John Bridgman
TVWBB Super Fan
I had one supermarket rack of spares left over so figured I would cook it up for tonight. Usual setup -- Weber Performer, char baskets at each side with foil and drip pan in the middle, but only burning one basket at a time to keep the temps down.
Definitely wasn't my day for paying attention. Instead of starting a Minion burn in the first basket I put the basket over the lighter and got the whole basket of lump burning. No problem -- closed the bottom vent, 25% on the top vent, lid temp stabilized around 275F.
After a couple of hours, the lid temp was just starting to drop so I opened the vents and started moving lit coals over to the other basket, which was full of unlit lump. I left the vents open to make sure the second basket started to burn OK.
Remembered after an hour or so that I still had the vents open (Dang !!). Ran outside; temp pushing 400F. Pulled the lid off; ribs were dark and seemed noticeably smaller. Meat was pulled back >1/2" on one end of the bones.
Figured I would check to see if they were done before pulling them off. They sure looked crispy, but I've been wrong before. Grabbed the two bones in the middle of the rack for a quick tear test, and both bones came out in my hands.
Results were pretty much what you would expect -- fast hot cooking does not make for tender ribs.
Oh well. The dogs will help me eat them
Definitely wasn't my day for paying attention. Instead of starting a Minion burn in the first basket I put the basket over the lighter and got the whole basket of lump burning. No problem -- closed the bottom vent, 25% on the top vent, lid temp stabilized around 275F.
After a couple of hours, the lid temp was just starting to drop so I opened the vents and started moving lit coals over to the other basket, which was full of unlit lump. I left the vents open to make sure the second basket started to burn OK.
Remembered after an hour or so that I still had the vents open (Dang !!). Ran outside; temp pushing 400F. Pulled the lid off; ribs were dark and seemed noticeably smaller. Meat was pulled back >1/2" on one end of the bones.
Figured I would check to see if they were done before pulling them off. They sure looked crispy, but I've been wrong before. Grabbed the two bones in the middle of the rack for a quick tear test, and both bones came out in my hands.
Results were pretty much what you would expect -- fast hot cooking does not make for tender ribs.
Oh well. The dogs will help me eat them
