my 3-2-1 method for spareribs into a 2-1-1 method for baby backs. Less meat and smaller ribs equals less time needed to cook them, which is a plus.
For those of you not in the know, 2-1-1 refers to cooking times. In this case 2 hours on the pit in the smoke, 1 hour wrapped in foil, and then 1 hour back on the smoke.
With that introduction out of the way, on to the pictures!
I did my normal rub procedure:
Mustard (I use brown deli mustard, but plain yellow works fine) on the ribs:
Rub the mustard in:
Sift on a mixture of Bohlner's Fiesta Brand Rib Rub and Montreal Steak Season:
Then rub that all in:
7 hours later, after the ribs have been in the fridge letting the rub work in and you've gotten your fire going in your firebox and your temperatures up to about 250, you put the ribs on the pit:
Those stay on the smoke for 2 hours, your temperatures should be higher than brisket, around 250 or so up to maybe 275 is fine. After 2 hours, you open your pit up and you see this:
You wrap them in foil, and put them back for another hour:
After another hour, you open the foil and are presented with a sight and smell that will make a grown man weep for joy:
And then throw them on the pit for their last hour:
At this point, before I closed the pit back up, I decided that I wanted to do an experiment. I had some Salt Lick Lauren's Spicy Barbecue Sauce in my fridge, so I put that on half the ribs. Now, these did NOT need sauce at all, but every time I've ever had baby backs at a 'cue joint they have had sauce, so I figured why not try it and see how it went. So I put sauce on half of the ribs:
Then you close up the pit, make sure your fire is heating your pit up to about 250, and let them smoke to "firm up" just a bit. They're still tender, but the meat doesn't just slip off the bone when you slice them - some people may like that, I don't, ribs that you can't slice and eat with your hands aren't ribs for me.
After the final hour, here's the finished product:
I let them rest for about half an hour and then slice the ribs.
Here's the first rack, with sauce:
The second rack, half sauce half dry:
The third rack, all dry:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/longhorn63/barbecue/babybacks/CIMG2721.jpg[IMG]
Then put the ribs in a container, and take them to the barbecue. Sauced ribs are towards the back, dry ones up close:
[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/longhorn63/barbecue/babybacks/CIMG2722.jpg
Oh, and did I mention the "barbecue" I was going to would be out on a Dove Lease for opening day? Yeah, that was awesome. Here's the spread on the back of a tailgate (the brisket was courtesy of none other than brisketexan himself, and it more than lived up to its billing; from the rub to the smoke ring to the tenderness of the meat, it was one of the best briskets I've ever eaten - the pictures don't do it justice):
Not a bad way to spend Labor Day. Not bad at all.
