Pork Lion Ribs w/ Beer Can Chicken


 
M

MickGeo

New member
This Sunday I am planning on smoking 3 slabs of pork lion ribs and 2 beer can chickens. The ribs will be directly on the top grate of my 18.5 WSM, with the chicken on the bottom. I plan to use two chucks of apple and one of cherry with temperatures between 225° and 250° (closer to the higher end). Based on my plan the cook should take around 4 to 4.5 hours. The plan of attack is as follows:

Pork Lion Ribs

I plan to smoke the three pork lion ribs ribs on the top grate using a modified 3-2-1 method. I will prepare the ribs with yellow mustard and Magic Dust rub. They will initially smoke for 2.5 hours or so meat side up. Each slab will then be placed in the foil with a thin layer of brown sugar with honey drizzle on each side and a 3 tablespoon of apple juice in the foil and returned to the top grate. After 1.5 hours or so (and each slab passes the tear test), the foil will be removed, ribs (both sides) will be brushed with some Sweet a Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and returned to the top grate meat side up for an additional 10 minutes or so.

Beer can chicken

I planned on brining 2 birds (4 lbs.) overnight with Alton Brown's Orange Juice Brine (8 to 12 hours) and then basically following the VWB beer can chicken smoking instructions with Wild Willy's One-derful Rub and smoking the birds for essentially 4 hours (basting with apple juice and turning 180° at the 2 hour mark, with a second basting of apple juice at the 3 hour mark) on the bottom grate. I am going the route of the beer can without liquid simply to keep the birds in the vertical position during the cook.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome Mick! Lots of good museums in your town. Pork Lion ribs sounds like an unusual combination... I would have assumed that the lion would have eaten
the pig before they had a chance to mate, but what do I know. :-) Hope they turned out well, and that some of the rib juices helped to give the chickens some
extra flavor.
 
Welcome Mick. My only advice would be to keep on eye those ribs once you foil. I have never had any ribs, even lion, go 2 hours in foil until they are tender. Normally its around an 1hr max for me.
 
I know everyone has their own way of doing ribs. I've done the 3-2-1 or variants there of, but i stopped doing the whole wrap in foil thing with ribs and couldn't be happier. Its kind of a pain in the butt, and i like the meat exposed to the smoke and gases of the smoker the whole time. Give it a try sometime. Just remember, its not a time thing but a doneness thing. I had some spares today that surprised me at being done at 4hrs. I've had them take up to 6hrs before. Anyway, good luck with your cook.
 
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