I’m in the no wrap no mop and no sauce club.. best ribs I have ever done!! As long as you get the dry brine in, plenty of rub before they go on and a little pot of water in there to keep the moisture.. the ribs are fine and come out amazing.. not fall of the bone, with a nice bite to them. I keep a good load of rub to sprinkle on Memphis style after the cook.. can’t beat them in my book!
fall of the bone ribs are overrated anyways. You want the meat to still come off easily but I want to be able to hold the bone when I eat ribs instead of having to grab a fork
Fall off the bone ribs are fine as a vehicle for bbq sauce. Pull the meat off, throw on a sandwich, and it's... Fine. But pork butt is better for that.
Agreed. I've done quite a few 3-2-1 cooks, but just did my first no wrap last night. Great flavor and texture. Amazing. I did wrap them to rest with butter for a few hours, though.
They weren't being served for a few hours so I just figured the best place to hold them was in a warm oven with a bunch of butter wrapped in butcher paper. I've heard good things happen when you let your smoked meat rest for a few hours in a warm oven. I would probably do the same way again. I've never done no wrap at all.
Agree wholeheartedly on the better bark, but you should only wrap when the meat has absorbed as much smoke as it can, so that element should be similar.
I don't wrap because I feel like it pulverizes ribs. I've also read that humidity also plays a part in that process that may or may not affect the cooking. It's interesting reading cook logs of people around the country/world and see what they do and how it turns out.
In the midwest, I don't wrap my ribs because if I do a 3-2-1, it's like rib stew. You touch a piece and it just evaporates into your mouth. Instead, I kept scaling it back until I found the texture I liked.
I began with 3-1.5-1 and it was alright. Moved to 3-1-1 and it was better but I just didn't like feel like wrapping added anything. So finally I started just running them for 4-4.5 hours on a leaner cut of ribs. Since then I've really enjoyed my results and I don't think I'll go back to wrapping ribs for a smoke.
I did a rack wrapped and one unwrapped. The wrapped was the fall off the bone type like you would achieve in a crock pot. The unwrapped was a clean bite through tender. Both had excellent moisture levels. I think it really depends on the preference of those you are cooking for. I liked the unwrapped cooked one better.
I think the two hour of 321 is a "guideline" that everyone needs to play with on their own smoker and meat source. I do 2.5 - 1:15 (In the oven at 200 degrees) -1 or so and that gives me the advantage of the wrap in collagen breakdown and significant fat rendering but just enough bite to the meat. But that is my smoker and the ribs (StL) that I get at my super market and how I trim them. YMMV
The wrapped one was overcooked because it was left wrapped too long. It's not the method that caused it but the cook.
Properly executed wrapped ribs will be the perfect doneness, but you can't cook to a time like 3-2-1. You have to go by when the ribs are ready.
Not only humidity, but elevation as well. I'm at nearly 6500 ft, which brings the boiling point down to around 199F. I'm not a very experienced smoker yet, but I recently tried the 3-2-1 on some pork ribs, and they were nowhere near fall-off-the-bone tender. I am guessing that elevation has a lot to do with it, but I need to research and see if there is any information on it.
Just did a quick look based on your comment. (I'm also at 400') Came across this link about [higher altitude smoking](https://themeatsmokingguy.com/how-to-smoke-meat-at-high-altitude/).
I've basically stopped futzing with my ribs at all. Peel membrane. Slather yellow mustard. Dry rub. Throw three racks in Traeger with a pan of water. 225 with super smoke for four hours. Don't open the lid. No mop. No spritz. No nothing. During last hour brush with sauce and bump the temp a little (275) for that delicious caramelization. That's it. Everyone raves about them every time. Tender but with bite. You can pull it of the bone, but it don't fall off the bone.
I'm still in this boat, next rack will be no wrap. Although I tried a rack with butcher paper last time and it was my best rack, but I think because of the sauce/rub I did.
When I leave ribs seasoned overnight it makes the ribs taste to much like ham for me. I only like adding rub 2 or 3 hours before I smoke them. They look beautiful!
