Pork Cooking St. Louis Style Ribs

[JerryD]

The Trager cookbook say to "Smoke the ribs meat side up for 3 hours". Are the ribs being cooked at this point or only being smoked?

 

[Murphy's Law]

Assuming you’re at 225 or below it would be both; however, they wouldn't be cooked to completion in 3 hours.

You’ll get smoke at 225 or below, and it will take about 5 + hours. I just did a few racks on Monday at 225 for 4 hours and bumped to 275 for another 1.5 hours until they were around 204 or 205.

What recipe are you following?

 

[TheGrumpyGriller]

I did St. Louis this weekend using 3-2-1, meat up for 3, wrapped and meat down for 2, and meat up for 1. Temp was 225.

 

[JerryD]

Assuming you’re at 225 or below it would be both; however, they wouldn't be cooked to completion in 3 hours.

You’ll get smoke at 225 or below, and it will take about 5 + hours. I just did a few racks on Monday at 225 for 4 hours and bumped to 275 for another 1.5 hours until they were around 204 or 205.

What recipe are you following?

I'm using the Traeger cookbook for baby back ribs. My question is, when you put the Traeger on "Smoke", you have not set the temperature yet, so how hot does the pit get on "Smoke"? The cookbook says to leave it on Smoke for three hours, so are the ribs cooking on Smoke? Or are they just getting smoked?

 

[Outta The Box BBQ]

I'm using the Traeger cookbook for baby back ribs. My question is, when you put the Traeger on "Smoke", you have not set the temperature yet, so how hot does the pit get on "Smoke"? The cookbook says to leave it on Smoke for three hours, so are the ribs cooking on Smoke? Or are they just getting smoked?

Yes they are being both, cooked and smoked. The 3-2-1 technique is about smoke(3 hrs), cook (2 hrs) , finish (1 hr). Because the smoke setting on your Traeger is probably running about 165-175 you will get some cooking but not enough to get the ribs to the 198-204 range. Lower temps (198ish) will give you a rib with more "mouth feel" while 204ish will give "fall off the bone".

 

[JerryD]

Yes they are being both, cooked and smoked. The 3-2-1 technique is about smoke(3 hrs), cook (2 hrs) , finish (1 hr). Because the smoke setting on your Traeger is probably running about 165-175 you will get some cooking but not enough to get the ribs to the 198-204 range. Lower temps (198ish) will give you a rib with more "mouth feel" while 204ish will give "fall off the bone".

Thank you, you answered my question.