Here's the events:
We had some people coming over Sunday at 1PM. Yesterday, I bought ribs at Costco. As you can see from the label, they were butchered as St. Louis spare ribs.
Seven adults. I thought there were two racks in a pack. Turned out that, after I opened both packs, there were three racks in each. Oh well. I took the membrane off the backs.
Next, I need to break them up to fit on the grates. Only could fit about 3.5 racks.
I then put on my rub. I use the rub from the Best Recipes cookbook and refrigerated them overnight. As you can see, I couldn't fit a little more than 2 racks on the grates so I froze the extras for another day.
I then built a fire minion method and used hickory chunks. Put the smoker together and used boiling water.
The lid temp stayed at a hair over 200. At first I was concerned but then I reasoned (1) everyone says the lid thermometer is unreliable (wish list - Maverick ET732) and (2) with that much meat on both grates, by the time the smoke is hitting the lid, its probably cooled down -- so it's not that the fire is too cold but that the meat has to get hotter. Sure enough, within an hour, the temp came up. At one point, without touching the lid, I stuck the probe of an instant read thermometer through a vent hole -- it went up to it max, 220, while the lid was reading 200. Why does Weber bother putting that piece of crap on in the first place?
Anyway, I had overslept. Company was coming at 1PM and, based on what I read, I needed 6 hours. I woke up at eight and had the ribs on a little before 9AM. I figured we weren't going to eat until 3PM. Well, I decided to open the lid just before 1PM and they looked done. I took the smallest piece off and cut the middle rib out to see if they were done -- it looked done, when I bit in, it had a a nice crust and was juicy, tender and gently came away from the bone. My tongue was very happy. It was perfect and the timing was great. As Hannibal Smith said at the end of every episode, "I love it when a plan comes together."
Here they are right out of the smoker.
I just started smoking -- received the WSM 18.5 for my birthday in June. This was my 5th use. I've been doing a lot of reading including the posts here. I did have trouble early on with regulating temps but seem to be getting the hang of it. I wholeheartedly endorse (1) minion method, (2) realizing that the smoker needs to get seasoned, (3) avoid letting the temp get too hot and trying to bring it down -- instead, bring it up slowly.
I'm really good about not opening the lid but wonder whether, if they only took 4 hours, I was actually cooking at too high a temperature.
Also, one comment about foiling the bottom of the water bowl. I did that once and then forgot the next time. I found that I have to wash the bowl anyway to clean the inside of the drippings and the smoke comes off the outside fairly easily with a little Barkeepers Friend and a scotch brite non scratch sponge. So, I don't foil the bowl.
We had some people coming over Sunday at 1PM. Yesterday, I bought ribs at Costco. As you can see from the label, they were butchered as St. Louis spare ribs.
Seven adults. I thought there were two racks in a pack. Turned out that, after I opened both packs, there were three racks in each. Oh well. I took the membrane off the backs.
Next, I need to break them up to fit on the grates. Only could fit about 3.5 racks.
I then put on my rub. I use the rub from the Best Recipes cookbook and refrigerated them overnight. As you can see, I couldn't fit a little more than 2 racks on the grates so I froze the extras for another day.
I then built a fire minion method and used hickory chunks. Put the smoker together and used boiling water.
The lid temp stayed at a hair over 200. At first I was concerned but then I reasoned (1) everyone says the lid thermometer is unreliable (wish list - Maverick ET732) and (2) with that much meat on both grates, by the time the smoke is hitting the lid, its probably cooled down -- so it's not that the fire is too cold but that the meat has to get hotter. Sure enough, within an hour, the temp came up. At one point, without touching the lid, I stuck the probe of an instant read thermometer through a vent hole -- it went up to it max, 220, while the lid was reading 200. Why does Weber bother putting that piece of crap on in the first place?
Anyway, I had overslept. Company was coming at 1PM and, based on what I read, I needed 6 hours. I woke up at eight and had the ribs on a little before 9AM. I figured we weren't going to eat until 3PM. Well, I decided to open the lid just before 1PM and they looked done. I took the smallest piece off and cut the middle rib out to see if they were done -- it looked done, when I bit in, it had a a nice crust and was juicy, tender and gently came away from the bone. My tongue was very happy. It was perfect and the timing was great. As Hannibal Smith said at the end of every episode, "I love it when a plan comes together."
Here they are right out of the smoker.
I just started smoking -- received the WSM 18.5 for my birthday in June. This was my 5th use. I've been doing a lot of reading including the posts here. I did have trouble early on with regulating temps but seem to be getting the hang of it. I wholeheartedly endorse (1) minion method, (2) realizing that the smoker needs to get seasoned, (3) avoid letting the temp get too hot and trying to bring it down -- instead, bring it up slowly.
I'm really good about not opening the lid but wonder whether, if they only took 4 hours, I was actually cooking at too high a temperature.
Also, one comment about foiling the bottom of the water bowl. I did that once and then forgot the next time. I found that I have to wash the bowl anyway to clean the inside of the drippings and the smoke comes off the outside fairly easily with a little Barkeepers Friend and a scotch brite non scratch sponge. So, I don't foil the bowl.
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