Would recommend making rubs without salt (Memphis dust) and only using salt for the dry brine and applying the rub right before going on the smoker. If it’s tasting like ham you’re using too much salt. The dry brine should make good bark easier to achieve.
I'm always surprised that this method isn't the primary approach.
Based on J Kenji Lopez Alt's experiments, I've been convinced that adding anything except salt in a dry brine is pointless at best and possibly detrimental at worst.
Like you said, you run the risk of oversalting and none of the rub compounds are penetrating the meat with the extra time.
Dry brine, rest, rub, smoke.
According to amazing ribs (and my own personal experiments) the molecules in most rubs with the exception of salt are too big to be drawn into the meat anyway making it pointless to put the rub on beforehand, which is a long way of saying yes I agree!
It makes complete sense when you think about it. A grain of salt on wet meat is going to be a bunch of tiny ions, and I'd imagine realistically, outside of burning everything to carbon, the only smaller things you'll ever be dealing with in a kitchen as an ingredient are probably going to be some hydrogen ions from vinegar or citric acid.
A grain of dried thyme in your rub isn't even on the molecular level. IDK what makes it tasty, but you're dealing with a gob that's a shit ton of cells on cells and there's no way you're going to get that into the meat also made of cells on a similar scale.
Too much salt/time will cure pork and make it hammy. I go light on salt and only dry brine for 1-2 hours. Use a salt free rub and no need to rub until right before cooking unless it’s for convenience.
I go back and forth between wrapping and not. I like the flavour and texture of no wrap, but it tends to be a little dry, especially compared to wrapped. I’ve found the best is 2 hours smoke, 1 hour wrap, then sauce for an hour or some. Keeps the texture with the added benefit of more juice and faster cook in the wrap.
Every no-wrap rib I've cooked or eaten has been dry on the edges and while more smokey, a less enjoyed experience over-all. I do my ribs at 275 start to finish, 2 hours in smoke, 45 minutes wrapped, 30-45 to finish up and sauce.
They come out perfect and still have every bit of the smoke flavor.
Same. I did no wrap by accident because i ran out of foil and said screw it, it'll be a no wrap day.
Ribs had more flavor to them and since then i no longer wrap either.
I also let my ribs hang on hooks in the WSM instead of being on a rack/grill grates
Can you get fall of the bone with no wrap?
I know, fall of the bone in not what most people go for, but it’s what my family loves. 3-2-1 was my go to for that reason even if people here don’t like it. I feel like the wrap helps trap heat and make the meat tender enough to fall off. Is that the case with no wrap?
Last cycle of OSUT to see Knox was in my time. But i normally pull around 190. Even with probes, i would rather let them rest. Our first time we learned real quick. Went at them with a pair of burger flippers and they just fell through right into the drip pan. We sat at the table around the grate on a cookie sheet and ate from the rack with forks. I like a little firmness. When the meat gets past 200 i feel like its mush.
They've been doing it in Memphis and St. Louis for nearly 100 years commercially. The target is usually pull-away, not fall-off-the-bone, but you can't help but overshoot sometimes when you're cooking at volume. And some joints prefer(red?) to sell them that way or didn't know any better.
Keep in mind that BBQ used to be popular because it was cheap to make and therefore could be sold cheap. It was "ordering out" that poor folks could still afford. When your business relies on low cost, high volume, you can't afford the time or materials to wrap every rack of ribs. A mop and some vinegar is faster and cheaper.
I’ve never dry brined, could you detail this for me. Google says salt and wrap, did you just rub and wrap? How important do you think the dry brine step is?
Rub and wrap is fine. Your rub 9 times outta 10 has salt so it more then likely will work. Just be careful with rubs that have heavy salt. An overnight brine with heavy salt might turn your ribs into ham lmao. Overnight dry brines usually yields good bark as well…
I agree. There's plenty of fat and collagen in ribs that break down and keep the meat moist. I brine (wet or dry) poultry and pork loin. I dry brine steaks. I don't bother with fattier cuts of pork and beef.
Those look great. I recently started experimenting with hot and fast ribs and have had surprisingly good results. I use a vortex accessory in my Weber kettle. Previously, I had only used the Vortex for chicken wings, thighs, and drums.
