Spare Ribs - 3 - 2- 1 method

We had some family in town the other night and made up some spare ribs with loin meat attached. The ribs came from the local grocery store, nothing special today, except that the ribs were over 2 inches thick...yum!

These ribs were nothing special but I did learn a thing or two about spare ribs, I usually prefer baby back but when I'm not buying I'll eat what's there. There are multiple types of spare ribs, St Louis style, loin ribs (what I had), and several other. I suggest you google the different types if you want to know, the biggest difference is looks not really taste.

I used a generic store bought rub, I decided I can either be a cook or chef not both so I go with cook. I've read a lot of championship smokers and BBQs use store bought rubs and sauces so I'm all for that.

This was a pretty easy standard cook, just took a while. It's really a pretty easy 6 step process.

Step 1 - Prep work;

First step is light the smoker and get it all ready to go. While my Big Green Egg is heating up I get the ribs out and let them start getting up to room temperature, most people skip this step but I do think it makes the meat taste better.


Rubbed the outside of the ribs with the rub and they are ready to go on the smoker once its ready.

Step 2 - 3 hour cook

Ribs go directly on the smoker for 3 hours, bone side down. After 3 hours the ribs are technically cooked to eat, but that doesn't make them ready to eat. You should notice the meat pulling away from the edges of the bone, or shrinking. If not, don't worry too much as you still have some cooking ahead of you.

Step 3 - 2 hour "simmer"

Take some aluminium foil and make a bowl shape to wrap the ribs in. Add about 1/4 cup of apple juice and a couple table spoons of water. This step helps break down the fatty and connective tissue and makes the ribs juicy. Wrap the ribs up nice and tight, let them cook for about 2 hours.

The longer you cook the more fall off the bone they will be, I don't like mine to fall apart at the first bite so I usually do them just shy of the two hour mark. Just play around and you will figure it out.

Towards the end of this point is where I had a little trouble with my temperature. I couldn't seem to keep my temp up without allowing a lot of air into the egg, I have to figure that out, never had that problem at 5 hours since I always have plenty of fuel left when I'm finished.

Step 4 - Sauce and brown

Before I start this please note sauce is optional, if don't sauce the ribs you don't need to flip them as often as I do.

I sauce my ribs because, well, its BBQ so it needs BBQ sauce. The ribs cook at this stage for an hour just to brown the outside and give it that nice BBQ look. I let them cook for about 20 minutes and then slather, like painting the wall, sauce on my ribs.

We usually use Sweet Baby Rays or Open Pit both are good neutral sauces and you can use a flavored sauce at the table side.  Every 10 minutes I flip the ribs and add another coating, this way you cook them flesh side up 3 times with sauce and the bone side up only twice. When I start saucing I also open up the air vents all the way the Egg won't heat up much but I give it a shot.

Step 5 - Rest and cut

Let the ribs rest on a cutting board for at least 20 minutes before you touch them with a knife. Mine fell apart a little bit when I took them off the grill but oh well. The rest period lets the juices move back through the meat and gives the best flavor.

I cut my ribs in sets of two to serve.

If you have leftovers, to reheat pre-heat the oven to 350. Take a glass baking pan and put a little bit of water in the bottom, add your ribs and cover with foil. This will keep the ribs nice and tender as the heat back up.