Newbies MAD BeefShorties Weekend Roller-coaster #ATGNI


 
J

James Hardacre (Slimjim)

New member
Totally new to smoking... and to be honest BBQing on coal, not gas.

So, like a loon, I jumped in with both feet! Kind of following this recipe: http://virtualweberbullet.com/shortribs2.html

This is how my weekend went. ;)


"ATGNI" - All the Gear, No Idea!

Saturday 7:30 am

Leave Telford in our yellow VW camper van for the 2.5 hour trip down to High Wycombe.
Interesting trip, including triggering an impromptu VW meet at a Services on the Motorway, nearly hitting a rather large Muntjac Dear... and witnessing someone hitting/killing a Muntjac Dear (was VERY tempted to stop and take it with us!)

Arrived at a smoker addicts house to pickup the 12 month/8 cook old Weber 47 he had for sale, as he was upgrading. Was amazed to find he had pulled "a few other bits" together for me, included in the £250.
Weber 47 (mint condition)
Weber 47 cover
1.7 bags of Weber coal
1 bag of Weber apple wood
0.7 bag of Hickory
1 bag organic apple wood
2 boxes Oak wood & Oak "starter lumps"
1 Weber 47 lid gasket (unused)
1 Weber chimney starter
......
And..... a 10cfm Rock's BBQ WiFi Stoker II kit!!!!!


ALL for £250. I just couldn't believe it.


The gent said he was happy to let someone who was going to get into smoking have all the kit. Due to a bad back he was moving onto a pellet smoker setup. Very grateful for his generosity.

Trip back was less eventful. (Was still tempted to pick up the Dear, as we drove past it on the way back)
But we DID also nearly hit a bloody pheasant, which I WOULD have picked up!
Popped into "The Range" for grab a few bags of Aussie Heat beads and a bag of Apple Wood (for my Father in law as all my talk of Smoking has caused HIM to start!) Bar-code on the Apple wood wouldn't work, so the girl on the checkout just put it through as £3. ANOTHER bargain!

Got home and unloaded to check out my haul.





Building a collection under the BBQ stand. Cold box smoker is covered with a green tarp, Gasser is VERY neglected BUT it does prove useful for something, early on Sunday morning. Can you guess what?



During the week, I had also built up a collection of bits for the big day on Sunday.


Jacobs Ladder of 5 HUGE Beef Ribs.... 3.4kgs



Cut away the two end large ribs, so they would hopefully cook quicker.
But the three together will be plenty for the for of us to share.



Salt & Pepper rub, Saturday night.



Maverick ET732, pair of cheap thick rubber gloves, temp gun (had it from other projects), plenty of catering foil.
and the star buy? The Super-fast Thermapen 3.



Why was it a bargain? Usually £48.



Well, it's marked up for fish/shellfish and if you look closely, the fish icon is printed over the Thermapen raised logo.
So, ETI put it on eBay for £20 delivered! Total bargain.


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Had a look at the WSM47, very clean but seasoned. Perfect.




Lined the pan but decided to not fill it with sand or water (a decision that will actually help, later in the cook)



Going to need to go back and fit either the gasket or an upgraded door.
Look at the gap!



Going Minion. With a spot of Oak.



Setup the Maverick.....




Everything setup and ready, Saturday night.
 
Sunday 6:00 am
..... lunch scheduled for 2:30.



Meat out of the fridge, while I light the coals. Let it come up to room temp.



First attempt to light the chimney with paper failed miserably, so I found a use for the gasser! :p



Once they were going, transferred them to the WSM, so it didn't melt through the cheapo gasser.



Really impressed with it, never used one before. Going to take one with us next time we are camping for lighting camp fires etc.





Knocking the loose rub off the ladder, while using the remote to keep an eye on the temps. What a bloody marvelous thing!



Waited for a while till the coals took before putting the Oak in.


Perfect temp!



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Sunday 07:00



Beef hits the grill for the first time.


The picture below is SO annoying and it comes back to bite me.
Can anyone guess what I have done wrong/badly here?





Everything is running smoothly, sitting at 250ish for 45 mins. All good.
Then, the alarm goes off on the "low" sensor of the Maverick. Temp plummets!
So I open all the vents to try and get the temp up.



Come out to check it as the temp isn't climbing.... and the WSM gauge is off the charts!!! 320+
Backed up by the temp gun on the lid. Very confused.
icon_cry.gif




Still, the Maverick and Weber lid gauge can't be that far out, can they?
I SHOULD have spotted that the food temp was still going up, as the grill temp was going down.



