# cooking ribs the night before serving



## jdboulder (Jan 20, 2011)

Ok, I am having friends over Saturday night and I will be BBQ spare ribs and chicken thighs on my WSM. I will not have enough time, only two hours, to cook them that day. So, I will BBQ on Friday.
Can anyone give me some suggestions on the best way to prep, cook, and store them for the next evening?

Thanks in advance!


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## Smokey Lew (Jan 20, 2011)

My feeling is ribs are best eaten right after the cook. They never taste quite as good reheated. You can do a good job with ribs using the fast cook method on your WSM. This basically cuts the time in half and you still get a great rack of ribs.

The trick is to foil the inside of the water pan and don't put water in it. You want to cook the ribs at 350 degrees. I do the cook with all vents wide open and using a chop stick to prop the lid open a crack on one site of the lid for extra air. You will have to monitor the rack temperature because it will range above the 350 degree mark if you leave the chop stick in through the entire cook.

When the temp gets up to 370 or so, I will pull out the stick until it drops down to 330 and then put it back in again. Anyway, you can get pretty good results with ribs cooked this way and it only takes about two hours until they are done. That's my two cents on the rib topic. Good luck.


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## Nick Prochilo (Jan 20, 2011)

3-2-1 method. Do a search here and it will tell you the method. Do the "1" the day your serving. Heating them on the grill like that and saucing 15 minutes before serving and it will be as close to same day cooked as possible.


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## Vermin999 (Jan 20, 2011)

I like to cook my ribs on my UDS early then finish them on the grill just before serving.

What I usually do is cook the ribs then probe them with a skewer and call them done when it slides in pretty easy (thats what she said). Then when it comes close to serving time I'll fire up the grill and finish them with some sauce and give them a little char.


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## jdboulder (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks guys! I think I will try the 3-2-1 method Nick suggested.


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## wittdog (Jan 25, 2011)

Smoke them to they are almost done.  Then the next day cook them indirect and sauce the last 15min.


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## johnm1 (Jan 26, 2011)

I have also cooked them almost to completion and then finsihed them in the oven wrapped in foil (loosely) with a little BBQ sause on top and just a splash of apple juice and water (50/50) in the bottom.  Oven is set at 250 and cooks to completion about 30-45 min.

Warning though, I used a vinegar based sause in stead of water and juice when I re-heated once and the ribs were very spicy because the vinigar sause evaporated and left all the spice sticking to the ribs.  juice and water works fine.


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