I've read just about every post on this site and appreciate all the great advice. I've applied it and have had some great success with chickens, butts, and ribs. However, now I'm being asked to perform under pressure.
When asked by her mother where she wanted to go out to eat or what whe wanted to have for her birthday party this weekend, my 17-year-old neice said that she wanted ME to cook ribs for her party, as she's tasted my ribs once before and loved them. With her guest list, it looks like 3 racks of pork-loin baby backs will be enough. I want to get this right!
I did a test-rack last weekend, just to make sure I knew what I was doing. For prep, I removed the membrane, coated with mustard, applied Famous Dave's rib rub, wrapped them, then let them sit if the fridge for about 5 hours. I took them out of the fridge, and put them directly in the un-pre-heated #1 and cooked them for 5 1/2 hours with the temp set at 225, 2 1/2 ounces hickory and a can of apple juice. The result: flavor was great, but I felt they were a bit dry and not quite "falling off the bone."
To achieve "falling off the bone," I read that the foil method (3-2-1) works well. However, when I researched it on (gulp) other sites, almost everyone recommended letting the meat come to room temp and pre-heating the smoker to 225 before starting the 6-hour cook (3-2-1). I realize that this reduces the time for smoke to penetrate the meat, because the meat accepts smoke only to about 140, but perhaps one of the reasons my ribs weren't falling off the bone was because they didn't cook at the 225 temp long enough (my #1 takes at least 1-2 hours)...and going into the cooker, the meat was 38-degrees, rather than room temp.
Has anyone else tried the 3-2-1 method and/or has anyone smoked anything with the unit pre-heated? If so, what did you cook pre-heated and how'd they turn out? Any other thoughts/advice?
When asked by her mother where she wanted to go out to eat or what whe wanted to have for her birthday party this weekend, my 17-year-old neice said that she wanted ME to cook ribs for her party, as she's tasted my ribs once before and loved them. With her guest list, it looks like 3 racks of pork-loin baby backs will be enough. I want to get this right!
I did a test-rack last weekend, just to make sure I knew what I was doing. For prep, I removed the membrane, coated with mustard, applied Famous Dave's rib rub, wrapped them, then let them sit if the fridge for about 5 hours. I took them out of the fridge, and put them directly in the un-pre-heated #1 and cooked them for 5 1/2 hours with the temp set at 225, 2 1/2 ounces hickory and a can of apple juice. The result: flavor was great, but I felt they were a bit dry and not quite "falling off the bone."
To achieve "falling off the bone," I read that the foil method (3-2-1) works well. However, when I researched it on (gulp) other sites, almost everyone recommended letting the meat come to room temp and pre-heating the smoker to 225 before starting the 6-hour cook (3-2-1). I realize that this reduces the time for smoke to penetrate the meat, because the meat accepts smoke only to about 140, but perhaps one of the reasons my ribs weren't falling off the bone was because they didn't cook at the 225 temp long enough (my #1 takes at least 1-2 hours)...and going into the cooker, the meat was 38-degrees, rather than room temp.
Has anyone else tried the 3-2-1 method and/or has anyone smoked anything with the unit pre-heated? If so, what did you cook pre-heated and how'd they turn out? Any other thoughts/advice?
). The foiled apple juice helped, as it seems to have moisturized the meat and prevented it from drying out. The texture was a little off that way, though, as it softened the meat quite a bit. Overall, the taste was good, as 6.5 hours on the smoker did give it a nice flavor. Everyone stated that the ribs were good, although I know that they know that I was stressing over the fact that they weren't done on time in the smoker...so I don't know if they were just trying to be polite or if they genuinely enjoyed them. I'll contact Steve this week and tell him of the cookout and see what he says. Hopefully, he'll have an easy solution for me...maybe there's a problem with me heating element that can be easily switched out.
