One for Ron Man: Yoshidas Rib Steaks over Hickory w/Q-view

[forluvofsmoke]

It seemed to be a beautiful day to remember our old friend Ron P, and I just happened to have some of his favorite on hand for a Sunday afternoon smoke. Anyone who knew Ron through posts here on the forums also knew his love for a great Ribsteak. With Ron by my side, we'll bring together a nice marriage of beef, smoke and teriyaki marinade.

I managed to fit 8 out 10 steaks from just shy of 10lbs into my Brinkamann Gourmet charcoaler without crowding too much, so the remaining two will get a little fire built under 'em in my 18.5" Weber Kettle later this evening.

I slathered the steaks with Yoshidas reg/teriyaki, flipped and repeated several times over 1/2 hour period to get some flavor soaking in before the hickory took over the show:

While waiting for 6lbs of coals (2 - 3/4 full chimneys) to finish heating up...:

...I loaded a warm (`120*) water pan and steaks went onto the grates and into the chamber...I didn't use really hot water as it's 40* today, now that the snow stopped again, so condensation can be an issue 'til the chamber heats up:

I'm shooting for 175* chamber temps while I smoke for the first hour, then, bump up to around 230-240* to bring 'em to the finish line.

There was a lot of steam coming out the top vent, so after 1 hour in, I decided to take a peak, suspecting the steaks would be drowning in juices...they were, so I pulled both grates and dumped out the water pan for a dry cooking cycle to finish them up.

10 minutes after dumping the water, and getting a better hold on spiked temps of ~250* by fully closing my side fire pan intake and closing the bottom intake to about 20-25% (dumping the water removed the inefficiency/heat loss due to steaming off the water), here's what greeted me:

I'll give these an about 40 minutes or so and grab one out for quick cut and peek inside, and possibly a small therm reading just for good measure...I'm shooting for med/rare, med would be fine by me, though.

Back with the finish later...dinner's in about 90 minutes, give or take, if anyone cares to join us...wish you could, I may have a hard time eating one for Ron, as 2 - 1lbr's may be a tough ride for my belly...but then there's a first for everything!

See ya soon! Thanks all!

Eric

 

[bbally]

The Ribeye and the T-bone!

Nice job and RIP ronp

 

[DanMcG]

lookin good Eric, Ron would be proud!

 

[meateater]

Yes it's a great day to remember. :)

 

[bmudd14474]

Looks great. Ron would be happy.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks fellas, I do owe a ton of my smoking knowledge to Ron. He inspied me to "think out of the box" when a smoke wasn't going in my favor, and to try smoking new things, like these hearty steaks and homemade sausage loafs, just to name a few.

When I lifted the lid, the one's I did stab for a quick direct read were 145-149*, so I covered them to rest while I seared up the two I had no room for in the Gourmet. Aah, Ron liked a good grilled steak too, so this would be right up his alley, just the same.

Ready to rest...the surface liquids dried off like I wanted, so more of that great flavor stayed with the meat:

2 hours in they were nearly perfect. Took less time than I expected...I figure 2.5 or better, but then I had that temp spike when I dumped all the water out of the pan...another lesson learned...hmm, even this old dog can still learn. I guess this is actually my first cold (sorta) weather smoke with the Gourmet, and it's heavily modded, so the high humidity smoke chamber issue had to come around sooner or later.

I recovered all the largest hot coals (big enough to not drop through the grate) from the Gourmet (about 2lbs), tossed 'em into the Weber and let 'em get nice and hot over fully opened intakes for about 6-8 minutes so I could get a nice sear going on the remaining two Rib steaks.

My wife's small char-grilled version...I went for smoked of course:

All was good as usual...just like the days when Ron was here to watch my back while I worked out issues during a smoke...he da Man!

Oh, I did't eat two steaks yet (one for me and one for Ron), but the night's still young...heh-heh-heh!

RIP, my friend...

Thanks everyone!

Eric

 

[raptor700]

Nice post Eric, As long as RON's influence lives, he is not forgotten!

 

[erain]

nice one bro!!! i had the exact same thing on my mind... i have a few ribeyes in the freezer and was thinking about doing a reverse sear post but you beat me to it...

RIP Ron... miss your sunday nite calls!!!

 

[mballi3011]

Now those are some fine looking steaks. I bet Ron's up there banging his knife and fork on the dinner table waiting for his. You have really made him proud there Eric.