Rib question

[midwest]

I've got 3 racks of baby backs to do this Sunday. I have always done a 3-2-1 on ribs but I just found out I have to work on Sunday morning until 1:30 and I have to be at the party by 6:00 so I have about about 4 hours give or teak considering prep time etc. Curious what method/temps you guys would use to get the best product in around 4 hours or so? Thanks

 

[RKahler]

May not be ideal, but you could cook them on Saturday and warm them up Sunday. My leftover ribs are just as good as day one.

 

[traeger860]

I agree. Cook them the day before and reheat them. Or just call out of work .

Will you have access to a grill at the party? If so, just wrap them in foil and take them with you. Throw them on the grill there to warm them up. Lower temp. And then you can unwrap, add more sauce, and bump the temp if you like them a little crispier.

 

[midwest]

I was thinking last night about cooking them Saturday and then just warming them up Sunday before we go. Ill let you know what I end up doing.
If anyone else has ever cooked them a little hotter and faster I would still consider that was well...

 

[Smokin In Bama]

In my opinion….. just MY opinion. I will also give my reheat opinion at the end in case you cook them the day before. It’s long but you asked for it. I included 3 methods

3-2-1 is a complete failure of a method. I don’t care if they are Spare ribs, St Louis Style, Baby back, Country Style… 3-2-1 is WAY TOO LONG they will be dry , soggy or both if you really screw them up Your 780 doesn’t have super smoke, not insulated and you live in Indiana so keeping cooking temp might be hard to do depending on how far north in Indiana you are. It also means you are probably going to have to overshoot your desired Trager temperature setting to offset the cold weather which is affecting your TRAEGER cooking temperature .


Yea, yea my punctuation stinks and I have run on sentences but you get the picture

*** One major requirement is an instant read thermometer. If you don’t have an instant read then then do a 2-1-1 (FOUR HOURS) and use a visual sign of your rib meat being pulled back 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the bone as a guide for time to remove from Trager. Check the pullback at 20 minute intervals for progress of meat pullback. You will have to guess when to sauce them since you wouldn’t have temperature. Don’t hit a bone or go through the meat when checking ***


Have someone set the ribs on the counter about an hour before cooking. The reason is because cold meat, especially 3 really long slabs of cold meat, will act as a heat sink. Meaning, they will drop the temperature of your TRAEGER cooking temperature for a while too.

METHOD 1

1. I would set the Trager temp around 300 or a little over if it’s really cold outside
2. Place the ribs bone side down, unwrapped
2.5 oops I would rotate your ribs at 1 hour. Rack(s) on bottom go top etc. 3 racks of ribs means you will be cooking on 2 grates.
2.75. Oops check the temp of the ribs at 2 hours
3. If the ribs are close to 165 internal temp then wrap in aluminum foil them with whatever liquid you choose for about 1 hour to 1.5 hours and pull them. If you use a BBQ sauce to wrap then add some butter pats to it because it will raise the smoke point of the bbq sauce above the smoke point of the sugar in the sauce. Trust me, scorched burnt sugar in bbq sauce is gross,
4. Check internal temp of the ribs to see how close the ribs internal is to 203 - 206 degrees.
5. They should be pretty close to that desired temp of 203- 206.
6. Unwrap them , even if under the 203 - 206 desired temperature
7. Put the now unwrapped rubs back on the smoker.
8. AS AN EXAMPLE… If the ribs have a 190 degree internal temp after smoking and wrapping , then bump your Trager grill temp to about 325 - 350 …. Your ribs are undercooked and we are shooting for for 203 -206…. Leave unwrapped ribs on for about another 20 minutes and check ribs again.
9. Keep checking your ribs in 20 minute increments until your ribs are at that magical number of about 201 - 202 , not 203 -206 loosely tent them with foil for about 10-15 minutes
10. Your friends will love you

METHOD 2

Same as above but set your TRAEGER at 350 and do about a 1.5 - 1.0 - 1.0 assuming you have a meat thermometer. If not then use the visual guide of 1/8” - 1/4” as a guideline.

METHOD 3

If you cook them the night before. Reheating in oven or grill, shoot for an internal temperature of 165 degrees of your reheated pork even though you took it to 203 - 206 yesterday. Do this for ALL reheated pork… shoot for a reheated internal temperature of 165 and you won’t dry it out.

1. Heat your oven, yes oven to 165 degrees, yes 165 degrees or lowest temperature
2. Wrap your ribs with a little of the same liquids you used to wrap in the grill during cooking.
3. Leave them in about an hour or so.
4. You can’t mess it up because you are shooting for 165.

