This past Friday my family and I were going on a planned trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We had rented a 4 bedroom/4 bath cabin, "Bearfoot Lodge", from Timber Tops Cabin Rentals.
Since the cabin had a fully equipped kitchen and an outdoor 35 gallon charcoal grill I thought it would be good to have a good family meal at the cabin on our last night. But I didn’t want to spend all day up there cooking it.
A couple of days before we left on the trip, Winn Dixie had untrimmed spare ribs on sale for $1.99 a pound, so I picked up a 3 pack (cryovac).
I trimmed them and cut them into St. Louis Style cuts and removed the membrane. My son and I coated them with yellow mustard and “Jeff’s Naked Rib Rub”. We wrapped them in plastic wrap and into the fridge they went. My son also pulled out some pork steaks and a small package of Country Style Ribs from the freezer. We coated these with yellow mustard and “Bad Byron’s Butt Rub”, wrapped and also placed in the fridge.
On Thursday, the night before leaving we fired up the Lang 36 Patio with seasoned oak wood. This was also the first cooking for me on my new Lang. To start the wood in the firebox I used a Weed Burner Torch that I purchased from Harbor Freight Tools. This is definitely the way to go. I will never build a fire in the firebox any other way again.
We took the pit up to 350*F and loaded the Spare Ribs and their trimmings.
We closed up the pit and regulated the air intakes until it settled in between 225* & 235*, we kept the stack wide open.
We cooked the Spare Ribs using the 3-2-1 method. After 3 hours it was time to wrap the Spare Ribs in foil.
We double foil wrapped the Spare Ribs with a little apple juice and returned them to the pit. We removed all the trimmings and loaded the 6 Pork Steaks and the 3 Country Spare Ribs.
We ate some of the trimmings (they were fully cooked and had a little tug), they were very tasty. We cut the rest for some beans we were planning on cooking at the cabin.
We also prepped what we would need for the beans. We tried using the top of the fire box to cook the bacon in a frying pan but the heat exchange between the firebox and the pan was not great enough for this function.
So we broke out one of my portable stoves and took care of business. We browned up the bacon and some Cajun Smoked Sausage and put it in a Ziploc bag. We then cooked the vegetables (Onion, Green Bell Peppers, Jalapenos, Garlic) in the bacon/sausage grease. When they were soft and translucent we bagged them. Once they all cooled they went into a cooler for the trip.
At the end of the 2 hour foiled mark. We un-foiled the Spare Ribs, sprinkled some brown sugar and returned them to the pit. We also removed the Pork Steaks and Country Spare Ribs. We foiled them (with a little apple juice) allowed them to cool and into the cooler they went.
After the last hour we removed the Spare Ribs and wrapped them in foil and allowed them to cool and into the cooler they went.
Three nights later (Sunday) at the cabin I cooked up a Corn Casserole and a batch of beans. My son fired up the charcoal grill. We added a little smoke to the Great Smoky Mountains this night. We used Kingsford Mesquite Charcoal and added some soaked Cherry Wood Chips.
We coated the Spare Ribs with “Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ Sweet Sauce” (Ketchup Based) and the Country Spare Ribs and Pork Steaks with “Jerome Brown Original BBQ Sauce” (Mustard Based).
When the meats were brought up to temperature and had a nice glaze it was time to eat.
It was a great trip and this meal was a great way to end it with family and friends. Everything was great!
Since the cabin had a fully equipped kitchen and an outdoor 35 gallon charcoal grill I thought it would be good to have a good family meal at the cabin on our last night. But I didn’t want to spend all day up there cooking it.
A couple of days before we left on the trip, Winn Dixie had untrimmed spare ribs on sale for $1.99 a pound, so I picked up a 3 pack (cryovac).
I trimmed them and cut them into St. Louis Style cuts and removed the membrane. My son and I coated them with yellow mustard and “Jeff’s Naked Rib Rub”. We wrapped them in plastic wrap and into the fridge they went. My son also pulled out some pork steaks and a small package of Country Style Ribs from the freezer. We coated these with yellow mustard and “Bad Byron’s Butt Rub”, wrapped and also placed in the fridge.
On Thursday, the night before leaving we fired up the Lang 36 Patio with seasoned oak wood. This was also the first cooking for me on my new Lang. To start the wood in the firebox I used a Weed Burner Torch that I purchased from Harbor Freight Tools. This is definitely the way to go. I will never build a fire in the firebox any other way again.
We took the pit up to 350*F and loaded the Spare Ribs and their trimmings.
We closed up the pit and regulated the air intakes until it settled in between 225* & 235*, we kept the stack wide open.
We cooked the Spare Ribs using the 3-2-1 method. After 3 hours it was time to wrap the Spare Ribs in foil.
We double foil wrapped the Spare Ribs with a little apple juice and returned them to the pit. We removed all the trimmings and loaded the 6 Pork Steaks and the 3 Country Spare Ribs.
We ate some of the trimmings (they were fully cooked and had a little tug), they were very tasty. We cut the rest for some beans we were planning on cooking at the cabin.
We also prepped what we would need for the beans. We tried using the top of the fire box to cook the bacon in a frying pan but the heat exchange between the firebox and the pan was not great enough for this function.
So we broke out one of my portable stoves and took care of business. We browned up the bacon and some Cajun Smoked Sausage and put it in a Ziploc bag. We then cooked the vegetables (Onion, Green Bell Peppers, Jalapenos, Garlic) in the bacon/sausage grease. When they were soft and translucent we bagged them. Once they all cooled they went into a cooler for the trip.
At the end of the 2 hour foiled mark. We un-foiled the Spare Ribs, sprinkled some brown sugar and returned them to the pit. We also removed the Pork Steaks and Country Spare Ribs. We foiled them (with a little apple juice) allowed them to cool and into the cooler they went.
After the last hour we removed the Spare Ribs and wrapped them in foil and allowed them to cool and into the cooler they went.
Three nights later (Sunday) at the cabin I cooked up a Corn Casserole and a batch of beans. My son fired up the charcoal grill. We added a little smoke to the Great Smoky Mountains this night. We used Kingsford Mesquite Charcoal and added some soaked Cherry Wood Chips.
We coated the Spare Ribs with “Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ Sweet Sauce” (Ketchup Based) and the Country Spare Ribs and Pork Steaks with “Jerome Brown Original BBQ Sauce” (Mustard Based).
When the meats were brought up to temperature and had a nice glaze it was time to eat.
It was a great trip and this meal was a great way to end it with family and friends. Everything was great!
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