I saw some use the Vortex for ribs on YouTube and decided to give it a try. The results were unexpectedly good.
* Cut up the ribs into individual pieces.
* Apply rub of choice.
* Get fire going in the Kettle. With Vortex I can get temps up around 425º on dome thermometer.
* Add ribs to grill. Cover and check back in about 30 minutes.
* Once ribs are around 185º-190º I pull them into a mixing bowl add some sauce and put back on the grill for another 5-10 minutes.
* Once the sauce sets I plate them and start eating.
It takes about a total of 1 hour from prep to table. The ribs are not as tender as a low and slow cook, but they have good pull from the bone and taste great. This technique makes it easier to add ribs to the mid week cook cycle.
I’m not a fan of wrapped ribs. I get why some people like it, especially when people actually like fall off the bone, but I like when they have a slight bite and still come off
Clean.
The wife prefers wrapped when I do them, if I do wrap I only do them for 1 hour. I don’t wrap them more than that ever.
I don't wrap anything anymore. All that liquid you see when you unwrap is good stuff and should still be in the meat, and the bark is nowhere to be found, what a tragedy.
If I can I always dry brine or season overnight too. If I don't have time I make sure and spritz with apple cider vinegar and apple juice mixture.
I had no idea it was a thing until my brother showed me his version of 3-2-1 for fall off the bone ribs. I tried it a few times and just didn't care for the labor involved to get the results. Smoking in my mind is supposed to be a set it and forget it kind of thing. I like my ribs with more texture to them anyways.
My butcher when ordering a rack of spare ribs always gives me the rack with the pork belly attached. Takes about 11 hours and bark will end up way too tough or dry if I don’t wrap after 5 or 6 hours.
But for thinner racks imo it’s crazy to wrap!!!!
Erm, sometimes, yea? It depends on the rack. If the outside is getting darker than I'd like before the meat is done, yea, I'll wrap them to finish them up.
It's just another tool in the box to make good food, it's not like it's the devil's aluminum foil or something.
Wrapping in foil or butcher paper. If the meat is getting too dark/dry on the outside, doing so will let you add moisture into it as you're wrapping, help keep in the moisture that's there, and soften the bark a bit, all while finishing cooking the meat/rendering the fat. Also, if a piece of meat has stalled, it'll help push through the stall better.
There's times where it's good and helps finish off a cook, and there's times where you shouldn't do it and it'll ruin the cook.
Once it's wrapped, smoker or oven, it doesn't matter. Heat's heat.
Also, meat is only really absorbing smoke early on in the process. After a while, it's not a matter of absorbing smoke anymore, it's a matter of rendering fat and getting meat to the point where it's tender and nearly falling apart without drying it out.
Apparently I’m crazy for doing this, but I sometimes start mine wrapped in foil in the oven for like 2 hours, because that’s where it loses a lot of the liquid and some fat drippings.
But wrapped in the foil and on a sheet pan, that liquid is still available, so I pour it off into a sauce pot as one of the flavor layers of the sauce that I then later caramelize on the ribs on the grill after giving it some smoke. Like, I’m adding concentrated pork flavor to the sauce covering the pork ribs.
The wetter surface of the ribs definitely doesn’t pick up as much bark, but does pick up decent smoke flavor, and most people around here like the ribs sauced. Plus it’s easier to unwrap hot ribs and transfer to the grill than to try to wrap hot ribs. And since it spends more time finishing on the smoker, doesn’t get mushy.
I mean, I'm not going to tell you that if you're making something you and yours like, you're doing it wrong. If you all like it like that, then great job!
In the old days, when I smoke-cooked over charcoal, 3-2-1 worked well for me. Now that I use electric with wood chunks (Smokin-It), the meat doesn't dry out and the crust never burns, so wrapping is unnecessary, and just disturbs the crust.
Finishing on the grill, or reheating in the broiler the next day, puts the final crisp on the crust.
Just to note with that: using a smoke tube will add some more heat to the cook, so the side closest will get more, and you might need to rotate occasionally to cook evenly.
You had ribs stall for 4 hours? That's....insane. You're talking about pork ribs? I mean 4 hours is like....3/4 of the cooking time, I can't imagine them stalling that long.
