3,2,1 Smoked Ribs

Last updated on April 20, 2021

Since I started smoking ribs this way I have never gone back to any of many other ways I have done it. This method works great for beef or pork. I usually do pork, but as you will hear a lot on this page my wife does not eat pork and my daughter is vegan. I know fuck me right. lol But I still do pork for parties and other gatherings. So today I did beef back ribs. My wife loves them.

Ahh yeah the before pic. Some good looking little ribs there. I let them get room temp first.

I like to peal the membrane off before I cook them. Some people like to leave it on. I just think it has a much better chew when finished when it is peeled off. I think most people think it’s a pain to get off. It’s really not. At room temp. the hardest part is like when you are peeling a sticker off. Getting it started. Once you get a little peeled off. Grab it with a paper towel. This will save you a lot of frustration. without the paper towel it is slippery and a lot harder to pull off. Grab it with the paper towel and it should come off with a little (or a lot) of tugging.

Next season them with your favorite rub. Soon here I will post some recipes here for rubs, but for now we are concentrating on the cook.

• 

• 

All I use is lump charcoal. I get this brand at WinCo. Thing to remember about lump charcoal. When you shake the bag it should sound solid and be heavy. If it sounds like a big bag of really lite change. It will burn really fast. This process works just fine with pellet, gas, electric, or regular charcoal. This is just what I use with some wet smoke chips tossed in in the first and last part of the smoke. As long a as you are cooking with indirect heat ( the source of the heat is not under the meat ) and low temp you will do just fine. Get your fire going and you want it between 210° and 215°.

Place seasoned ribs in the smoker for 3 hours. Keeping an eye on the temp, keeping it between 210° and 215° as much as possible. With the electric, gas and pellet smokers this is a much easier task then either of the charcoal methods. I always put a pan of water under the rack to keep the meat moist.

• 

• 

After 3 hours place on a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum (you are going to wrap them in it for the next part of the cook. I spread room temp butter or squeeze butter on top. Then cover them with brown sugar. Some like the mustard and sugar method and that doesn’t suck either. I like the caramelization I get with the butter and sugar. Wrap them up tight, and back in the smoker for two hours at 210° – 215°. Have a beer or four.

Take them out after 2 hours and unwrap them. Time for BBQ sauce. Sauce them up. Take them out of the foil and back into the smoker for one more hour.

• 

• 

So recap. Rub the ribs. Put in the smoker for 3 hours. Wrap the ribs. Put back in the smoker for 2 hours. Sauce the ribs. Back in the smoker for 1 hour. And enjoy. Hope you try this method out and comment below.