3-2-1 Cook

I cook Baby Backs for 4 hours without foil and the finished product is great, 6 hours with two in foil you could have mush.

That plan may work with spares they need that kind of time.
If you are cooking on a CS opening the doors twice may add a lot of time to the cook.
Jim

Mornin',

Good to hear from you,Jim.

Like Jim says,those better be loinbacks off a 700 lb. sausage sow.

Depending on your weight,you may find that two hrs. out,one hour in foil with a little apple juice and brown sugar,and 30-45 mins. out with a little glaze.

Your Smokette will usually take about 25 mins. to recover to 225�,each time you let the door stand open.

You can always cook a little longer out of the foil,if need be.

Hope this helps a little.

Hi Grumps,

I gotta admit, I'm no expert at this here somkin' stuff but I do give it a good ol' whirl every now and again. Now, Tom and Jim, they been Q'in for a long time and they've forgot more about it than I'll ever know. That said though, I'm gonna have to disagree just a tad bit.

Up Indiana way there's this ol' boy named Stogie who uses the 3-2-1 system all the time and he wins contests with it too. I had the distinct privilge of bein' with him when he took a prize for ribs at the KCBS cookoff in Cairo, IL last summer. He also won two contests out in his neck of the woods this summer. Several years back he taught me his system and it's served me right smart well ever since. Now, neither one of us is cookin' on a CS. He's usin' a WSM and I'm with this big ol' ugly offset. That might make a diff, but bottom line, it's a six hour cook at 225 degrees F and the ribs aren't mushy.

Now, I've been followin' this here forum almost from day one and from the gazillions of posts I've read the CS can make tender, juicy ribs with no extry help. If I owned one of those puppies you better bet I'd give it try without foiling first. Foiling each individual slab is a big pain in the donkey if you get my drift.

Just my $.02 worth.

Yes, I get your drift EZ and thank you for you help, and thank you to Tom and Jim as well. I think you are right EZ in that the CS does produce enough moisture so it isn't necesary to foil, unlike some other smokers, I guess.

EZ...St. Louis! I was born and raised in Valley Park/Kirkwood area. Near you? Unfortunately work brings me to the Chicago area. I sure miss MO. I do my backyard smokin' and the neighbors do the restaurants. I travel to the cookoffs and the neighbors travel to the Bahamas...well, you get the idea. Folks are just wrapped too tight up here! Have a great weekend all!

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Grumpster

Hi Grumps,

You bet the area of Valley Park/Kirkwood is near me. I live in Webster Groves. Sound familiar?

You have a nice weekend too.

Hey , just my 2 cents worth. I have found that 5 hours with babybacks that have been rubbed down overnight, taken out, sauced and wrapped in foil for about 30 minutes have worked great. Works for me and they come out great! Good Luck !
Tarheel 50

quote:

have been rubbed down overnight, taken out, sauced and wrapped in foil for about 30 minutes have worked great.

Good morning, Tarheel!!!!!!!!

Can you clarify the above, pls? Taken out? Of fridge, before you grill? Or, out of smoker, then wrapped?

I did babybacks this weekend. At 4 hours they were done. But, I wrapped in foil and stashed away for a couple of hours before eating time. Considerably drier (=less greasy) than regular spares.

Well now,

Not that I agin using any ,or all these magic formulas-but

I think we might oughta get back to "its the cook ,who knows his cooker,and not the cooker".

Smokin' preaches,"write down what ya do careful,don't change but a little at a time,go back an' look at what ya rote down".

' least that's how I 'membered it.

Some of our advice comes about a Cookshack and try'n to keep it simple 'til it don't work.

All them other fine ideas seem ta work for them folks that experimented with a particular cooker,with a particular weight product,with a particular outside temp and wind factor.

They used a particular rub,sauce,sippin' whiskey,amount of time to work with, and maybe a peculiar set o' judges- ta get that magic formula.

Stogie an' any o' the rest will tell ya,ya get beat a bunch.

Most of us is settin' over there on them canvas chairs and not walkin' up front to the stage.

All these techniques is fun.

I guess my $0.02 worth is keep it simple and stick with one,'til ya get it where you're goin'.

Okay you guys are all right, but I think you're wrong...

There covered all the bases.

One key step, that no one has mentioned but will have a HUGE impact on the finished product is the weight of the slab. I've found, in my experience (short as it is) is that a difference of 1/2 pound can mean an hour longer in cook. For example, untrimmed spares probably come out good with Stogies method, trimmed St. Louis will finish in less time.

And what about temp. Big impact.

I don't think you "need" to foil in a CS, it does a great job without foil, but this method works well for many, although it might not be 3 hours then 2 hours then 1 hour.

Yes, Stogie's very good and I highly recommend this method for those who haven't been quite successful with the trial and error method.

But, and here's the warning...keep good notes and learn from it. Note the exact weight of the slabs and temp and final outcome, were they what you wanted?

Good Luck Grumpster, let us know how it goes.

Smokin'

Well, I did the 9 lbs of Baby backs, hoping to do a bit better than I did before.

Rubbed and refrig'ed the night before, smoked 3 hours meat side down (two upper racks), flipped and swapped shelves, and smoked another hour.

Checked the ribs and noticed some of the racks, but not all, were starting to pull from the tip of the bones. Still didn't look and feel done though. Decided to go ahead and mop on some sauce and let her rip, checking ever so often, for about 30 to 45 minutes.

Everything looked great until I pulled some meat off the bone. I found the meat to be dark, not that nice pinkish brown color, and it was too dried out for my taste.

I really missed something. By the look and feel as it was cooking, I thought they were going to be my best. Probably should have actually pulled a rib off the rack to check.

I'm sure I cooked too long. But I'm not sure exactly when they were done. As I said before, when I checked them after 4 hours, only a couple of the racks had thier meat pulled from the tip of the bone. In fact, The rest never did pull away. But, boy were they done!

I'll get this right yet!

Have a nice evening everyone.

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Grumpster