First Try At Ribs

[Tom Barineau]

Fired the WSM up this a.m. for the first time. Cooked one pack of cryovac spares from Sam's in Panama City-- $1.47/lb. by the case. Did not trim them at all. Boss (she's Greek and just naturally knows how to cook) rubbed them down last night with a rub from the grocery store called "Pride of Szeged" which we have been using on ribs we've smoked on our Charbroil smoker.
New ET-73 worked great, new chimney starter worked great, new WSM worked great--only problem was the operator who got excited and put the ribs on too early and spent an hour trying to get the WSM to cool down to the temp at which the ribs were SUPPOSED to be put on.

They still turned out good. Probably a bit drier that they would have been if I hadn't gone off half cocked, but still very good. (Doesn't take much to beat a cheap Brinkman or Charbroil.)

I appreciate this site and what I'm learning from it. Thanks to all of you.

Tom - FSU Seminole at Lake Seminole

 

[Keri C]

Tom, you might try using the Minion method to bring your temp up instead of having to work to bring it down. I use that approach on any cook that's going to be over 2 hours. You just won't need a full ring of charcoal for a rib cook like you would for butts or briskets. Jim Minion himself will probably tell you that it's MUCH easier to slowly bring the temp up than it is to work to try to bring it down.

Keep reporting on cooks! I love to hear about others' experiences.

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time

 

[Tom Barineau]

Keri--

Thanks for your input--will try Minion method next time with ribs. There is so much information here, and I suppose it will take a little experimenting to figure out how to cook ribs on a real "controllable" smoker, but I'll figure it out pretty quick. Incidently, I have a Keri also--Keri Anne--first year in college--good, smart kid--must be the name, huh?

Tom

 

[Brad Chopp]

Just curious what your cooking log looked like on your ribs? How long, at what temp?

 

[Tom Barineau]

Brad--

Even if I had kept a log, I don't think you would want to use it. (I started out keeping one then scrapped it when I realized I had put the ribs on before letting the WSM get down to the correct temperature before putting the ribs on). I started out using the cooking process from this site titled "Spareribs-Sugarless Texas Sprinkle" but I botched it. I think that hereafter I will take Keri's suggestion and begin with the Minion Method and try to simply keep the temps between 225 & 250. There may very well be a process like that for ribs on this site, but I have not run across it. If not, maybe we can come up with one for those of us living the the warm south.

Tom--Seminole at Lk. Seminole

 

[Russ Hazzon]

Tom -
One suggestion when trying the Minion Method for the first time - have patience! This method works wonderfully, but you'll find that increasing/decreasing the temperature happens very slowly. Unlike a full chimney or two of lit charcoil, the 'method' needs time to make a temperature change. The nice part is that a 15-20 hour cook is very possible without adding charcoal.