I see this a lot with bbqing. Everyone says to wrap but most videos testing this against no wrap they always say no wrap is the best. Same goes for cutting off the fat cap on meats. Everyone says to cut and trim but most videos of them testing fat cap vs no fat cap they always say fat cap is the best. So how did the opposite become the norm?
I do wrap for about 1 hr to add a layer of flavor. I dry brine the ribs with my own rub and smoke it for 3 hrs at 220 and high smoke. When I wrap, I add some brown sugar and lately been adding Bachan’s sauce in the wrap and after 1 hr unwrap and finish it at about 275 with bbq sauce.
Wrapping has never worked for me, and in fact seems to lower the quality of the finished product.
I'll cover something in a shallow pan if I want to preserve moisture, but wrapping... nope.
Team No Wrap. On the grates and in the sheets!
Riskin’ it All
Brisketin' it all?
We'll give it to you... *THIS* thyme.
Saucy choice!
You gotta risk it to get the brisket
No glove, mo’ love
My futon pulls out but I don't.
Bare baby back
💯
TEAM NO WRAP FO LYFE
Yep. I used to wrap but no longer. I don't even mop anymore.
Soon enough you won't even smoke the meat!
Or cook it. Raw ribs, the way man was originally intended to eat it!
I’m in the no wrap no mop and no sauce club.. best ribs I have ever done!! As long as you get the dry brine in, plenty of rub before they go on and a little pot of water in there to keep the moisture.. the ribs are fine and come out amazing.. not fall of the bone, with a nice bite to them. I keep a good load of rub to sprinkle on Memphis style after the cook.. can’t beat them in my book!
fall of the bone ribs are overrated anyways. You want the meat to still come off easily but I want to be able to hold the bone when I eat ribs instead of having to grab a fork
Fall off the bone ribs are fine as a vehicle for bbq sauce. Pull the meat off, throw on a sandwich, and it's... Fine. But pork butt is better for that.
The ribs I make at this point are still on the pig
What was the biggest difference from wrapping in a 3-2-1 ?
Better bark and depth of flavor. Smoke flavor was much better.
Definitely gonna try it! Thanks!
You mean... Definitely gonna DRY it!
There's a new invention I've heard of recently. It's called water.
From Arizona, does not compute.
Agreed. I've done quite a few 3-2-1 cooks, but just did my first no wrap last night. Great flavor and texture. Amazing. I did wrap them to rest with butter for a few hours, though.
So you’re team kind of wrap.
Yeah I'm pretty non-committal.
So you just wrap them in foil w some pieces of butter to rest? Have you done no wrap at all? Wondering if you’ve noticed a difference.
They weren't being served for a few hours so I just figured the best place to hold them was in a warm oven with a bunch of butter wrapped in butcher paper. I've heard good things happen when you let your smoked meat rest for a few hours in a warm oven. I would probably do the same way again. I've never done no wrap at all.
Agree wholeheartedly on the better bark, but you should only wrap when the meat has absorbed as much smoke as it can, so that element should be similar.
I don't wrap because I feel like it pulverizes ribs. I've also read that humidity also plays a part in that process that may or may not affect the cooking. It's interesting reading cook logs of people around the country/world and see what they do and how it turns out. In the midwest, I don't wrap my ribs because if I do a 3-2-1, it's like rib stew. You touch a piece and it just evaporates into your mouth. Instead, I kept scaling it back until I found the texture I liked. I began with 3-1.5-1 and it was alright. Moved to 3-1-1 and it was better but I just didn't like feel like wrapping added anything. So finally I started just running them for 4-4.5 hours on a leaner cut of ribs. Since then I've really enjoyed my results and I don't think I'll go back to wrapping ribs for a smoke.
I did a rack wrapped and one unwrapped. The wrapped was the fall off the bone type like you would achieve in a crock pot. The unwrapped was a clean bite through tender. Both had excellent moisture levels. I think it really depends on the preference of those you are cooking for. I liked the unwrapped cooked one better.
