Ribs and a Little Backstory
Last weekend the nephew smoked ribs for us. He went out and got himself a Pit Boss pellet smoker and he’s enjoying it. He’s always made great steaks/chicken/burgers etc. but he wanted to jump into smoking as well and we enjoyed his first attempt at smoking ribs. BBQ is a journey. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise and don’t try to follow every bit of advice from every BBQ pro.
Think about the flavors and styles you enjoyed the most when visiting your favorite BBQ joint and start from there. Fan of Carolina style BBQ with its vinegar-based tang? Then check out recipes that follow that line. I’m married to a man who was born in KCK and raised on Kansas City BBQ. In our house, that’s what I taught myself. When he says, “That’s as good as Grandma’s or Mom’s” I know I’ve hit paydirt.
Traeger Pro Series 22 bought in 2018. Passed along to my oldest son who is finally joining the rest of us with pellet smokers.
Bought my first pellet smoker in May of 2018. Got it on QVC for $700. I honestly thought that 572 square inches of cook space would be more than enough for our needs. Boy was I wrong! I fell in love with BBQ and everyone I’ve cooked for loves it too. I started hearing Ray Liotta’s voice as Shoeless Joe Jackson whispering, “If you smoke it, they will come.”
The Traeger delivered great cooks and never failed. The one thing I wasn’t a fan of was the temperature fluctuation while smoking. It regularly bounces 20 degrees hotter/colder during cooks. The Reddit communities I follow told me it was normal and to “get used to it.” That was a load of malarky, because middle son bought a Traeger Timberline and NEVER deals with temp fluctuations. He sets it and it stays at that temp for the entire time. Change for my BBQ was coming.
After a lot of research and setting a budget I bought a Louisiana Grills Black Label 1200 and I’ve never been happier. It’s a dream to use and nearly 1100 square inches of cook space I can rock multiple proteins, side dishes and veg all at once. But here’s a bit of advice for those of you thinking about buying a smoker. Buy what you can afford. Don’t buy the most expensive smoker if you haven’t at least learned the basics when it comes to smoking food. The grill can’t give you those skills, so buy what you can afford, learn and then decide if you really need to drop $1K or more on a smoker. FYI, the Black Label 1200 set us back $1100 in 2021. That price includes shipping and tax. It was $999 then and I think it’s $1099 now.
Time to talk about those ribs. Like I wrote, the nephew smoked up some pork back ribs and reminded me why I love them so much. We had three racks in the chest freezer for over a month. My youngest son picked them up during a “Buy One, Get Two Free” sale. You can’t beat that with a stick. three racks for under $30?? Yes please!
That kind of sale doesn’t happen often but it’s one we keep a lookout for because you just can’t beat it. Granted, sometimes you get great ribs and sometimes no-so-great ribs that are fatty with very little meat. Danno struck gold with these. They were meaty and smoked up beautifully. I decided to try the 3-2-1 method is said to be great for beginners since son #1 and nephew are new to smoking. I wanted to see if it was really an easy method for the starter crew. I’ll let the pictures do the talking from here on…
Ready for rub! We got lucky and got three beautiful racks of ribs. I added our homemade rub and refrigerated them for 12 hrs.
The 3-2-1 Method: 3 hours of smoke. This is one hour in at 180°. I spritzed them every hour with apple juice.
After three hours of smoking at 180° we took them off the grill, painted a light coat of BBQ sauce, wrapped them in foil and put them back on the smoker at 225° for 2 hours. After that period we unwrapped them and place them on the grill for the last phase which is 1 hour on the grill to tighten up the sauce. This isn’t actually a hardcore hour. Watch your ribs for a temp of 205° and a nice finish to the sauce. It took 35 minutes for our ribs to finish up. We let them rest for 20 minutes and sliced them up for dinner. One rack is more than enough for the three of us with side dishes. I smoke enough to last a week because the hubby and son eat leftovers for lunch during their work week.
The method is easy and foolproof as far as I can tell. We got ribs that were tender and had a nice bite. Some folks like their ribs to fall off the bone. I prefer a tender rib that stays on the bone. Whatever floats your boat and makes your tummy happy.
Smoking/grilling isn’t as difficult as people think but it can be overwhelming when there are so many opinions out there. I tell my guys all the time,
BBQ is like Chevy vs Ford. There will always be a different opinion on how long to smoke, what temp to set, rub, sauce, wrap, no wrap. Do what makes you happy because in the end, you’re the one eating it.
Kansas City style BBQ will reign supreme in our household but I have managed to sneak some Texas ways in there as well. And no, I’m not from Texas. I’m just a Jersey girl that loves KC and Texas style BBQ.
Peace