Finally decide to open the lid to see what is going on, which I should have done much sooner.
A rib had fallen onto the temp gauge and was causing a false reading!!!!
(Go on, hands up who guessed that from the earlier pic?)



So, then the battle to drop the temp from 320+... closing all the vents didn't have any instant effect, so I opted to fill the (currently empty but foil wrapped) pan with cold water.
Which did exactly what I needed it too and knocked 80f from the temp, letting me bring it back up to 250.


MASSIVE lesson learned on not only temp gauge location but also temp control and what to trust and when to physically check things, rather than just relying on read outs.






I misted them with Apple Juice every 45 mins or so.


2 more hours of pretty much perfect 250f.
Sky was just relaxing, enjoying the lovely smells



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Sunday 10:30



3 hours after going on, they came off to be wrapped in foil.

Gave them another cheeky spray with apple juice. Looking superb.





Bone starting to come away...







Beginnings of some bark.



Wrapped, probed and ready for another 2 hours.




Started making my way through my relax/chill-out juice.
Yup, still only 11am... but it's Sunday and I "needed" it after the mess up I had made.



----------------


Sunday 12:45


Unwrapping them, they are looking superb.



Back on for another hour, if not more. Till the "sexy wobble" appears.



This thing is SO easy to control.



Decided to drain the water from the pan, to let me shut the vents a bit and save on some fuel.



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Sunday 2:30

Took off the three ribs together and loosely covered them with foil. Let them settle a bit.
Closed all the vents on the WSM and left the other two ribs on as they were still a little way off.







Moist? Just a little.


Went for Mac'n'Cheese with spicy gherkins.



Took the other two off the grill and covered them in the kitchen.


The WSM was pretty much cold, less than an hour later. Very impressed with how fast it cooled down.


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Sunday 20:30
Feeling peckish? Spot of horseradish with some nice fresh sliced baguette. Oh yes!





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So, the result.
I got an amazing deal on pretty much everything I bought. VERY happy with the amount of hardware I have for relatively very little outlay.
Very happy with how much control you get with the WSM. Super easy to use and control.
The Maverick is a "must have" lets you sit and watch TV/drink cider and relax... As long as you trust your instincts and setup the probes right!


If I am 100% honest, the meat was a little tough on the upper/outside section, just below the bark.
This must be down to it being too hot when I messed up the temp gauge.
I used 50% ground pepper, as I ran out of corns to crack (bad prep) so the bark itself was OVERLY peppery (which I didn't think was even possible with beef but it is!)
Saying that, it was STILL the best rib (pork or beef) I have ever tasted (outside of the States) and I know I can only get better.


Only one question really... what next!


th_INGardenbbq7.gif
 
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Jim, everything looks to me like you're on the right track! Don't worry about an occasional hiccup, your mistakes will end up in the same place as grand success feasts.
Sorry, the other thread I was in a pre coffee mind set! Wasn't thinking about your having a WSM I was thinking straight kettle. Feasting ideas are pretty similar though.
Nice set up!
 
Thanks Timothy...

All a bit of a whirl wind to be honest. Just decided I wanted to go down the smoker route and it all snowballed!
Very happy with the WSM, great bit of kit.

JUST got back from the butchers, I have a nice piece of Brisket ordered for Friday, so I can prep it for smoking on Saturday.
 
Wow! Short ribs are pretty ambitious for a first cook! I can't get a handle on that cut. Awesome cook and grats on your haul!
 
Nicely done, especially for a first cook. Now that you're officially hooked, you will really get to know your butcher, which is a very good thing.
 
Thanks Drew.....

We are on first name terms with our local butcher anyway. Top bloke. :D
My wife and I do a lot of cooking anyway and over here in the UK, most supermarket meat is awful (and expensive)
At least in the States (spend a lot of time in Florida) you can walk into a Publics or Whole Foods and get some amazing meat.

Much prefer to use the local butcher who is a REAL one. He butchers the animals himself, on site. So I can ask for any cut I like.
Ordered a brisket for Friday. He usually rolls and ties them all but he is going to keep one for me to have un-rolled, so I can follow the recipe on this site. :cool:
 
SlimJim;
Loved your post and welcome to the Forum! You are well on your way to becoming a PIT MASTER!

