- Dec 13, 2007
- 23
- 10
Well, the wife and boy are out of town for the week and I decided to smoke up some ribs. This is after my failed first attempt. I was a little gunshy about ruining several more pounds of meat and did not want to try again with the wife and boy waiting and drooling.
The wife took the camera with her so no pics this time.
Ok, supplies...
20# Royal Oak Lump - used probably about 8#
10# Hickory chunks - used about 4# (I like smoke)
Slab of back ribs
Shaker of cayenne/garlic rub
1# Jimmy Dean sage
1/4# Sargento 4 cheese mex blend
Saturday night I took the ribs out of the fridge, removed the membrane and gave them a good coat of the rub. Wrapped them in plastic and set in fridge.
Sunday morning I woke up to a drizzling rain. Great, I thought might have to put this off till Christmas day. Well the rain let up about 10:00 and forecast called for clearing skys. Fired up a chimney full of lump and went inside.
I prepared the fatty in the recommended gallon ziploc. This was not the best option as I was only doing a 1# fatty. Oh well, got it all stuffed, and wrapped and put back in the fridge.
Before getting started I flipped the ash pan of the Chargriller over and butted up against the firebox side of the chamber. A drip pan just fit under the grates and the pan. Flipping it provided a MUCH more consistent temp across the grill. Still seems to vary about 20° or so but much better than it was. I am going to be installing a couple thermos in the door at either end as soon as I find my drill...Just moved to a new place...and can't find anything.
Anyway, I went out to the smoker, dumped the coals, setup the wireless thermo probe...hmm forgot to get a potato...Looked around the kitchen for something to use. Couldn't find a thing until i opened the fridge. Those that read about my first smoke attempt will remember that I totally burnt the county ribs I had on. Well, there were will some in the fridge I was feeding to the dog as a treat. Grabbed one of them and used it instead of a potato. Worked just fine.
Now the temp is right around 220°. Time to put the meat on. Put the ribs and fatty on. I was able to keep a real constant temp at around 220° I had intended to cook at closer to 230° but it liked the 220° so I let it stay. After about 2.5 hours the fatty was at 165° and ready to come off. I went ahead and wrapped the ribs in foil at this point, slashed in the apple juice and wrapped em up. The fatty turned out great but about half the cheese had leaked out. Using the ziploc method did not give me a good seal. I would have done 2#s but was just cooking for me. Oh well, the fatty was AWESOME...I ate way too much waiting on the ribs. I had used some mild garlic rub on the inside and some cayenne rub on the outside.
After 2 hours in the foil I unwrapped the ribs. They were real juicy at this point. Back to the smoke. The ribs were starting to get a little done on the outside and were already up to temp so I went ahead and pulled them after only about 15 minutes after unwrapping. The meat all around the outsides was absolutely perfect and the meat on the inside was pretty good. All the meat was easily pulled from the bones.
The beer for the days smoke was some Terrapin Golden Ale. The beer was really smooth and went very well with the fatty.
Things I will do differently:
Increase the temp slightly to 230°.
For the back ribs, unwrapped for 2 hours, wrapped for 2 hours and finish unwrapped for an hour (all times approximate of course.)
When wrapping the fatty, try to get the sausage a little thinner and the cheese well away from the edges so to have plenty of area to connect the sides of the roll.
Buy more beer.
Overall was an enjoyable smoke with pretty good results.
The wife took the camera with her so no pics this time.
Ok, supplies...
20# Royal Oak Lump - used probably about 8#
10# Hickory chunks - used about 4# (I like smoke)
Slab of back ribs
Shaker of cayenne/garlic rub
1# Jimmy Dean sage
1/4# Sargento 4 cheese mex blend
Saturday night I took the ribs out of the fridge, removed the membrane and gave them a good coat of the rub. Wrapped them in plastic and set in fridge.
Sunday morning I woke up to a drizzling rain. Great, I thought might have to put this off till Christmas day. Well the rain let up about 10:00 and forecast called for clearing skys. Fired up a chimney full of lump and went inside.
I prepared the fatty in the recommended gallon ziploc. This was not the best option as I was only doing a 1# fatty. Oh well, got it all stuffed, and wrapped and put back in the fridge.
Before getting started I flipped the ash pan of the Chargriller over and butted up against the firebox side of the chamber. A drip pan just fit under the grates and the pan. Flipping it provided a MUCH more consistent temp across the grill. Still seems to vary about 20° or so but much better than it was. I am going to be installing a couple thermos in the door at either end as soon as I find my drill...Just moved to a new place...and can't find anything.
Anyway, I went out to the smoker, dumped the coals, setup the wireless thermo probe...hmm forgot to get a potato...Looked around the kitchen for something to use. Couldn't find a thing until i opened the fridge. Those that read about my first smoke attempt will remember that I totally burnt the county ribs I had on. Well, there were will some in the fridge I was feeding to the dog as a treat. Grabbed one of them and used it instead of a potato. Worked just fine.
Now the temp is right around 220°. Time to put the meat on. Put the ribs and fatty on. I was able to keep a real constant temp at around 220° I had intended to cook at closer to 230° but it liked the 220° so I let it stay. After about 2.5 hours the fatty was at 165° and ready to come off. I went ahead and wrapped the ribs in foil at this point, slashed in the apple juice and wrapped em up. The fatty turned out great but about half the cheese had leaked out. Using the ziploc method did not give me a good seal. I would have done 2#s but was just cooking for me. Oh well, the fatty was AWESOME...I ate way too much waiting on the ribs. I had used some mild garlic rub on the inside and some cayenne rub on the outside.
After 2 hours in the foil I unwrapped the ribs. They were real juicy at this point. Back to the smoke. The ribs were starting to get a little done on the outside and were already up to temp so I went ahead and pulled them after only about 15 minutes after unwrapping. The meat all around the outsides was absolutely perfect and the meat on the inside was pretty good. All the meat was easily pulled from the bones.
The beer for the days smoke was some Terrapin Golden Ale. The beer was really smooth and went very well with the fatty.
Things I will do differently:
Increase the temp slightly to 230°.
For the back ribs, unwrapped for 2 hours, wrapped for 2 hours and finish unwrapped for an hour (all times approximate of course.)
When wrapping the fatty, try to get the sausage a little thinner and the cheese well away from the edges so to have plenty of area to connect the sides of the roll.
Buy more beer.
Overall was an enjoyable smoke with pretty good results.
