Well last weekend I did a no foil brisket for the first time and it turned out fantastic. It got such a great reception that I didn't have much left so I decided to do another this weekend and had some extra grate space on the WSM. Since I think this no foil thing might be the ticket for almost everything I figured that my next experiment (for me anyway) was to do some ribs, baby backs to be exact.
The plan was that if I woke up in the middle of the night to pee I would fire up the smoker and get the brisket going. So 0330 rolls around and my bladder told me that it's time to get up. Got the smoker fired up and the brisket on there in short order......back to bed for a few hours. Fast forward to 1115 this morning and it's time to throw the ribs on. I bought 2 racks from wally world.....one got some sweet and smokey rub and the other got just salt and pepper. I left one plain so I could get a baseline on how well they taste with little seasoning. Left the membrane on and laid them meat side up on the top rack right next to the brisket (now about 6 hours into the smoke).
The brisket gets done in about 13 hours. One rack of ribs was just about falling apart after 6 hours so off it came. The other rack stays on for another 45 minutes and they are ready to come off. About 6 hours for one and 7 hours for the other.
I must say, the ribs turned out excellent.....probably the best I've ever done. It didn't take that much longer than running them in foil and was well worth the effort. I took it easy on the smoke and that really paid off. I think the charcoal alone gives them a wonderful flavor and the wood adds a nice hint of smoke if you don't over do it. I chose pecan this time but I have had good luck with other types of woods. The ribs that just got salt and pepper tasted just as good as the ones that got rubbed.
I might have totally weened myself off of foil. I was always worried about getting everything moist enough but as I'm learning along the way you need to trust the smoker to work it's magic.....it will take care of business. The flavor is ok when foil is used but it's out of this world when you don't use it. If you are reading this and considering a smoke without foil during the cook I say go for it. If you pay attention it will probably surprise you.
I didn't take any pictures.....We all know what ribs and brisket look like by now.....besides, today was all about concentrating on the smoking process.
The plan was that if I woke up in the middle of the night to pee I would fire up the smoker and get the brisket going. So 0330 rolls around and my bladder told me that it's time to get up. Got the smoker fired up and the brisket on there in short order......back to bed for a few hours. Fast forward to 1115 this morning and it's time to throw the ribs on. I bought 2 racks from wally world.....one got some sweet and smokey rub and the other got just salt and pepper. I left one plain so I could get a baseline on how well they taste with little seasoning. Left the membrane on and laid them meat side up on the top rack right next to the brisket (now about 6 hours into the smoke).
The brisket gets done in about 13 hours. One rack of ribs was just about falling apart after 6 hours so off it came. The other rack stays on for another 45 minutes and they are ready to come off. About 6 hours for one and 7 hours for the other.
I must say, the ribs turned out excellent.....probably the best I've ever done. It didn't take that much longer than running them in foil and was well worth the effort. I took it easy on the smoke and that really paid off. I think the charcoal alone gives them a wonderful flavor and the wood adds a nice hint of smoke if you don't over do it. I chose pecan this time but I have had good luck with other types of woods. The ribs that just got salt and pepper tasted just as good as the ones that got rubbed.
I might have totally weened myself off of foil. I was always worried about getting everything moist enough but as I'm learning along the way you need to trust the smoker to work it's magic.....it will take care of business. The flavor is ok when foil is used but it's out of this world when you don't use it. If you are reading this and considering a smoke without foil during the cook I say go for it. If you pay attention it will probably surprise you.
I didn't take any pictures.....We all know what ribs and brisket look like by now.....besides, today was all about concentrating on the smoking process.
