# 3-2-1 ribs...Doing the 3 now and the 2-1 on another day?



## Bacardi (Nov 9, 2008)

I'm close to smoking my 100th rack of ribs using the 3-2-1 or 2-2-1 for BBs...I've always cooked them straight through.

I got to thinking.  If I had a long weekend, could I pull out the smoker and smoke let's say 6 racks for 3 hours.  Foil them all.  Put 4 of the foiled, 3-hour smoked ribs in the fridge.  Cook the remaining two rack so they can be enjoyed today.  Put my smoker away for the weekend.

Tomorrow comes around, want more ribs...Simply preheat my indoor oven and throw the foiled racks in for the 2 hours, but I'd guess I'd have to increase the time by 15-20mins to compensate for the colder meat.  After the foiled cooking, still use the oven for the last unfoiled hour.

This brings up many questions.  Would "3" today and "2-1" tomorrow be better than "3-2-1" today and "simply reheat" (lol) tomorrow?  Again, I guess the goals are if you know you're going to ribs for multiple days and only want to drag out the smoker once...Or if you have limited time on upcoming days...This is an discussion so let the insights and opinions roll!


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## pacanis (Nov 9, 2008)

I'm new to the smoker scene, but if it was me, I would get the 3 and the 2 out of the way so you only have the 1 left for the reheat later in the week. I'm sure your way would work, but you already have the cooker fired up doing that night's ribs, I would get as much does as possible so you don't need much time later. 
I reheated some ribs on the grill indirect just this past week that I had BBQed last Sunday. They reheated perfectly and they were done the whole way, 3-2-1. I didn't even need to add more sauce to them.


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## Bacardi (Nov 9, 2008)

Good point about the 3-2 today and 1 tomorrow...Lol...I don't have enough time, money or motivation to blind test them all to see if there's any difference in taste...lol  I guess I see reheating being somewhat lazy and not as "fresh"...In my mind, I'm just "pre-smoking" them and really "cooking" them freshly at a later date.  Bottom line is which will taste better, but there might not be a difference anyways...


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## roadfix (Nov 9, 2008)

I agree, it seems more practical to get the 3 and the 2 out of the way.


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## jminion (Nov 9, 2008)

No matter what you decide to do I would take them to at least 145 to 150 internal before pulling off the cool. The other thing is cool then wrap in hd foil for storage.


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## Bacardi (Nov 9, 2008)

jminion said:


> No matter what you decide to do I would take them to at least 145 to 150 internal before pulling off the cool. The other thing is cool then wrap in hd foil for storage.



Please elaborate...

Ok...3-2-1...

Just so everyone's on the same page, 1st 3 hours are unfoiled, next 2 hours are foiled and last hour is unfoiled.  So lets say I do the 3-2 which means it's still in foil and it's over 150f...Am I OK to put it directly into the fridge?


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## jminion (Nov 10, 2008)

Bacardi said:


> Please elaborate...
> 
> Ok...3-2-1...
> 
> Just so everyone's on the same page, 1st 3 hours are unfoiled, next 2 hours are foiled and last hour is unfoiled. So lets say I do the 3-2 which means it's still in foil and it's over 150f...Am I OK to put it directly into the fridge?


 
You need to get pork, ribs, butt, whatever over 144 internal. At this point you can take off the cooker and cool quickly, to do that if you leave them wrapped in foil it will increase the time it takes to cool them down. So open the foil and allow the ribs to cool some then go into frig to finish the cooling process. This does two things gets the ribs below 40 degrees quicker and helps keep the refrigerator from heating up and going over 40 degrees compromising the rest of the food in it.

I have commercial refrigeration that is built to accomplish what we are talking about here but I still follow these procedures. The refrigeration in my kitchen at home can't get internal temps down like the commercial can and same is true for most in their home.


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## roadfix (Nov 10, 2008)

What I wonder is, is 1 hour unfoiled going to be enough to bring it back up to temp, or would it require additional time?
Perhaps you should experiment both ways.


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## Bacardi (Nov 10, 2008)

roadfix said:


> What I wonder is, is 1 hour unfoiled going to be enough to bring it back up to temp, or would it require additional time?
> Perhaps you should experiment both ways.



To equal the tenderness of 3-2-1 all at the same time you'd def. need increase the time.  I'm unsure of how exactly how much.


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## love2"Q" (Nov 10, 2008)

i have done this a few times for when we are
having parties and i need extra grill space .. 
do the three two .. they are well in the safe 
zone .. although putting a thermometer in a rack of 
ribs can be hard to get a accurate reading ..
then throw them on a hot grill to reheat and sauce ..
the last hour of the 3-2-1 meathod is help 
firm up and shrink the meat back off the bones .. 
i usually crank my heat up a bit in the last hour 
anyway .. hope this helps ..


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## paddfoot (Nov 17, 2008)

if you use a 3 2 methed then treat the 1 factor as if you had a store bought rib pack, place it on foil and reheat in the oven until the desired temp is achieved, they will be fully cooked after the 2 portion the remaining 3 portion is just to tighten the meat back up, great idea if your prepping for a party or large group


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