Congratulations on your great buys, too! I use my Thermapen all the time. The Maverick is a great tool, too. It makes everything go smoother!

Now, you need to do some PORK! Boston Butts are very forgiving and the pulled pork that results is downright YUMMY! Ribs are easy (I use Harry Soo's recipe) and wonderful.

When smoking, we nearly always do way more than we immediately need, and vacuum pack the rest. It doesn't take much longer at all to run a smoker full (I regularly do two Boston Butts at a time or six half racks of ribs, etc) even tho' there is just the two of us, here. If someone drops in or when the kids are visiting it is nice to have something to just heat up NOW.

It looks like you have a wonderful start on BBQ and we look forward to more of your posts.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Thanks Robert/Dale!

Like to make a splash when I first arrive on a forum :rolleyes:

Brisket is next on the cards... My wife said she fancied one of them, so that is the way we are going.

Will be going for some pork afterwards.
We usually sous vide a butt for 24 horus and it MELTS... but it never quite has that smoky flavour I would like without covering it in sauce.
So we WILL be trying that ASAP.

Same as you, there are only to of us but I DO like the idea of cooking lots of things at once and vac-paking them to reheat later.
How would you do this, with say ribs or butt? Freeze them? Bring them up to temp in the oven?
Very interested to know. :confused:
 
Slimjim:

First, welcome to the best BBQ forum on the 'net.

As the saying goes: Go big, or go home. You've definitely gone big, and it looks like your results are big as well. Great job.

And brisket for your 2nd cook? Big! But from the looks of it, you've got what it takes to nail it.
 
What an entertaining post Jim! Really fun to see someone starting out and recalling my painful road to creating edible barbecue. Your first effort turned out much better than mine. Great job on your first effort! Look forward to hearing about your brisket!
 
Welcome to the forum. Seems like you get a fantastic deal on the WSM and accessories!!

Those ribs look excellent to me. Great first cook. And you made great use of the gasser! I have had issues using paper to light charcoal in the chimney, and I found that using two paper towels (kitchen towels) with a little vegetable oil or olive oil do a great job. You might give that a try next time you don't have access to the gasser.

Again, great ribs.
 
JimK said:
Slimjim:

First, welcome to the best BBQ forum on the 'net.

As the saying goes: Go big, or go home. You've definitely gone big, and it looks like your results are big as well. Great job.

And brisket for your 2nd cook? Big! But from the looks of it, you've got what it takes to nail it.
Click to expand...

Thanks JimK. Yup, GBOGH is one way to put it I guess.
Glad I found this site. Infact, the gent who sold me my setup swears by this site and put me on to it.

Robert T said:
What an entertaining post Jim! Really fun to see someone starting out and recalling my painful road to creating edible barbecue. Your first effort turned out much better than mine. Great job on your first effort! Look forward to hearing about your brisket!
Click to expand...

Thanks RobertT. I'm a bit of a picture wh0re!
Like to document and post threads on the (too) many forums I frequent.
Not just so other newbies (or not so new) can learn from my efforts/mistakes. But also so "I" can re-read the threads and remind myself how things went last time!!

Robert-R said:
Looks like a good cook to me!
Welcome. Thanks for the post. I think you will fit right in here.
Click to expand...
Thanks RobertR, seems like a great place so far.
Going to be trying lots of the recipes.

Mark Barton said:
Welcome to the forum. Seems like you get a fantastic deal on the WSM and accessories!!

Those ribs look excellent to me. Great first cook. And you made great use of the gasser! I have had issues using paper to light charcoal in the chimney, and I found that using two paper towels (kitchen towels) with a little vegetable oil or olive oil do a great job. You might give that a try next time you don't have access to the gasser.

Again, great ribs.
Click to expand...
Top tip for the chimney lighting, really appreciate that, thanks Mark.

Very happy with the ribs, although as I said, they could be better. Will try again soon.

Going for the brisket this weekend (expect another heavy thread next week!!!)
Then, I guess I should go back and try some of the easy "beginners" cooks that are reccomended in the recipie section. 😆
 
Jimbo. What a great intro. Congrats. That was a fine cook indeed for your maiden voyage. Impressive looking bones mate.

Get yourself down to GrillStock 2016 in Bristol. I am!! (Chris Arnold, TVWBB member, is competing again this year). Tickets only left for Sunday 3rd July.

Look forward to your brisket.
 
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