Did my first smoke ever today, in my Smokin-It #2, which arrived on Tuesday. Did two slabs of spare ribs, 3-2-1 method - one was fairly standard, with Jeff's rub. The second rack was following Al's 3-2-1 Asian Ribs recipe in Jeff's book. Also made a batch of ABTs, just cream cheese, cheddar, green onions. First time I've tried these. Half the ABTs were jalapeno, and about half were little red, yellow and orange mini peppers, to keep the wife happy. In the end, she said she liked the jalapeno ones better.
Once again I experience major trouble with flare-ups, similar to when I did the seasoning smoke on Wednesday. This time I was using the hickory that came with the smoker, which had not flared on Wednesday. The first hour and a half was huge frustration and worry, as the smoke POURED out of the vent. Shut it down, emptied the woodbox, grabbed a couple new pieces and wrapped them partially in foil, as was suggested by a couple people here on the forum. Once again, a few minutes in, and huge nasty smoke belching out of the vent. Once again I emptied the woodbox. This time I grabbed a small piece of the Char-Broil cherry I'd bought at Home Depot, which had flared like crazy on Wednesday. I wrapped it entirely in foil, poked about four small holes with a paper clip, and it smoked nicely for the rest of the day. There was still some left when I pulled the meats four or five hours later. I'll be very curious to see if this flare-up issue continues when I get some better wood online - in any case, I now know how to successfully keep it under control.
The Smokin-It held temp very well throughout, once I got the flare-up issues sorted out. I watched it swing from 210 to 240, which is about what I expected based on other posts here.
My 3-hour cycle was closer to 4 hours, since I had the darned door open so long. At 4 hours, I foiled. Spritzed the Asian Ribs with apple juice per the recipe; slopped Chef JimmyJ's Foiling sauce on the others, and loaded in the ABTs at that time. Unfoiled and glazed after 2 hours, and finally couldn't stand it any longer and pulled everything and ate 45 minutes later. Everyrthing was fabulous. NumberOneWife liked the 'regular' ribs better; I liked the Asian. Anxious to try baby-backs next time, see if we like them any better (or any less).
Asian Ribs on top; standard ribs below
ABTs, awaiting their turn in the smoker.
Asian Ribs, all done!
Regular Ribs, all done!
ABTs, all done!
On the plate, and about to be all GONE. After all the drama with the flare-ups, I was so afraid I'd screwed it all up - but everything came out just fabulous. NumberOneWife is beaming, I'm beaming, and all is right with the world. Can't wait for the left-overs tomorrow.
Once again I experience major trouble with flare-ups, similar to when I did the seasoning smoke on Wednesday. This time I was using the hickory that came with the smoker, which had not flared on Wednesday. The first hour and a half was huge frustration and worry, as the smoke POURED out of the vent. Shut it down, emptied the woodbox, grabbed a couple new pieces and wrapped them partially in foil, as was suggested by a couple people here on the forum. Once again, a few minutes in, and huge nasty smoke belching out of the vent. Once again I emptied the woodbox. This time I grabbed a small piece of the Char-Broil cherry I'd bought at Home Depot, which had flared like crazy on Wednesday. I wrapped it entirely in foil, poked about four small holes with a paper clip, and it smoked nicely for the rest of the day. There was still some left when I pulled the meats four or five hours later. I'll be very curious to see if this flare-up issue continues when I get some better wood online - in any case, I now know how to successfully keep it under control.
The Smokin-It held temp very well throughout, once I got the flare-up issues sorted out. I watched it swing from 210 to 240, which is about what I expected based on other posts here.
My 3-hour cycle was closer to 4 hours, since I had the darned door open so long. At 4 hours, I foiled. Spritzed the Asian Ribs with apple juice per the recipe; slopped Chef JimmyJ's Foiling sauce on the others, and loaded in the ABTs at that time. Unfoiled and glazed after 2 hours, and finally couldn't stand it any longer and pulled everything and ate 45 minutes later. Everyrthing was fabulous. NumberOneWife liked the 'regular' ribs better; I liked the Asian. Anxious to try baby-backs next time, see if we like them any better (or any less).
Asian Ribs on top; standard ribs below
ABTs, awaiting their turn in the smoker.
Asian Ribs, all done!
Regular Ribs, all done!
ABTs, all done!
On the plate, and about to be all GONE. After all the drama with the flare-ups, I was so afraid I'd screwed it all up - but everything came out just fabulous. NumberOneWife is beaming, I'm beaming, and all is right with the world. Can't wait for the left-overs tomorrow.