Edit to add, transport your ribs to your friends fresh out of the oven, wrapped in foil and towels and inserted in a cheap styrofoam cooler. The extra time in the cooler won’t hurt a thing…ln fact, it will help


One last thing, I absolutely hate Taylor Swift. Go NINERS!

 

[midwest]

Thanks for all the input. Good news is its been in the 60's this week in Indiana but the high is 44 Sunday afternoon so that won't be an issue. I think I am going to shoot for the 2-1-1 time frame and see what happens.

 

[midwest]

Forgot to ask, just out of curiosity, what is all your preferences on paper v foil. I typically use paper to wrap my stuff...

 

[RayClem]

Forgot to ask, just out of curiosity, what is all your preferences on paper v foil. I typically use paper to wrap my stuff...

It is a matter of preference. Typically for brisket, people will use butcher wrap. I like my pulled pork butt extra tender and juicy, so I typically use foil. Many people do not use any wrapping for ribs, but it will take longer to cook.

Since you are trying to shorten the cook time to 4 hours, I would suggest that you use foil this time as it will trap the steam better than paper and allow the ribs to cook faster. Rather than doing 2-1-1, however, you might find that you need more than 1 hour of wrap time. I would suggest that you do 2 hours of smoke at 225F, approximately 1 1/2 hours in foil at about 275F until the ribs are probe tender. Then finish off the racks at 325F unwrapped to firm up the glaze. Hopefully, that will achieve the shortened cook time you need. If the probe temperature is not rising sufficiently in the time allotted, you can always turn up the temperature. All of the smoke is going to be absorbed in the 1st couple of hours unwrapped, so temperatures afterward are not as critical to the flavor of the ribs, but higher temperatures will speed up the cook process.

 

[Smokin In Bama]

Forgot to ask, just out of curiosity, what is all your preferences on paper v foil. I typically use paper to wrap my stuff...

For ribs I use foil only

 

[midwest]

I got home from work right at 1:15 and fired the Treager up to 235. I had the wife take the ribs out of the fridge at 12:15 and when I got home I rubbed them while the grill was heating up. Got them ready and on at exactly 1:30. I spritzed them a couple times with apple juice but only twice as I didn't want to lift the lid too often. At 3:30 they ate temping around 150-155 depending on where I checked. I went ahead and wrapped them in foil. Before rapping I added brown sugar and pats of butter to the foil. Put them back on and raised the heat to 300. Plan to run them at 300 for about an hour and half. Assuming they are close then, I will unwrap them and sauce them and give them another half hour. Here is a pick as they reached 150 after 2 hours.... My son wants one rack left dry so I will probably add some more rub to them and sauce the other two. I used Killer Hogs BBQ rub first and a light layer of Malcoms TX brisket rub on top of the bbq rub. I use the TX on almost everything, makes a good crust.

 

[midwest]

So far so good. After 1.5 hours in the foil I opened them and they temped around 197-199. Pulled them out of the foil, sauced two of them and put them back on for a little bit. Turned the temp down too since t hey are basically done. Ill let you know how they turn out in an hour or so. I getting ready to pull them and put them back in foil to rest for about a 1/2 hour until we head to the party.

 

[Shedd]

I usually cook ribs ahead. I put them in vacuum sealed bags. Some I freeze, others I simply put hot water in a pot, enough to cover the ribs a few inches. I bring to a rolling boil and turn the burner down on low. I let them sit until I get everything else ready. They taste like I just cooked them. I’ve got a buddy I’m kinda a partner with (I own the building and land) he does weddings and events. If they hire him to cook (he also owns two food trucks) and it’s a big event, I’ll cook ribs and or pulled pork or pulled chicken for him when he’s in a bind. Everyone thinks it was all just smoked.

 

[Smokin In Bama]

These are mine tonight. Yours are looking great!

 

[RayClem]

So far so good. After 1.5 hours in the foil I opened them and they temped around 197-199. Pulled them out of the foil, sauced two of them and put them back on for a little bit. Turned the temp down too since t hey are basically done. Ill let you know how they turn out in an hour or so. I getting ready to pull them and put them back in foil to rest for about a 1/2 hour until we head to the party.

I did not think that your original plan of 2-1-1 would work, but it sounds like 2-1.5-0.5-0.5 rest might have done the trick. I hope they were tasty.

 

[midwest]

They turned out very good. No reason I won't shorten the cook time next time I do them.