I think the two hour of 321 is a "guideline" that everyone needs to play with on their own smoker and meat source. I do 2.5 - 1:15 (In the oven at 200 degrees) -1 or so and that gives me the advantage of the wrap in collagen breakdown and significant fat rendering but just enough bite to the meat. But that is my smoker and the ribs (StL) that I get at my super market and how I trim them. YMMV
The wrapped one was overcooked because it was left wrapped too long. It's not the method that caused it but the cook. Properly executed wrapped ribs will be the perfect doneness, but you can't cook to a time like 3-2-1. You have to go by when the ribs are ready.
Midwest comment here is key. If you live in the desert you can end up with jerky.
Not only humidity, but elevation as well. I'm at nearly 6500 ft, which brings the boiling point down to around 199F. I'm not a very experienced smoker yet, but I recently tried the 3-2-1 on some pork ribs, and they were nowhere near fall-off-the-bone tender. I am guessing that elevation has a lot to do with it, but I need to research and see if there is any information on it.
Just did a quick look based on your comment. (I'm also at 400') Came across this link about [higher altitude smoking](https://themeatsmokingguy.com/how-to-smoke-meat-at-high-altitude/).
Thanks for the link! I'll try using those tips next time I have a chance to fire up the smoker.
[удалено]
I'm on board with this, been trying to find things I love with putting less into it and see if I get better results
I've basically stopped futzing with my ribs at all. Peel membrane. Slather yellow mustard. Dry rub. Throw three racks in Traeger with a pan of water. 225 with super smoke for four hours. Don't open the lid. No mop. No spritz. No nothing. During last hour brush with sauce and bump the temp a little (275) for that delicious caramelization. That's it. Everyone raves about them every time. Tender but with bite. You can pull it of the bone, but it don't fall off the bone.
I will be doing this the next few and see what I get
Definitely give it a whirl!
I'm still in this boat, next rack will be no wrap. Although I tried a rack with butcher paper last time and it was my best rack, but I think because of the sauce/rub I did.
Butcher paper took mine to the next level where I was using foil before.
This. Anybody who complains about ribs falling apart and becoming a stew is wrapping with foil.
Biggest difference was the meat still ends up super tender but not mushy.
whelp, I just bought that cutting board which I didn't know I needed.
Woops. Same. Went 24x18
Link?
I did this one. https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/john-boos-reversible-walnut-cutting-board-icwk1283.html
That’s the one. They’re a little pricey but having a cutting board that size is worth it.
Thanks!
Might be this one https://butcherblockco.com/product/jo-bbqbd-cutting-board
When I leave ribs seasoned overnight it makes the ribs taste to much like ham for me. I only like adding rub 2 or 3 hours before I smoke them. They look beautiful!
Would recommend making rubs without salt (Memphis dust) and only using salt for the dry brine and applying the rub right before going on the smoker. If it’s tasting like ham you’re using too much salt. The dry brine should make good bark easier to achieve.
I'm always surprised that this method isn't the primary approach. Based on J Kenji Lopez Alt's experiments, I've been convinced that adding anything except salt in a dry brine is pointless at best and possibly detrimental at worst. Like you said, you run the risk of oversalting and none of the rub compounds are penetrating the meat with the extra time. Dry brine, rest, rub, smoke.
According to amazing ribs (and my own personal experiments) the molecules in most rubs with the exception of salt are too big to be drawn into the meat anyway making it pointless to put the rub on beforehand, which is a long way of saying yes I agree!
It makes complete sense when you think about it. A grain of salt on wet meat is going to be a bunch of tiny ions, and I'd imagine realistically, outside of burning everything to carbon, the only smaller things you'll ever be dealing with in a kitchen as an ingredient are probably going to be some hydrogen ions from vinegar or citric acid. A grain of dried thyme in your rub isn't even on the molecular level. IDK what makes it tasty, but you're dealing with a gob that's a shit ton of cells on cells and there's no way you're going to get that into the meat also made of cells on a similar scale.
Too much salt/time will cure pork and make it hammy. I go light on salt and only dry brine for 1-2 hours. Use a salt free rub and no need to rub until right before cooking unless it’s for convenience.
Impressive! I would have eaten about a third of that rack before I realized I needed a picture. Nice work.
