- Mar 28, 2011
- 11
- 10
After my first smoke last weekend on the MES 30 of two (2) turkey breasts, four (4) chicken breasts and a GB bacon cheddar fatty turning out OK, but not great, I wanted a chance at redemption. Stopped at Sam's and picked up a pack of trimmed baby backs to smoke. I had some rubs at the house that I wanted to use up so 1 rack got the Weber BBQ rub, another rack got the Penzy's Galena Street Rub, and the third got a little bit of both! Slathered the ribs up first with a thin coating of yellow mustard. Here's two of them after a 12 hour rest in the fridge with the rub:
I also received the retro kit for my MES 30 on Friday so I installed that on Saturday morning and fired up the MES. I let it burn at 275°F for an hour to burn off the coatings on the new chip box then lowered the temperature to 235°F. Put the ribs in and loaded the chip box with 1/2 cup of Jack Daniel's Barrel chips and 1/4 cup of Apple chips, both un-soaked(comes into play later).
Went into the house to get some other stuff ready and went out to check on the smoker temperature and noticed that the smoke was puffing. Pulled out the chip loader and the chips were flaming! I immediately opened the smoker and was able to spray the chips to extinguish the flames. After that everything was OK or so I thought. Thinking I learned my lesson, I immediately went in the house and put my next load of chips in water to soak for a 1/2 hour. After an hour was up I spritzed the ribs with a mixture of apple juice and Jack Daniels then added the new chips to the smoker.
About a half hour in went out to check on the smoker again, and me being the curious person I am, pulled the chip loader to check on the chips. They looked fine so I put the loader back in and puff, they lite off. Went through the same process and everything was OK. I'm thinking that when my dumba** pulled out the loader I introduced sufficient oxygen into the chip bod to have the chips ignite instead of just smolder. I added one last batch of chips and didn't peak at all, just keep an eye on the smoke. Everything went good. Lesson learned, leave the chip loader alone when new chips are added!
After 2 1/2 hours I pulled the ribs and foiled them along with some apple juice. I then put them back in the smoker for 2 hours. (Sorry no pics as I was getting crunched on time). After those two hours I removed the ribs from the foil, spread on some Sweet Baby Ray's sauce and stuck them back in the smoker. I removed them after an hour and threw then on the grill to crisp up the sauce, get a little bit of a char on them.
Here is the finished product along with some homemade baked beans, cheddar jalapeno cornbread, and coleslaw.
I'm ready for my close up!
They turned out great even with the chips flaming which I though may give the meat a burnt flavor. There was none that I noticed. The 2 1/2 hour smoke seemed like just enough to impart a good smoke flavor but not overpower the meat, rub, & sauce. Compliments from all that ate them and I had the leftovers for lunch today. Just as good as yesterday. Next up is pulled pork, here's hoping the weather holds out this upcoming weekend so I can make it three weekends in a row smoking! Thanks for looking.
I also received the retro kit for my MES 30 on Friday so I installed that on Saturday morning and fired up the MES. I let it burn at 275°F for an hour to burn off the coatings on the new chip box then lowered the temperature to 235°F. Put the ribs in and loaded the chip box with 1/2 cup of Jack Daniel's Barrel chips and 1/4 cup of Apple chips, both un-soaked(comes into play later).
Went into the house to get some other stuff ready and went out to check on the smoker temperature and noticed that the smoke was puffing. Pulled out the chip loader and the chips were flaming! I immediately opened the smoker and was able to spray the chips to extinguish the flames. After that everything was OK or so I thought. Thinking I learned my lesson, I immediately went in the house and put my next load of chips in water to soak for a 1/2 hour. After an hour was up I spritzed the ribs with a mixture of apple juice and Jack Daniels then added the new chips to the smoker.
About a half hour in went out to check on the smoker again, and me being the curious person I am, pulled the chip loader to check on the chips. They looked fine so I put the loader back in and puff, they lite off. Went through the same process and everything was OK. I'm thinking that when my dumba** pulled out the loader I introduced sufficient oxygen into the chip bod to have the chips ignite instead of just smolder. I added one last batch of chips and didn't peak at all, just keep an eye on the smoke. Everything went good. Lesson learned, leave the chip loader alone when new chips are added!
After 2 1/2 hours I pulled the ribs and foiled them along with some apple juice. I then put them back in the smoker for 2 hours. (Sorry no pics as I was getting crunched on time). After those two hours I removed the ribs from the foil, spread on some Sweet Baby Ray's sauce and stuck them back in the smoker. I removed them after an hour and threw then on the grill to crisp up the sauce, get a little bit of a char on them.
Here is the finished product along with some homemade baked beans, cheddar jalapeno cornbread, and coleslaw.
I'm ready for my close up!
They turned out great even with the chips flaming which I though may give the meat a burnt flavor. There was none that I noticed. The 2 1/2 hour smoke seemed like just enough to impart a good smoke flavor but not overpower the meat, rub, & sauce. Compliments from all that ate them and I had the leftovers for lunch today. Just as good as yesterday. Next up is pulled pork, here's hoping the weather holds out this upcoming weekend so I can make it three weekends in a row smoking! Thanks for looking.
