Been wanting to try the "3-2-1" method for about a year now, but somehow kept fighting it, thinking that "ribs baked in foil in my oven" just was sacrilege or something, LOL. I normally smoke (baby-backs) for about 4-6 hours, depending on how much time I have that day, and then finish 'em for about 30 minutes on my gas Jenn-Air grill while I bbq sauce 'em up.
For Memorial Day, I decided to do the "3-2-1" thing.
Three racks of baby backs, each cut in half (six slabs total). Here they are, all rubbed down and ready to go in the smoker after about 3 hours marinating in the fridge:
Smoker's ready. Lots of smoke, and dead-perfect 225 degrees:
Also thrown into the smoker will be my "auxilary pork," a cheap pork steak that I mopped with my rub drippings and that I'll use to cut up and put into my baked beans:
After 3 hours in the smoker, they're ready for Phase Two. Into a large lasagne pan they go, with a roasting rack on the bottom of the pan to keep the ribs up off of about 1/8" of apple juice that I've poured into the bottom of the pan:
After 2 hours in the oven, with the pan wrapped tightly in foil and baked @ 225 degrees, they are ready for finishing on my gas Jenn-Air grill:
I can already tell that these baby backs are much moister than my usual "4-6 hours in the smoker" method. :o) Likin' what I'm seeing so far at this point.
But first, a good cook never expects his guests to try what he himself hasn't sampled, so . . .
Yeah. PRESIDENTE!!!
OK, back to the pork . . .
Onto the grill (med. direct heat) they go:
I like the nice sheen I've got going here, yet still with a nice crust and still moist:
They turned out amazing, and definitely more moist than mine usually are. I charred the bottom of a couple of the racks a little, when my smoker's water pan was evaporated of its contents and my smoker got up to about 275-300 for about 10 minutes before I caught it, but otherwise they were PERFECT. Even the beans came out amazing. The "auxillary pork" steak yielded about a cup and a half of perfectly-smoked, tasty, chopped pork, which I threw into the 2 large cans of Bush's Original baked beans along with some shaved onions, about 3/4 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Original bbq sauce, about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and about 1/4 cup of maple syrup.
I would definitely use this method again, but am almost wondering if I might even skip the final (grilling) stage.
The more I think about it, I'm starting to question even grilling them at ALL at the end. I mean, 2-3 hours in the smoker puts a nice crust on them, and of course that great smoky taste. And then they're sooo juicy after they came out of their apple juice steam bath in the oven, wrapped in foil. What's the point of the grilling at the end? They're already fully cooked when they come out of the oven?
Originally, I thought it was to carmelize the bbq sauce, but with this rub (a brown sugar/chili power/paprika/etc. basic one) you don't even NEED any bbq sauce, or you could just lightly baste them with sauce after they come out of the oven. And I DAMNED sure don't think you need a full hour on there (I only did 25-30 minutes). I think I just further charred the bottoms of them with that final time on the grill, even on low heat.
With the right rub, and a nice smoke ring, you don't need the sauce.
Pigeye
For Memorial Day, I decided to do the "3-2-1" thing.
Three racks of baby backs, each cut in half (six slabs total). Here they are, all rubbed down and ready to go in the smoker after about 3 hours marinating in the fridge:
Smoker's ready. Lots of smoke, and dead-perfect 225 degrees:
Also thrown into the smoker will be my "auxilary pork," a cheap pork steak that I mopped with my rub drippings and that I'll use to cut up and put into my baked beans:
After 3 hours in the smoker, they're ready for Phase Two. Into a large lasagne pan they go, with a roasting rack on the bottom of the pan to keep the ribs up off of about 1/8" of apple juice that I've poured into the bottom of the pan:
After 2 hours in the oven, with the pan wrapped tightly in foil and baked @ 225 degrees, they are ready for finishing on my gas Jenn-Air grill:
I can already tell that these baby backs are much moister than my usual "4-6 hours in the smoker" method. :o) Likin' what I'm seeing so far at this point.
But first, a good cook never expects his guests to try what he himself hasn't sampled, so . . .
Yeah. PRESIDENTE!!!
OK, back to the pork . . .
Onto the grill (med. direct heat) they go:
I like the nice sheen I've got going here, yet still with a nice crust and still moist:
They turned out amazing, and definitely more moist than mine usually are. I charred the bottom of a couple of the racks a little, when my smoker's water pan was evaporated of its contents and my smoker got up to about 275-300 for about 10 minutes before I caught it, but otherwise they were PERFECT. Even the beans came out amazing. The "auxillary pork" steak yielded about a cup and a half of perfectly-smoked, tasty, chopped pork, which I threw into the 2 large cans of Bush's Original baked beans along with some shaved onions, about 3/4 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Original bbq sauce, about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and about 1/4 cup of maple syrup.
I would definitely use this method again, but am almost wondering if I might even skip the final (grilling) stage.
The more I think about it, I'm starting to question even grilling them at ALL at the end. I mean, 2-3 hours in the smoker puts a nice crust on them, and of course that great smoky taste. And then they're sooo juicy after they came out of their apple juice steam bath in the oven, wrapped in foil. What's the point of the grilling at the end? They're already fully cooked when they come out of the oven?
Originally, I thought it was to carmelize the bbq sauce, but with this rub (a brown sugar/chili power/paprika/etc. basic one) you don't even NEED any bbq sauce, or you could just lightly baste them with sauce after they come out of the oven. And I DAMNED sure don't think you need a full hour on there (I only did 25-30 minutes). I think I just further charred the bottoms of them with that final time on the grill, even on low heat.
With the right rub, and a nice smoke ring, you don't need the sauce.
Pigeye