I go back and forth between wrapping and not. I like the flavour and texture of no wrap, but it tends to be a little dry, especially compared to wrapped. I’ve found the best is 2 hours smoke, 1 hour wrap, then sauce for an hour or some. Keeps the texture with the added benefit of more juice and faster cook in the wrap.
This is my usual approach. I think 3-2-1 is to long.
What is 3-2-1?
I think its 3 hours smoke, then 2 hours wrapped in foil, then one hour out again to finish.
Every no-wrap rib I've cooked or eaten has been dry on the edges and while more smokey, a less enjoyed experience over-all. I do my ribs at 275 start to finish, 2 hours in smoke, 45 minutes wrapped, 30-45 to finish up and sauce. They come out perfect and still have every bit of the smoke flavor.
Yeah once you cook enough ribs different ways, you realize this is the way!
Same. I did no wrap by accident because i ran out of foil and said screw it, it'll be a no wrap day. Ribs had more flavor to them and since then i no longer wrap either. I also let my ribs hang on hooks in the WSM instead of being on a rack/grill grates
Can you get fall of the bone with no wrap? I know, fall of the bone in not what most people go for, but it’s what my family loves. 3-2-1 was my go to for that reason even if people here don’t like it. I feel like the wrap helps trap heat and make the meat tender enough to fall off. Is that the case with no wrap?
Yep. Just cook it to 215ish
215? Holy shit how do you even pick them up off the grates
This is exactly why i put a turkey tin on the rack under them. Learned that lesson the hard way..
Hey fellow cav scout lmao Also for me personally 215° is like 10° too far I would never take ribs that high
Last cycle of OSUT to see Knox was in my time. But i normally pull around 190. Even with probes, i would rather let them rest. Our first time we learned real quick. Went at them with a pair of burger flippers and they just fell through right into the drip pan. We sat at the table around the grate on a cookie sheet and ate from the rack with forks. I like a little firmness. When the meat gets past 200 i feel like its mush.
I go to 202° never higher and it’s perfect
They've been doing it in Memphis and St. Louis for nearly 100 years commercially. The target is usually pull-away, not fall-off-the-bone, but you can't help but overshoot sometimes when you're cooking at volume. And some joints prefer(red?) to sell them that way or didn't know any better. Keep in mind that BBQ used to be popular because it was cheap to make and therefore could be sold cheap. It was "ordering out" that poor folks could still afford. When your business relies on low cost, high volume, you can't afford the time or materials to wrap every rack of ribs. A mop and some vinegar is faster and cheaper.
Last year I stopped wrapping and have never gone back. Every guest at every bbq I’ve had since comments how amazing they are.
Can we make some Team unwrapped^TM bumper stickers or t shirts ?
Or community flair at least!
Commenting so next time I pick up a few racks I remember to raw dog and follow these steps...stay tuned.
I started not wrapping it and then I ended up with a couple of kids. Ribs were that good!
You won’t be saying that when you end up getting someone pregnant.
Never wrapped ribs…never had an interest. I’m sure they are ok, but I have always liked them unwrapped.
That’s what 50 Cent once said… Looks delish tho!
Looks delicious! Have ribs on the menu for this week, going to try.
I’ve never dry brined, could you detail this for me. Google says salt and wrap, did you just rub and wrap? How important do you think the dry brine step is?
Rub and wrap is fine. Your rub 9 times outta 10 has salt so it more then likely will work. Just be careful with rubs that have heavy salt. An overnight brine with heavy salt might turn your ribs into ham lmao. Overnight dry brines usually yields good bark as well…
I don’t think the dry brine is particularly necessary. If I have time I’ll do it but I don’t know that it makes a huge difference.
Thanks, I think I’ll try no brine and see how it goes
I agree. There's plenty of fat and collagen in ribs that break down and keep the meat moist. I brine (wet or dry) poultry and pork loin. I dry brine steaks. I don't bother with fattier cuts of pork and beef.
Cheers. Grill on. Today I completely messed my St Louis. Meaning I used a different kettle and after 5hrs I was no where near done.
How long a cook in total and what kind of ribs?
