Questions before second smoke - Spares and chicken


 
M

MatjazKocijancic

New member
Hello guys,

tomorow I will be smoking again! I have two racks of spare ribs and one whole (medium sized chicken). I also bought two 14 pound bags of Weber charcoal briquettes to try out since all other brands here in Slovenia are inferior and did not work the best last time.

This time, I will be taking tvwbb's advice and fire up the smoker using the Minion method. I would be very glad If some of you guys would give me an estimate on how many briquettes do I need to do the two racks and one chicken. How many to put in the pit and how many to start?

The second question is how to make the ribs and the chicken be ready at the same time. Do it together? Or would it be better to do the chicken on higher first and then reset for ribs? How do you guys usually do it?

Thank you and good night (almost midnight here in Slovenia)!

Regards,

Matjaz
 
Matjaz, if you do a "snake" or "C" around the charcoal chamber and light one end with a parafin cube you will have plenty of coal for a short rib cook. Another method is to fill it up with the whole bag then, when you're done cooking, close the vents to save the unburnt for next time.

I like to start cooking the ribs, then add chicken about 4 hours later. When the ribs are done and removed, then I crisp the chicken over direct heat (remove the center section and place the cooking grate over the fire covered with the lid).

I hope this helps. I am sure others may give different - and even better advice.
 
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If you decide to do the chicken and ribs together, at the same time, I believe you'll want to put the chicken on the bottom rack and the ribs on top.

If the chicken juices run off into the ribs they could prove a health hazard unless you leave them in until the bird gets to a safe eating temp.

Another way would be to foil the ribs of course. Haven't done them this way for a while but there used to be some high temp foiled ribs recipes on this sight. I'll hunt and see if I can find one.
 
Do the ribs, remove from cooker, wrap in foil and then towels and place in a cooler or your microwave to stay hot. Then crank up the heat on the WSM to 350 or so and cook the chicken till done. About 1- 11/2 hrs depending on the size of the chicken. Don't forget to add another wood chunk for the chicken.
 
I ended up not doing chicken at all, which is a shame, since I really wanted to try it. Some people I had coming over cancelled. I already had the ribs ordered, so I just didn't buy the chicken because it would have been too much. The smoke was great though! I fired up Minion method and I liked it better then the first smoke. Easy temp control with bottom vents, no spikes or drops. Had another chat with the butcher, did some more research so I ended up with two slabs that were pretty close to SLC ribs. I trimmed them a bit more on the top (first time I just smoked them as they were) so they cooked nicely..they were tender, yet firm and had a nice bark. Star of the show! :) Will post pictures in the gallery section!

Thanks for all the advice, the chicken guidelines I will use for future reference :)

Regards,

Matjaz
 
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