Mark Barton
TVWBB Super Fan
Hey everyone,
I purchased a WSM 18.5 a few weeks ago, and started by cooking a few rounds of bacon and sausage to "season" it. Last weekend I cooked two chickens to better learn how the smoker works.
This weekend I graduated to Ribs! I made a few mistakes, but the end result was still delicious.
Bought a three pack of St Louis style ribs from Costco. Took off the membrane and trimmed them up a tiny bit. Cooked them all using a modified 3-2-1 method.
Since this was my first time barbecuing ribs, I tried three different rubs to see what I might like. In the photo, the single rack on the left has an Orange and Maple rub that I came up with on my own, using he 1-1-1-1 formula as the base. The middle rack has straight SYD rub, and the one of the far right has Meathead's Memphis Dust. For the first cook, I stuck with the Less Is More Philosophy.
Aaah. Smokey, Porky Goodness! Since I was testing different rubs, I did not sauce the ribs. For the SYD ribs (top left on the cutting board), I followed Harry Soo's foiling method with honey, brown sugar and apple juice. The Meathead ribs (top right) were foiled with brown sugar, butter and apple juice. The Orange and Maple ribs (bottom) got butter, a little maple syrup, and a few tablespoons of orange juice.
I just had to try a few before dinner.
Takeaways:
Thanks!
I purchased a WSM 18.5 a few weeks ago, and started by cooking a few rounds of bacon and sausage to "season" it. Last weekend I cooked two chickens to better learn how the smoker works.
This weekend I graduated to Ribs! I made a few mistakes, but the end result was still delicious.
Bought a three pack of St Louis style ribs from Costco. Took off the membrane and trimmed them up a tiny bit. Cooked them all using a modified 3-2-1 method.
Since this was my first time barbecuing ribs, I tried three different rubs to see what I might like. In the photo, the single rack on the left has an Orange and Maple rub that I came up with on my own, using he 1-1-1-1 formula as the base. The middle rack has straight SYD rub, and the one of the far right has Meathead's Memphis Dust. For the first cook, I stuck with the Less Is More Philosophy.
Aaah. Smokey, Porky Goodness! Since I was testing different rubs, I did not sauce the ribs. For the SYD ribs (top left on the cutting board), I followed Harry Soo's foiling method with honey, brown sugar and apple juice. The Meathead ribs (top right) were foiled with brown sugar, butter and apple juice. The Orange and Maple ribs (bottom) got butter, a little maple syrup, and a few tablespoons of orange juice.
I just had to try a few before dinner.
Takeaways:
- My favorite ribs were SYD, with the Orange Maple placing a close second, and Meathead's in third.
- Even though I liked SYD rub the best, they all tasted great! It will depend on my mood.
- The ribs could handle MORE rub. Probably about double what I used.
- Some tweaks are needed to my rub recipe to bring out more orange flavor.
Thanks!
