BBR's in January

[Smokin Mike]

It is an awesome January day in central NC with the temperature about 50 degrees, sun shining, and very slight breeze. Two days ago it was 35 degrees with a rain / snow mix which was some ugly bone chilling weather. I thought I'd take advantage of the mild day and throw a rack of baby backs on the smoker.

Got some hickory splits and some B&B Hickory mix charcoal in the basket.

PreFire_20210110.png

Got the ribs rubbed up and just waiting on the temperature to settle in the vertical cooker.

RubbedRibs_20210110.jpg

So now it's just a waiting game. I'll foil wrap after a couple of hours.

[Smokin Mike]

Done! This is a dry rib with rub only. We don't like to sauce things up too much.

RibsDone_20210110.png

I handed the phone to the GF to take a picture while I showed off the smoke ring but for some reason the picture didn't take

[YukonJasper]

Beautiful. Well done. My mouth is watering.

[Smokin Mike]

Had the thin blue smoke thing going on

ThinBlueSmoke_20210110.png

[SVonhof]

I also like to do dry ribs. Sometimes, if I have any home-made sauce around, I will do a thin coating, but that's it.

2/2/1 method for your baby backs?

[Smokin Mike]

2/2/1 method for your baby backs?

No, 1/2 of the 3-2-1 method, about 3 hours total, generally works for me. In all honesty I don't get too clock happy when I'm doing ribs. I'll spot check them from time to time and if I get some pullback on the bone then I'll foil wrap and braise for a while, then back on the grate nekid to finish them off. Usually 3 hours or so.

[SVonhof]

Do you run hotter than the holy grail of 225?

I have found that if I try to do 3-2-1 method on spares on my UDS, they are way overdone and the bottom gets scorched from the coals (unless I use a pan or plate under them to shield from the direct heat).

[Smokin Mike]

Do you run hotter than the holy grail of 225?

Yes I am running in the 250° to 275° range. I think I need to change the door gasket on the firebox because lately I've had to really clamp down on the inlet air to tamp down the temperature. I'm not sure if there's anything sacred about running 225°. It seems that most of the competition cooks run hotter temps on their ribs. I've done hot and fast a couple of times, because of time constraints, and produced a pretty good result.

[SVonhof]

I don't feel that it is a hard rule by any means. Most people will talk about time for cooks based on the 225 number but not all smokers want to run there. If I use my kettle in the snake method, it doesn't want to go below 275.

All it means is you get to enjoy your food earlier in the day!