Recently I got Jeff’s email about his version of Johnny Trigg’s ribs using a modified 3-2-1 method and Jeff’s rub with a twist. Being new to smoking meat, I decided the time was right to try my first rack of ribs using my fairly new and once used MES 30. Our Thanksgiving smoked turkey was my first effort (again using Jeff’s process) and we were very pleased at the result so here I go.
As there are only two of us, I went with one slab of St. Louis style ribs, which just happened to be on special at the supermarket.
Following the recipe, I cut the slab into two sections, coated the ribs with yellow mustard and covered with Jeff’s rub on both sides, letting them then sit for about 10-15 minutes.
Then, with the smoker ready to go, I mixed Alder and Oak pellets, filled my new AMNPS and following the directions, got the pellets lit and burning well. Into the smoker went the ribs!
A couple notes here. After about 10 minutes, the AMNPS went out and I had to relight it. While doing that, I put some Alder and Pecan chips in the MES tray and dropped them in. This turned out to be a good thing as I had trouble keeping the AMNPS going throughout the 3 hour smoke. After the 3 hours, out they came and into the foil with the brown sugar/Jeff’s rub/butter mixture.
After the next 2 hour cooking time, the ribs came out and were rescued from the foil. I must admit, they looked and smelled great! I also reserved the ample amount of juice from both packets as Jeff recommended.
During the final hour, I added a bit more smoke although I don’t know if at that point in the cooking it made much difference but I had a lot of pellets unburned in the AMNPS anyway. I also based the ribs a couple times with the reserved juices which I think really added a sweetness to the finished ribs. Then, the moment of truth. The internal temp was right on at the end of the 1 hour so they came out to rest for a few minutes.
While I didn’t get the smoke ring I was hoping for, the ribs were fall off the bone perfect and the flavor was really, really good!
Over the 6 hours of cooking, I did see a fluxuation in temp inside the smoker. While I knew that the MES internal thermometer was about 15 degrees low compared to my Maverick ET732, the temp seemed to vary +/- about 10 degrees from the 225 degree setting. Seems the internal thermometer lets the smoker drop about 10 degrees before turning on and waits to about 10 degrees high to shut off. Might be I just need to get more experience so on to my next one.
As there are only two of us, I went with one slab of St. Louis style ribs, which just happened to be on special at the supermarket.
Following the recipe, I cut the slab into two sections, coated the ribs with yellow mustard and covered with Jeff’s rub on both sides, letting them then sit for about 10-15 minutes.
Then, with the smoker ready to go, I mixed Alder and Oak pellets, filled my new AMNPS and following the directions, got the pellets lit and burning well. Into the smoker went the ribs!
A couple notes here. After about 10 minutes, the AMNPS went out and I had to relight it. While doing that, I put some Alder and Pecan chips in the MES tray and dropped them in. This turned out to be a good thing as I had trouble keeping the AMNPS going throughout the 3 hour smoke. After the 3 hours, out they came and into the foil with the brown sugar/Jeff’s rub/butter mixture.
After the next 2 hour cooking time, the ribs came out and were rescued from the foil. I must admit, they looked and smelled great! I also reserved the ample amount of juice from both packets as Jeff recommended.
During the final hour, I added a bit more smoke although I don’t know if at that point in the cooking it made much difference but I had a lot of pellets unburned in the AMNPS anyway. I also based the ribs a couple times with the reserved juices which I think really added a sweetness to the finished ribs. Then, the moment of truth. The internal temp was right on at the end of the 1 hour so they came out to rest for a few minutes.
While I didn’t get the smoke ring I was hoping for, the ribs were fall off the bone perfect and the flavor was really, really good!
Over the 6 hours of cooking, I did see a fluxuation in temp inside the smoker. While I knew that the MES internal thermometer was about 15 degrees low compared to my Maverick ET732, the temp seemed to vary +/- about 10 degrees from the 225 degree setting. Seems the internal thermometer lets the smoker drop about 10 degrees before turning on and waits to about 10 degrees high to shut off. Might be I just need to get more experience so on to my next one.
