20 Dollar Chef - 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs

Today on 20 Dollar Chef, I went with some smoked ribs. The main reason... Ribs have been on sale a lot lately at the store I shop at. $8/$10 bucks a rack. Can't go wrong at that price. 

There are a ton of ways to smoke ribs. My favorite is the 3-2-1 system. This is where you season the ribs to your liking, set the smoker at 225 degrees and let them smoke for 3 hours. Then you remove the ribs, wrap them in foil. Before closing the foil add some butter and apple juice. ( Optional, I added some brown sugar and honey.) Seal the foil and smoke for 2 hours. When that time period has lapsed, remove the ribs from the foil, Hit them with your favorite sauce and let them smoke for an hour. 

I used this smoke as a test run. In the past I've brushed the ribs with Dijon mustard then seasoned, then smoked for the initial 3 hours. This time I just seasoned with a rub then smoked. No mustard to start. I wanted the flavor to rely on the seasoning, the smoke, the brown sugar/honey, and the layer of basic bbq sauce. 

There are plenty of rib rubs on the market, I just mixed salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne and some red pepper flakes as my rub. 

The last hour is just to candy that sauce on top of the ribs. 

They came out solid. Had good color and were very tender. I suggest this easy recipe if you feel like enjoying some delicious ass ribs. 

So when I was in Canada I smoked ribs with an award winning BBQ master. As we were prepping I started to peel the skin off the back of the ribs and he said he doesn't do that any longer. He said it was easier to do that after the ribs were finished. I tried that on my own this smoke. It's much easier to peel that shit off after the ribs are finished smoking. It's the thin skin under the rib bone. That shit basically falls off the bone after the ribs are finished.

Ribs are pretty expensive in restaurants. Much cheaper to make at home, especially when they are on sale. 8 bucks a rack is dirt cheap. 

Happy smoking!