Dear Customers,
So many times, cooking without a well-documented recipe has gotten me into trouble. Maybe I’m “inventing” something that incorporates several fixings that I included “just because I like them!” Other times, the proper temperature, cooking method and time allotted have eluded me. The worst thing that can happen is that you can waste a lot of good ingredients, money, and time!
This can happen far too easily when cooking, grilling, frying or otherwise attempting to prepare an expensive cut of meat. Recipes exist for a very valid reason – as do meat thermometers. There are few culinary faux pas worse than readying your taste buds for a juicy, delicious steak or chicken breast only to bite into it and wish you had a quart or so of gravy to help wash it down.
That’s why I’m so impressed with magazines like America’s Test Kitchen or Cook’s Illustrated. They don’t just give you the steps so that you can replicate their recipe, they include you in the thought process of the problem they were trying to solve and the steps they took to achieve that solution – even if it takes them multiple tries!
The first time I decided to cook pork spareribs on a Traeger pellet grill, I chose one from several recipes and methods of cooking. I was well into the process before I read through to the end of the instructions only to find that the whole cooking time was somewhere around 6 hours! Guess they won’t be ready for supper! I was already committed by that time so I “bulled ahead” which was my mother’s way of reminding me how stubborn I am.
This recipe is called 3-2-1 Ribs, and you can find it on the internet simply by typing in that name or going to www.traeger.com . Since it’s rather elaborate and time consuming, I have not listed the steps here, but the web site even features a nice video so that you can follow along. I will say that they were the most flavorful and tender pork ribs I’d ever eaten but without the recipe there’s no way I would have come anywhere close to the end result.
Here, however, are the necessary ingredients for 3-2-1 Ribs:
| 2 racks baby back ribs | 1/3 cup yellow mustard | ½ cup apple jce. Divided |
| 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce | Pork & Poultry Rub to taste | ½ cup dark brown sugar |
| 1/3 cup honey, warmed | 1 cup favorite BBQ sauce |