Did my first smoke on the MES yesterday, with pretty good results for a first attempt.
I did two racks of baby backs, put a rub on the night before, and ended up doing them with the 2-2-1 method, at 225 F. I brined the turkey breast (bone-in) overnight and put them in about two hours after the ribs got started. It took longer to cook than I expected (about 4.5 hours at 225 F but I boosted it to 250 F after the ribs were done), so we ended up eating in two stages.
The ribs were really tasty, with a nice crust on them; among the best ribs I've ever made. The turkey turned out nicely, too. Very moist and tender. I was surprised at how well the MES kept a constant heat, despite the cold weather, and also at how few wood chips were required to get smoke - Illini is dead on when he says just 4 or 5 every 30 to 45 minutes, folks!
The pics are of the turkey and ribs near the end of the smoke (I wasn't using wood chips by then), the ribs ready to eat, and the turkey ready to carve.
I'm looking forward to my next smoke in a couple of weeks!
I did two racks of baby backs, put a rub on the night before, and ended up doing them with the 2-2-1 method, at 225 F. I brined the turkey breast (bone-in) overnight and put them in about two hours after the ribs got started. It took longer to cook than I expected (about 4.5 hours at 225 F but I boosted it to 250 F after the ribs were done), so we ended up eating in two stages.
The ribs were really tasty, with a nice crust on them; among the best ribs I've ever made. The turkey turned out nicely, too. Very moist and tender. I was surprised at how well the MES kept a constant heat, despite the cold weather, and also at how few wood chips were required to get smoke - Illini is dead on when he says just 4 or 5 every 30 to 45 minutes, folks!
The pics are of the turkey and ribs near the end of the smoke (I wasn't using wood chips by then), the ribs ready to eat, and the turkey ready to carve.
I'm looking forward to my next smoke in a couple of weeks!
