Well here we are the day of the Rib Roast smoke. It has been a Murphy's Law day all day long. to start things off the service call I was going to do this AM canceled out. I always test my thermometers before I smoke. My ET-73 is sitting on the counter near the sink, probe in ice water. The boys let the dog back in he jumps up putting his paws on the counter knocking the 73 into the sink........................You know where this is headed right?.....................Yep the sink is full of water. Had I been right there I might have been able to save it but I was in the other room, headed to the kitchen, I had the roast on the counter.
Now I gotta smoke with my old thermometers, none of which are very accurate or have a remote display. I calibrate them in ice water noting how far they are off. I chose to use the Taylor with a pager for the meat, and it's only off 15 degrees high not too bad. I use my El-cheapo true-temp that is off 40 degrees low for the smoker temp, might as well use the darn stock thermometer on the smoker except its erratic. Fire up smoker and preheat get Rib Roast in at 2:00 1 hour behind, called wife and told her we are eating 1 hour later no big deal.
I check roast at 1 hour we are looking good just no drippings in pan. I don't think much of it as temp of roast is only 68. I check it again at 2.5 hours still looking good, and still no drippings in pan. I know I should have some drippings by now, and all i have is a few small spots. My first thought is smoker temps too low, I pull the true-temp and check it again in boiling water, nope off by 40. I then think the Taylor is off, so I take my instant read and check nope same temp. this has me stumped, never seen this before. My gut is telling me something is wrong but I can't figure out what. Smoker temps are checked about every 15-30 min lowest I had seen was 205 and highest was 230. I let it go and and checked again at 4 hours Rib roast is 136, checked with instant read as well. But there are no drippings yet
I'm pulling the roast at 140 so we are almost done. I am busy with the taters when the beeper goes off. when I get out there the roast is 142 close enough. But I got no drippings. I put it in the drip pan and foil it to rest. After a 15 min rest I slice into it. I am devastated its not pink. IT has moisture but the meat is brown, My wife says think about it the injection was dark brown, It colored the meat just like the turkeys. OK makes since. We eat, I am so glade
my boy didn't have his GF over, this was the worst tasting rib roast I have done. It's not due to how it was cooked it was the meat. The only moisture to speak of was from my injection. The areas that didn't get the injection like down by the ribs was DRY, and they had the great red color I am use to seeing. I have no clue why this meat is so dry, and it didn't have that beefy flavor. My wife thinks it was from an old dairy cow. Before I go talking to my butcher I want your awl's input. Don't get me wrong here the meal was OK, the meat was edible, mostly due to my injecting, had good smoke flavor. The taters were EXCELLENT, and every thing else was good. I will do a post on the taters as well in sides. This was in no way the dinner I had planed on for today. I would have been better off taking the $ I spent on this and going out. This goes to show even the best laid plans can go a-muck. As well as even experienced smokers can have a bad smoke.
When you look at the pics note the amount of drippings in the pan under the roast and you will see exactly what I am talking about. Here's the Q-view
2PM just put in the smoker
1 Hr. in TBS. The pic looks blurry but that is TBS
2.5 Hr in TBS. Pic looks blurry but that's TBS
4Hr. in TBS. The Smoke was mostly done so I didn't add any wood
Fresh out of smoker waiting to be foiled
Rib bones removed and Sliced into note the red juice
The rib bones see how nice and Pink they are
The taters cooking
Veggies ready to cook
The salad
Taters all done
Veggies all done
So there ya have it my totally messed up dinner
Now I gotta smoke with my old thermometers, none of which are very accurate or have a remote display. I calibrate them in ice water noting how far they are off. I chose to use the Taylor with a pager for the meat, and it's only off 15 degrees high not too bad. I use my El-cheapo true-temp that is off 40 degrees low for the smoker temp, might as well use the darn stock thermometer on the smoker except its erratic. Fire up smoker and preheat get Rib Roast in at 2:00 1 hour behind, called wife and told her we are eating 1 hour later no big deal.
I check roast at 1 hour we are looking good just no drippings in pan. I don't think much of it as temp of roast is only 68. I check it again at 2.5 hours still looking good, and still no drippings in pan. I know I should have some drippings by now, and all i have is a few small spots. My first thought is smoker temps too low, I pull the true-temp and check it again in boiling water, nope off by 40. I then think the Taylor is off, so I take my instant read and check nope same temp. this has me stumped, never seen this before. My gut is telling me something is wrong but I can't figure out what. Smoker temps are checked about every 15-30 min lowest I had seen was 205 and highest was 230. I let it go and and checked again at 4 hours Rib roast is 136, checked with instant read as well. But there are no drippings yet
When you look at the pics note the amount of drippings in the pan under the roast and you will see exactly what I am talking about. Here's the Q-view
2PM just put in the smoker
1 Hr. in TBS. The pic looks blurry but that is TBS
2.5 Hr in TBS. Pic looks blurry but that's TBS
4Hr. in TBS. The Smoke was mostly done so I didn't add any wood
Fresh out of smoker waiting to be foiled
Rib bones removed and Sliced into note the red juice
The rib bones see how nice and Pink they are
The taters cooking
Veggies ready to cook
The salad
Taters all done
Veggies all done
So there ya have it my totally messed up dinner
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