Had a chat with a retired pitmaster in my town and it messed with my whole approach to ribs

I was buying rub at a little shop last week and an older guy started talking to me about cook times. He said he runs baby backs at 225 for 2 hours no wrap, then finishes them hot and fast at 350 for 30 minutes. I've been doing 3-2-1 for years like everyone online says. He told me I'm basically braising meat into mush and stealing all the bite from the bone. I tried his method on Sunday and the texture was totally different, way more chew but still tender. Has anyone else messed around with skipping the wrap step on ribs or is that just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_clark3722d agoOG Member

I get where he's coming from but I've gotta disagree a bit. The 3-2-1 method gets a bad rap because people leave them wrapped too long or use too much liquid, turning them into pot roast ribs. If you dial back the wrap time to like 1 hour or even 45 minutes with just a spritz of apple juice, you keep that bite without drying them out. Baby backs especially don't need the full 3-2-1, they cook way faster than spares.

vera_robinson3622d ago

@joel_clark37 you're not wrong about the wrap time. But the real issue nobody brings up is that 3-2-1 was designed for offset smokers running at 225. People try it on pellets or kamados and the temp swings mess everything up. If you're running a steady 250-275 on a WSM, that full 3-2-1 works fine for spares with just a splash of apple juice. Baby backs don't need the 3 though, too much fat renders out and gives you that mushy texture. Try dropping the first stage to 2 hours unwrapped and see if that hits better for you.

mark_carr722d ago

WSM folks already know 250-275 handles ribs better than chasing 225 all day. Heat swings kill bark formation more than any wrap timing ever could. Whole 3-2-1 thing needs to die anyway, just cook till they pass the bend test.