Did my 2nd smoke with the MES-30 yesterday and turned out some darn good ribs. Here are some observations so far.
Last weekend I did a 7# butt, rubbed and put on the smoker preheated to 210. I did not let the meat come to room temp before I put in on in an effort to get as much smoke into it before it hit 140 internal. Don't think it really mattered since I only used about 6 applications of dry hickory chips, I think they burned up too quickly to make good smoke. Wasn't an appreciable ring but we did have good smoke flavor. Ten hours later we were at 185-190 internal so off it came. Tented with foil for 30 minutes while I made up the eastern NC style vinegar pepper sauce (no ketchup) . Pulled the pork and it fell apart like its supposed to and hit it with the sauce for a quick toss and on a bun with slaw. Turned out pretty dang good. Had plenty of outside brown and great crustification with plenty of smoke flavor. Next time I'll use a few pieces of wicked good lump as part of the smoke, that did the smoke ring trick on the ribs of my second smoke.
This weekend I did 2 slabs of St. Louis cut ribs cooked in the Memphis style. 220 degrees for 6 and 1/4 hours and they were just right. Did the bend check and checked temp at 5 hours and we weren't there yet. Another 1:15 to get to a nice break on the crust but not falling apart, temp was 180 at several spots using a Thermapen. Tented for 30 and they were smack yo momma good! I did have a sauce on the side but was totally not necessary. This time I used soaked hickory with a couple of med sized chunks of some wicked good lump left over from the burgers I did on the Weber kettle Sat night. About 4 applications and we had great smoke flavor with a nice pink ring. The smokey ends were killer. The ribs were trimmed, rubbed, cut in half and put on the pre-heated smoker before they came up to room temp. We had a cool day Sunday, temps in the 60's so to help preheat I used boiling water in the water pan. That helped get me to cooking temp in about half the time. I did another refill about 3 hours in with more boiling water. I think using boiling liquid really helps with temp recovery when you have to open the door. In this smoke I only opened the door twice during cooking, once to add water and again to check the pull at 5 hrs.
Point to ponder:
-Use boiling water to help get up to temp and recover temps when adding mid smoke. I use an electric water pitcher/boiler to add water to the pan which would be rather tricky otherwise.
-Using 1 or 2 pieces of lump or briquettes seems to help get a smoke ring which, if you do some searching, isn't really necessary but aesthetically desired.
-Soaking the chips for the MES 30 would appear to be necessary if you want some length to the smolder, at least on my smoker cooking at the temps I'm cooking at. Lower temps may warrant using dry, to be determined.
-I am loving the simplicity of using electric, never thought I'd go there but I also thought Apple computers would never make it big, (posting this from my iPad).
-I'm waiting for my Maverick ET-73 dual probe to be delivered so I can compare the actual smoker temps to the MES 30 control panel, I may be adjusting my target cooking temp some but so far I'm happy with the results without second guessing the controller.
Last weekend I did a 7# butt, rubbed and put on the smoker preheated to 210. I did not let the meat come to room temp before I put in on in an effort to get as much smoke into it before it hit 140 internal. Don't think it really mattered since I only used about 6 applications of dry hickory chips, I think they burned up too quickly to make good smoke. Wasn't an appreciable ring but we did have good smoke flavor. Ten hours later we were at 185-190 internal so off it came. Tented with foil for 30 minutes while I made up the eastern NC style vinegar pepper sauce (no ketchup) . Pulled the pork and it fell apart like its supposed to and hit it with the sauce for a quick toss and on a bun with slaw. Turned out pretty dang good. Had plenty of outside brown and great crustification with plenty of smoke flavor. Next time I'll use a few pieces of wicked good lump as part of the smoke, that did the smoke ring trick on the ribs of my second smoke.
This weekend I did 2 slabs of St. Louis cut ribs cooked in the Memphis style. 220 degrees for 6 and 1/4 hours and they were just right. Did the bend check and checked temp at 5 hours and we weren't there yet. Another 1:15 to get to a nice break on the crust but not falling apart, temp was 180 at several spots using a Thermapen. Tented for 30 and they were smack yo momma good! I did have a sauce on the side but was totally not necessary. This time I used soaked hickory with a couple of med sized chunks of some wicked good lump left over from the burgers I did on the Weber kettle Sat night. About 4 applications and we had great smoke flavor with a nice pink ring. The smokey ends were killer. The ribs were trimmed, rubbed, cut in half and put on the pre-heated smoker before they came up to room temp. We had a cool day Sunday, temps in the 60's so to help preheat I used boiling water in the water pan. That helped get me to cooking temp in about half the time. I did another refill about 3 hours in with more boiling water. I think using boiling liquid really helps with temp recovery when you have to open the door. In this smoke I only opened the door twice during cooking, once to add water and again to check the pull at 5 hrs.
Point to ponder:
-Use boiling water to help get up to temp and recover temps when adding mid smoke. I use an electric water pitcher/boiler to add water to the pan which would be rather tricky otherwise.
-Using 1 or 2 pieces of lump or briquettes seems to help get a smoke ring which, if you do some searching, isn't really necessary but aesthetically desired.
-Soaking the chips for the MES 30 would appear to be necessary if you want some length to the smolder, at least on my smoker cooking at the temps I'm cooking at. Lower temps may warrant using dry, to be determined.
-I am loving the simplicity of using electric, never thought I'd go there but I also thought Apple computers would never make it big, (posting this from my iPad).
-I'm waiting for my Maverick ET-73 dual probe to be delivered so I can compare the actual smoker temps to the MES 30 control panel, I may be adjusting my target cooking temp some but so far I'm happy with the results without second guessing the controller.
