This is more of a technique than an actual recipe. I'm often asked how to prepare ribs. Too many people just seem to shy away from them as they are seeking that "falling off the bone tender" rib. For competition cooks, such a tender product is the kiss of death among the judges. For most other folks, its what they crave. Let me also interject that this technique is by no means something developed by me. It's a commonly available technique described on many different websites and recipe books. 3-2-1 refers to the amount of time the ribs cook at various stages of this technique.
Loin back (sometimes mistakenly called baby back ribs). These ribs come from the top part of the rib cage. They tend to be a little less tough, and typically don't take as long to cook. But they are very popular to say the least.
Spare ribs come from the side of the rib cage. They are usually larger then back ribs and are usually meatier. However, they are full of more connective tissue thus typically require more cooking time. Full spare ribs include a "brisket" section on the back and a cartilage filled piece called the tip. Cutting the tip off and removing the brisket on the back side yields what is referred to as St. Louis Style ribs. These are the easiest for the beginner to use. Internet searches will describe how to trim spares to St. Louis ribs. Neither type of rib is better than the other. Eventually you might develop a favorite. Joey Mac typically prefers to cook spares because they have more flavor.
Regardless of the type of rib chosen the first step is to remove the membrane on the back side of the ribs. If you can't grab it with bare hands, lift an edge up with a butter knife and grab that with a paper towel. Just pull the membrane off and discard.
Next coat both sides of rib evenly with your favorite bbq rub. They are ready for the cooker at this point.
Set up the cooker to achieve a low heat, 230 to 280 degrees. Cook the rib indirect for 3 hours or so. You may want to add wood chunks to charcoal or use a wood chip pan for a gas grill. Don't overdo the smoke wood. I use about one chunk of hickory and one chunk of apple with charcoal. I also have an FEC100 that uses wood pellets that makes great ribs. Other choices of smoke wood might be cherry, pecan, or peach. If you desire, you could spray once with apple juice, or just leave it alone. Don't be afraid to adapt this recipe for you gasser either. I have a good friend who make some awesome ribs on his gasser.
Remove the ribs from cooker. Place the ribs on a precut piece of aluminum foil that is large enough to wrap the ribs. Add about to cup of apple juice to the foil. Wrap the ribs, not too tightly. Return the foiled ribs to the cooker. At this point you can let the cooking temperature rise to 280 to 300 degrees. The method infers that you should leave them in the foil for 2 hours, but this is usually too long as the meat will tend to get pretty mushy. You are looking to attain a tender rib at this stage. A good test in to slide a toothpick through the meat. If it glides in and out with little or no resistance, you'll have a tender rib. Back ribs usually only take about an hour in the foil, spared 30 - 60 minutes longer depending on how tender you want them.
This is the final stage. The technique again infers it will take an hour, but really it only needs 15 - 30 minutes. Remove the ribs from foil, place back on the cooker. You can also start adding your favorite sauce. Sometimes adding a little extra honey to the sauce makes them extra nice.
When they've attained their desired amount of glaze, remove from the cooker, let rest for 5 or 10 minutes, cut the ribs as desired and serve. Epilogue - Please note nowhere in this technique is it suggested to boil the ribs. Boiling ribs might be good for making pork stock, but its not BBQ, by any definition