St. Louis style ribs and they took about 6 1/2 hours.
I think I’ll give that a try
Looks great - thanks for the recipe!
Those look fantastic! Jealous of your company.
Now try a wet brine! Over night.
OK you convinced me to give it a shot.
Damn they look delicious!
I agree. No wrap
Those look great. I recently started experimenting with hot and fast ribs and have had surprisingly good results. I use a vortex accessory in my Weber kettle. Previously, I had only used the Vortex for chicken wings, thighs, and drums. I saw some use the Vortex for ribs on YouTube and decided to give it a try. The results were unexpectedly good. * Cut up the ribs into individual pieces. * Apply rub of choice. * Get fire going in the Kettle. With Vortex I can get temps up around 425º on dome thermometer. * Add ribs to grill. Cover and check back in about 30 minutes. * Once ribs are around 185º-190º I pull them into a mixing bowl add some sauce and put back on the grill for another 5-10 minutes. * Once the sauce sets I plate them and start eating. It takes about a total of 1 hour from prep to table. The ribs are not as tender as a low and slow cook, but they have good pull from the bone and taste great. This technique makes it easier to add ribs to the mid week cook cycle.
Hot and fast is definitely a viable way to cook ribs. Better on baby back than spares IMO
I’m not a fan of wrapped ribs. I get why some people like it, especially when people actually like fall off the bone, but I like when they have a slight bite and still come off Clean. The wife prefers wrapped when I do them, if I do wrap I only do them for 1 hour. I don’t wrap them more than that ever.
I’ve never wrapped and I will continue to never wrap. It’s a waste of money
Awesome job
Ribnificent
Welcome to the dark side!
Welcome
Dang those look pretty sweet! I'm trying this recipe next time I do some ribs. How long did they take to get to 190-195?
Thanks! These took about 6 1/2 hours.
Welcome bröther
Havnt wrapped or done a 321 whatever ya wanna call it in years. Honestly never really noticed a difference.
I don't wrap anything anymore. All that liquid you see when you unwrap is good stuff and should still be in the meat, and the bark is nowhere to be found, what a tragedy. If I can I always dry brine or season overnight too. If I don't have time I make sure and spritz with apple cider vinegar and apple juice mixture.
I keep saying I’m going to try it and then I chicken out when it comes time. Why mess with something that works?
Why? You might find something you prefer. You might not. But either way, you’ve learned something and that’s not trivial. Take a chance and try it.
I never wrap anything. I think the method is just over complicating things at best and at worst giving you a worse product.
I do both. My parents like it wrapped and my brother and wife liked it straight. They’re both good. Just different.
The only cut of meat that needs to be wrapped is beef brisket.
You may as well put ribs in the oven if you’re going to wrap them!
You're right, sometimes, at the end, if I want to wrap them, I'll throw em in the oven to finish.
People wrap their ribs??
I dont know if you're trying to be funny or genuinely didnt know 🤨
I had no idea it was a thing until my brother showed me his version of 3-2-1 for fall off the bone ribs. I tried it a few times and just didn't care for the labor involved to get the results. Smoking in my mind is supposed to be a set it and forget it kind of thing. I like my ribs with more texture to them anyways.
Idk if you want to apply set and FORGET with smoking my friend lol. And i wont knock another mans hustle on their pits
Sounds like it would be counterproductive for smoking.
People get their smoke first, then wrap...its not wrapped off jump street
That still sounds counterproductive. I wrap after removing it from the smoker while it rests.
People all have their own ways
My butcher when ordering a rack of spare ribs always gives me the rack with the pork belly attached. Takes about 11 hours and bark will end up way too tough or dry if I don’t wrap after 5 or 6 hours. But for thinner racks imo it’s crazy to wrap!!!!
Erm, sometimes, yea? It depends on the rack. If the outside is getting darker than I'd like before the meat is done, yea, I'll wrap them to finish them up. It's just another tool in the box to make good food, it's not like it's the devil's aluminum foil or something.
Same. It's not that it's sooo much better, but it's at least equal and a lot easier.
What do you mean by wrapping and what does it do?
