Another WSM First Timer


 
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I'm finally getting my WSM today after selling enough items online to be able to treat myself. I've been reading this forum for a couple of months, and I am amazed and impressed by all the help from the forum members.

My first smoke will be this weekend, and my wife insists on ribs (her favorite) and chicken. I'm looking for some advice for a beginner to start out with. I've got a chimney starter, Polder thermometer, gloves, and the Smoke & Spice book.

Questions:

1. Looks like Kingsford is used with good results. Good to start with? Is method #1 best for beginner?

2. Any recommendation for a not-too-salty rub? My wife likes spicy and flavorful, but not salty.

3. Can I get good results by cooking ribs on bottom, chicken on top?

4. Anything else to be aware of as a first-timer?

I am in Colorado (Boulder area), so temp is 50 - 75 throughout the day, dry and breezy, and of course altitude.

Thanks for any and all help. This forum has already been a fantastic source for help, and I look forward to now being an active participant instead of an envious observer!
 
Welcome to the WSM world!

I’ll take a stab at answering your questions.

1. Kingsford will work fine for you. You may want to add some hardwood chunks to your coals for some extra flavor during the first couple of hours. Hickory, apple, pecan, and cherry are a few woods that complement ribs well.

2. My copy of Smoke and Spice is at home so I can’t recommend any in it offhand but if anything in the book appears to have a disproportionate amount of salt, use only half the salt as you make the rub and taste it. If it needs more salt, add it then until you get the desired taste. It’s easier to add salt this way than to compensate for it later after you’ve made a full batch.

3. I’d put the chicken on the bottom and the ribs on top to eliminate the possibility of cross-contamination of chicken juices dripping on the ribs.

4. While not entirely necessary, remove the tough membrane on the underside of the ribs. Work one end of it up with a knife, grab with a paper towel and peel off. You may not get all of it, but what can get rid of will probably be beneficial.

Maybe most importantly, resist the urge to peek for several hours. Magic is happening inside your WSM but magic needs privacy to work and it won’t happen as quickly or as well if it’s disturbed. Opening the lid also dumps out a lot of heat and allows a lot of extra oxygen to the coals, so maintaining constant temperatures can be more difficult.

Have fun and enjoy your weekend.

Ken
 
My offering is to allow plenty of time, for your first cook. Have everything you need, including beverages, in house, before you fire the cooker up.
Part of the good eating, will be your frame of mind, so do not rush things. Let the cooker do all the work, spend your time braggin, about how good of a cook you are.

Best of Luck,
Jim
 
Thanks everyone for the good advice - I'm getting anxious now! Just got home from work, and there's a big box in the garage that got delivered today.

I figure I'll keep it simple for the first smoke - thinking that using a basic rub from Smoke & Spice would be easiest. (any recommendations?)

Another question I have is - from reading this board, I see a lot of folks use apple, oak, pecan, maple, hickory, etc. All I've been able to find locally (in chunks) is hickory. Any recommendations on how much to use for a first time? Also, any recommendations for ordering other woods either mail-order or online? I'd sure like to eventually try some other woods.

Although mesquite is widely available, I gather from all that I've read that not too many people recommend it for the WSM.

I plan on documenting my journey, so I'll report back on how things go for the first time.

Thanks again, everyone. This forum (and web site) rocks!

MD
 
MD,

Welcome and have fun cooking this weekend! I'm working all weekend, but I work at home so I'm thinking we'll have to get out our WSM as well.

I don't have any advice on rubs from Smoke & Spice -- I have the book but I haven't tried any of the rub recipes yet (too busy trying all the recipes on the "Let's Cook" section of this web site).

As far as wood goes, if you're using hickory on ribs I personally would tend to go fairly light on the amount, as you don't want to overpower your food. However, I'm not as experienced as a lot of the fine folks here, so keep in mind that's just my opinion. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I had a hard time finding wood locally, too. I was able to find hickory and mesquite chunks but that's about it. We have a resale lumber yard that sells firewood; I called them and asked them if they had just a few logs of various kinds of wood. They did have some alder and sold me about 5 logs -- which is a lot, once cut into chunks.

Then when we were over at my mother-in-law's house she happened to mention that she had an entire cherry tree that had been cut down, sitting behind her house! It was a decorative cherry, but I did some research and it's okay for smoking.

Do you have any friends with fruit trees, especially apple? Maybe you could ask them for a couple nice-sized branches. I'm going to be in the San Francisco area in mid July and I plan on looking for wood there. Are you near a big city, or close enough to make a day-long adventure?

Good luck and definitely come back and let us know how the first cook went!

Kelly

(edited to fix a typo -- I'm a medical transcriptionist so I'm not "allowed" to make typos!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif )
 
Welcome, MD!

For woods other than mesquite, have you tried Mc Guckin Hardware? They seem to have almost everything, although the last time I was there I wasn't looking for smokewood. A phone call would check it out -- they sell Weber stuff, but if they don't have any woods, they might refer you to someone else.

Also, some of us find smokewoods at Walmart. There are Walmarts at 300 Waneka Parkway, Lafayette, CO 80026, 303-666-0340 OR 800 South Hover Road, Longmont, CO 80501, 303-678-0803.

If you have to resort to mail-order wood, Peoples' Woods is reliable and has very good service, although postage will make it a bit pricy.

http://www.peopleswoods.com

Another idea is to contact the food editors of the Boulder or Denver newspapers. They're often a wealth of information.

Good luck on your first smoke. You're going to have so much fun and some mighty good eatin' !

Rita

PS - Enjoy the latest snowstorm tonight! Think Spring will ever come?
 
Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

Rita -

I was at McGuckin HW today, as it's just down the road. They only had bags of wood chips - hickory, mesquite, and JackDaniels. I didn't think to ask - everyone there is extremely helpful, so maybe tomorrow or the next time I have to go there I'll investigate further. Thanks for the suggestions.

The Louisville Walmart is around the corner, so I'll check them out when I get a chance.

This is fun already, and I haven't even fired it up yet!

Snow in May - quite a change from Phoenix! Just moved to Colorado in December, and I'm still amazed that I haven't had to use my AC yet!

With a 3-day weekend (and some good weather hopefully), I hope to fire up more than once. Looking forward to a fine weekend - some hockey, some racing, and a smoking WSM. Life is good...
 
This may be too late to be of any help this weekend. I am a big fan of the Minion Method to fire up the WSM. The temp is very easy to control.
As far as rubs go,I am still playing around. Strange as it seems,I use a Creole seasonong base from gumbopages.com webbie. It the recipe contains no salt so you can add as you like. We keep a shaker of it on the stove and use it for everything except ice cream! If you can't find it let me know and I think I can send you the link via E-mail.
The only other advice I can offer is don't forget to check the water pan during the cook. As this is my first water smoker,I keep forgetting that the water is boiling(away) as you cook. Good luck.
Pat Barnes
 
Just for what its worth you might also look for grape vines. They work very well with chicken and pork chops.
 
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