Chicken and ribs

[rusty g]

Hey everyone. I just bought a new master built 30 and season it and now would like to smoke a whole 4 pound chicken and a rack of St. Louis ribs in it. Is it possible to do both at the same time and how many hours at what temp?

 

[phatbac]

For both at the same time i would make sure the chicken is in  foil pan or something to keep the chicken from dripping on the ribs but other than that i would go 245-255 range. you want to probe the chicken until the breast is 165 and the thighs are 175 degrees. for whole chicken at that temp is about 3-3.5 hours or so so i would either use a remote thermometer or start taking temps about 2 -2.5 hours in and judge from there about every half hour.

For spares i recommend the st louis trim (there are great you tubes on this if you aren't sure how) and remember to remove the silver on the back. put on a rub the night before. smoke for about 3 hours then foil. i like to use butter a little vinegar and some sugar (actually i use maple powder) and some agave nectar ( honey works too) and wrap with all that for about two hours at the same temp. then i like to remove the foil; (carefully) and vert mop my favorite sauce on the ribs and put in the oven (grill works too) at about 325 for about 25-30 minutes to set the sauce.

this is how i do it your mileage may vary.

Happy Smoking

phatbac

Edit: Dont forget to take pictures of the process and share them here when you are done!

 

[daricksta]

With such a small whole chicken getting the internal temp above 140° in under 4 hours should be no problem. Don't know if you bought a MES 30 with 4 or 6 racks but I would place the bird on a lower rack where it'll be closer to the heat source just to make sure it's out of the danger zone in time. I'd place the St. Louis ribs above it. You could remove a rack in between them so you could loosely foil directly over the chicken to protect it from the fat drippings from the ribs. Of course it's your choice if you foil the ribs after 2-3 hours of smoking or not.

You could presumably use the same all-purpose dry rub for both. Since you'll be using wood chips I'd recommend hickory. It's a strong-flavored wood but well pair well with both meats.

Using a therm with a temp probe is essential for the chicken. My favorite is the Maverick ET-733 with dual probes because I can remotely monitor the temps of my smoker and one of the meats I'm smoking.

Phatbac has some good temp and cooking time suggestions. As for me I'm standardizing all my smokes at 225°. It seems like the most popular temps among pro smokers are 225°, 235°, and 275°. Wonder why none of them like a temp with a zero or another digit besides 5 at the end?

 

[rusty g]

Thanks for the replies. I have the 30" smoker. Not sure what model,but it has the chip drawer inside and has no timer. I only had Apple chips and I used Apple juice in the steaming drawer. The chicken I cooked for 3 1/2 hours at 275 degrees and was really good,but the St. Louis ribs I cooked for 4 hours and did not use the 3-2-1 method. The were good,but they tasted like I cooked them in the oven. They had a good smoke flavor,but not like I like that come from my pit. Maybe I did something wrong. I bought it for smoking fish and will try in the next couple of days.

 

[daricksta]

Call Masterbuilt customer service. The lack of adequate smoke from those apple wood chips isn't normal. I've always gotten plenty of smoke whether I used wood pellets in my AMNPS or wood chips in the holder. If customer service thinks there's a problem with your smoker they'll make it right.

 

[rusty g]

Thanks for the reply. The smoker had just enough smoke flavor. The ribs to me tasted like I cook them in the oven. The chicken was really good!!!!

 

[daricksta]

Come to think of it when I smoke ribs the smoky flavor is very subtle, not nearly as strong as with meats like beef brisket and chuck roast, pork shoulder, and turkey breast, as well as with salmon and with cheeses. Perhaps pork ribs don't absorb smoke as well as other meats, I don't know. I'll be smoking a couple of racks of baby backs without foiling them in about 2 weeks so I'll pay attention to how much smoke they absorb and post about it.

Chicken aborbs all flavors like a sponge. It's a great meat to smoke or grill.