Married a Texas woman a few years ago, so our two or three yearly visits to Texas have taught me some of the pleasures of smoked meat. Tried smoking on the gas grill and got inconsistent results, no matter how carefully I tended the fires, so I got myself an Old Smokey electric last week after reading dozens of owner reviews that almost unanimously put it head and shoulders above the electric water smokers.
My first (so far) venture into the fray, after seasoning the smoker, was a rack of spareribs. I rubbed it down with a recipe for what was allegedly a "Kansas City rub" and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. There wasn't any recipe for ribs in the little recipe book that came with it, so I simply followed the rule of thumb for the other recipes in the book that said to smoke it for about 20 minutes a pound. It was a cold day, so I figured it would probably take longer as a result, and I set the rheostat up to the high position. I figured it would probably take 1-1/2 - 2 hours.
I looked in on it at the one-hour mark, and there it was, all done! I didn't have to stick a thermometer in it - you could tell just by looking at it. I was afraid it was overdone.
Brought it in the house and sliced it up. The rub worked very well, even though it had been advertised as a beef rub, and the pork was pretty good - not as smoky as I would have liked, and not as tender as I expected, but very juicy and flavorful. I was quite pleased, seeing as how it was a first effort. Mrs. BPSCG liked it, and she's had a lot more smoked spareribs in her life than I have.
Now I have to get a thermometer to stick through the top, so I know when I'm getting over 250.
My first (so far) venture into the fray, after seasoning the smoker, was a rack of spareribs. I rubbed it down with a recipe for what was allegedly a "Kansas City rub" and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. There wasn't any recipe for ribs in the little recipe book that came with it, so I simply followed the rule of thumb for the other recipes in the book that said to smoke it for about 20 minutes a pound. It was a cold day, so I figured it would probably take longer as a result, and I set the rheostat up to the high position. I figured it would probably take 1-1/2 - 2 hours.
I looked in on it at the one-hour mark, and there it was, all done! I didn't have to stick a thermometer in it - you could tell just by looking at it. I was afraid it was overdone.
Brought it in the house and sliced it up. The rub worked very well, even though it had been advertised as a beef rub, and the pork was pretty good - not as smoky as I would have liked, and not as tender as I expected, but very juicy and flavorful. I was quite pleased, seeing as how it was a first effort. Mrs. BPSCG liked it, and she's had a lot more smoked spareribs in her life than I have.
Now I have to get a thermometer to stick through the top, so I know when I'm getting over 250.