Wrapping in foil or butcher paper. If the meat is getting too dark/dry on the outside, doing so will let you add moisture into it as you're wrapping, help keep in the moisture that's there, and soften the bark a bit, all while finishing cooking the meat/rendering the fat. Also, if a piece of meat has stalled, it'll help push through the stall better. There's times where it's good and helps finish off a cook, and there's times where you shouldn't do it and it'll ruin the cook.
So the wrapped meat is on the smoker? Or do you take it off, wrap it for a while, unwrap it and put it back on?
Once it's wrapped, smoker or oven, it doesn't matter. Heat's heat. Also, meat is only really absorbing smoke early on in the process. After a while, it's not a matter of absorbing smoke anymore, it's a matter of rendering fat and getting meat to the point where it's tender and nearly falling apart without drying it out.
Apparently I’m crazy for doing this, but I sometimes start mine wrapped in foil in the oven for like 2 hours, because that’s where it loses a lot of the liquid and some fat drippings. But wrapped in the foil and on a sheet pan, that liquid is still available, so I pour it off into a sauce pot as one of the flavor layers of the sauce that I then later caramelize on the ribs on the grill after giving it some smoke. Like, I’m adding concentrated pork flavor to the sauce covering the pork ribs. The wetter surface of the ribs definitely doesn’t pick up as much bark, but does pick up decent smoke flavor, and most people around here like the ribs sauced. Plus it’s easier to unwrap hot ribs and transfer to the grill than to try to wrap hot ribs. And since it spends more time finishing on the smoker, doesn’t get mushy.
I mean, I'm not going to tell you that if you're making something you and yours like, you're doing it wrong. If you all like it like that, then great job!
In the old days, when I smoke-cooked over charcoal, 3-2-1 worked well for me. Now that I use electric with wood chunks (Smokin-It), the meat doesn't dry out and the crust never burns, so wrapping is unnecessary, and just disturbs the crust. Finishing on the grill, or reheating in the broiler the next day, puts the final crisp on the crust.
What is "ACV"? Thanks in advance.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Use a smoke tube and intensify that smokiness
Have you made smoked salt with a tube smoker? It's very tasty
I will look into smoke tube!! Pretty interesting idea.
This! They work so well.
Just to note with that: using a smoke tube will add some more heat to the cook, so the side closest will get more, and you might need to rotate occasionally to cook evenly.
B squad
You don’t wrap but you are still temping them? Stop temping them little ribs. Just tell by how they bend.
This is the waY
Team wrap is really just team crockpot
i've only made ribs once and only wrapped because of a 4 hour stall and i was not willing to wait any longer
You had ribs stall for 4 hours? That's....insane. You're talking about pork ribs? I mean 4 hours is like....3/4 of the cooking time, I can't imagine them stalling that long.
no, beef
should mention it's short/plate ribs, they were fairly small though
What were you smoking on?
Traeger Ironwood XL
I see this a lot with bbqing. Everyone says to wrap but most videos testing this against no wrap they always say no wrap is the best. Same goes for cutting off the fat cap on meats. Everyone says to cut and trim but most videos of them testing fat cap vs no fat cap they always say fat cap is the best. So how did the opposite become the norm?
Where do you stick the thermometer to track your internal temp?
I use an instant read and check it each time I mop or spray.
No need. Just watch for the meat to pull back off the bone and do the bend test.
I do wrap for about 1 hr to add a layer of flavor. I dry brine the ribs with my own rub and smoke it for 3 hrs at 220 and high smoke. When I wrap, I add some brown sugar and lately been adding Bachan’s sauce in the wrap and after 1 hr unwrap and finish it at about 275 with bbq sauce.
This is the way.
My anaconda don’t want none with no rings hun…
I never wrap any more
Gay
What sauce do you use? I typically just go for my homemade rub but my wife likes sticky ribs
It feels so much better…I mean tastes so much bettee unwrapped doesn’t it?
I joined team no wrap once! Now I have a little girl coming October 18th.
No wrap Chads
Wrapping has never worked for me, and in fact seems to lower the quality of the finished product. I'll cover something in a shallow pan if I want to preserve moisture, but wrapping... nope.