The summer is upon us, and grills and smokers all over the DMV are heating up as well. For the series “Fired Up with Jake and John,” 草莓传媒鈥檚 Mike Jakaitis and John Domen talk with some of the region鈥檚 best pitmasters about their methods, with the goal of helping you level up your barbecue game.
The amateur backyard chef might subscribe to of barbecuing pork ribs. It鈥檚 simple and it works. But run that method past Myron Mixon, who wins world barbecue championships like Tom Brady wins Super Bowls, and he鈥檒l remind you he鈥檚 no amateur.
He also doesn鈥檛 wait six hours for his ribs to cook, either.
The 3-2-1 method is as simple as it sounds: Pop your ribs in the smoker for three hours, pull them out and wrap them either in foil or butcher paper for two more hours, then slather some sauce on them and cook them for one more hour still.
Who really wants to wait that long to eat?
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good way to do it, but we do ours in about two and a half hours,鈥� Mixon said from the kitchen of his self-named restaurant in Old Town Alexandria.
He鈥檒l smoke them for two hours at 275 degrees, spritzing them with a mix of cider, salt and sugar in the second hour every 15 minutes.聽(Let the rub set in the hour, he said, or else you鈥檒l just wash it off.)
鈥淲hen the second hour is up,鈥� Mixon said, 鈥淚 wrap them and then it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to hit 207.鈥�
That鈥檚 the magic temperature 鈥� he plugs meat thermometer into the middle of the rack (making sure it鈥檚 not touching any bones) and looks for the internal temperature of the meat to hit 207 degrees.
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The timing depends a lot on what kind of ribs you鈥檙e smoking: baby back, St. Louis and spare ribs are all easily available at the grocery store, but they鈥檙e not the same.
Spare ribs 鈥渃ome from the chest area,鈥� said Rob Sonderman, the pitmaster with the Federalist Pig, while holding up a rack of them inside his 鈥淔ed Mobile鈥� in Hyattsville, Maryland.
Baby back ribs come from the back side, while St. Louis style ribs, which come from around the pig鈥檚 belly, are flatter.
Regardless of which style of rib you鈥檙e cooking, Sonderman said, you want to season the meat at least an hour in advance 鈥� three or four hours if you can. Down the street, at 2Fifty BBQ in Riverdale, Fernando Gonzalez has his crew sometimes seasoning ribs the day before.
Sonderman warns of using too much salt in your spice rub: 鈥淲ith the amount of salt that we add, we can definitely over-season them.鈥� What you really want is just enough to 鈥渉elp draw out a little bit of moisture, which will then help the smoke stick to [the ribs] a little bit better.鈥�
And most importantly, don鈥檛 overcook them. If you hear a restaurant say the meat of their ribs is 鈥渇alling off the bone,鈥� you鈥檇 better hope that鈥檚 just a good-sounding marketing line, not because they really are.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e cooking at 275 and you鈥檙e wrapping the ribs and you give them a long rest and then you slice and serve, chances are you鈥檙e overcooking the ribs,鈥� said Gonzalez. 鈥淔alling-off-the-bone ribs, that鈥檚 technically overcooked. You want some pull, you want some tough out of it, you want a clean bone, but you still want to feel that texture.鈥�
As with every other meat you smoke, there鈥檚 no right or wrong way to do it. But chances are these guys will help you smoke yours better next time.
to the “Fired Up with Jake and John” podcast on Podcast One
