Ribs/Chicken Combo Question


 
S

S. Fink

TVWBB Fan
I'm planning on doing ribs and chicken on the 4th. My plan is to do the ribs first, pull them, get the heat up and then throw on the chicken. A few questions before I dive in:

1) How should I handle saucing the ribs? If they're going to sit a couple of hours before eating, should I sauce and then keep warm in the oven? Should I pull them off dry and then sauce/reheat on the gasser? Any suggestions?

2)I plan on cooking the ribs Minion. If I open all vents when the ribs are done, will the WSM get hot enough w/ out adding more fuel? Should I toss in another chimney of coals to get the temp up faster? Having never tried this combo before, how long do you think it will take to get the temp up for the Chicken?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Happy 4th to all.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by S. Fink:
I'm planning on doing ribs and chicken on the 4th. My plan is to do the ribs first, pull them, get the heat up and then throw on the chicken. A few questions before I dive in:

1) How should I handle saucing the ribs? If they're going to sit a couple of hours before eating, should I sauce and then keep warm in the oven? Should I pull them off dry and then sauce/reheat on the gasser? Any suggestions?

2)I plan on cooking the ribs Minion. If I open all vents when the ribs are done, will the WSM get hot enough w/ out adding more fuel? Should I toss in another chimney of coals to get the temp up faster? Having never tried this combo before, how long do you think it will take to get the temp up for the Chicken?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Happy 4th to all. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>How much and what kind of chicken (bone in breasts, thighs, boneless thighs, legs, quarters, etc.) are you doing?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by S. Fink:
I'm planning on doing ribs and chicken on the 4th. My plan is to do the ribs first, pull them, get the heat up and then throw on the chicken. A few questions before I dive in:

1) How should I handle saucing the ribs? If they're going to sit a couple of hours before eating, should I sauce and then keep warm in the oven? Should I pull them off dry and then sauce/reheat on the gasser? Any suggestions?

2)I plan on cooking the ribs Minion. If I open all vents when the ribs are done, will the WSM get hot enough w/ out adding more fuel? Should I toss in another chimney of coals to get the temp up faster? Having never tried this combo before, how long do you think it will take to get the temp up for the Chicken?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Happy 4th to all. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> About resting your ribs in sauce the easy answer is 'No' (personal preference) but it's not 'wrong'. It kind of depends on what you are trying to do (infuse ribs with your sauce for example) and how much 'tooth' you like.
 
I do this same cook frequently - nice combination for the guests.

The ribs get a light sauce glaze, then quickly wrapped, and then sliced about 1-2 hours later. Sometime I hold in the oven at 170, sometime just in a cooler w/ newspaper.

After the ribs are off the grill, open all vents 100%, add a half chimney of lit, and tilt the lid to get it up to 350-375. I usually brine or Mojo the bird parts, so they're done in 1 hour. Good luck, I'm doing the same thing!
 
Thanks for the info Mike. Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by "tilt the lid"? Any good brining recipes?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by S. Fink:
Thanks for the info Mike. Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by "tilt the lid"? Any good brining recipes? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Instead of putting the lid on right, leave one edge of the lid resting on the lip to get more airflow. This will get the pit temps up for a high heat chicken cook.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Instead of putting the lid on right, leave one edge of the lid resting on the lip to get more airflow. This will get the pit temps up for a high heat chicken cook.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly what he said. That trick will get you at least 25 degrees.

BTW, I use a Guru temp control, w/ a dry water pan. If you use a filled water pan for your ribs, you should try to dump it before you put your bird on. The water in the pan will just make it harder to hit the temps you want.

I've used simple brines (see the bird brine recipes) but my favorite is Mojo Criollo by Goya Foods, available in the Latino section at your grocer. Very easy and everyone seems to like it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">) How should I handle saucing the ribs? If they're going to sit a couple of hours before eating, should I sauce and then keep warm in the oven? Should I pull them off dry and then sauce/reheat on the gasser? Any suggestions? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What I have done is wrap the ribs in foil w/o sauce and set in a oven (off). When the chicken is done, lower the grate over the coals and put the ribs on then sauce. The ribs will keep warm and should'nt cook any more in the off oven.

Good Luck

Tom
 
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I've never brined chicken before smoking. Would you still put a standard rub on before smoking? Does the brine greatly affect the flavor, or is more of a moisture thing?
 
I completed my first ribs/chicken combo yesterday... 10 hours of glorious bbq. BRITU and basic barbecued chicken, to keep things simple. I was also curious how to hold the ribs and stoke the cooker. A full chimney of briquettes quickly brought it up to 375 with all the vents open. The one mistake I made was saucing and slicing the ribs before foiling them. I ate a few right out of the smoker and they were definitely better than those that sat. But everyone agreed that everything fantastic. Even the curious neighbor got a plate. Best of all, I've had 2 meals worth of leftovers today. Can't wait to do it again!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mosef:
I completed my first ribs/chicken combo yesterday... 10 hours of glorious bbq. BRITU and basic barbecued chicken, to keep things simple. I was also curious how to hold the ribs and stoke the cooker. A full chimney of briquettes quickly brought it up to 375 with all the vents open. The one mistake I made was saucing and slicing the ribs before foiling them. I ate a few right out of the smoker and they were definitely better than those that sat. But everyone agreed that everything fantastic. Even the curious neighbor got a plate. Best of all, I've had 2 meals worth of leftovers today. Can't wait to do it again! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
More details on your smoke please. Times, temps. ect.
 
My ribs are going to sit for 1.5 to 2 hours while the chicken cooks. Once the bird is done, can the ribs then be sauced and heated/crisped on a grill? Is it too late?
 
Hope this reply doesn't come too late. Here are the details of Tuesday's cook. I started with 3 racks of baby backs and 1 whole organic chicken. My butcher was kind enough to remove the membranes and take the backbone out of the chicken, saving me some work to start the day. I planned on following the steps for BRITU ribs as closely as possible. Started the first chimney of kingsford at 10:30 with the goal of getting the ribs on at 12:30. I got the rub on them by 11:30. My time got pushed back because it took a while for the temps to drop back down to 235. The BRITU page says the smoker needs an hour to drop, but both times I've tried this method, it's taken a little over 2 hours. Next time I just need to start an hour earlier or maybe go minion. Anyways, the ribs went on at 2 on the dot. 3 hours later peeked for the first time, turned and rotated the meat. They were done by about 6:15. Here I made the mistake of cutting and saucing all the ribs before foiling them (I would've just served them all hot, but the 2 ladies had a book club meeting, and we wanted to eat everything later at 9:30). With the extra time, maybe I should have tried the 3-2-1 method. But that's why I love this. There's so much to learn! Anyway, I let the cooker hold steady at 250 with nothing on until about 7:45 when I fired a full chimney to crank the temps up for the Basic chicken. After 30 minutes or so, they were ready to go, along with 2 fresh chunks of cherry (I used 5 chunks of apple for the ribs). I'm kind of timid with cooking chicken (I got food poisoning earlier this year from a chicken n' waffles joint in phoenix), so I let them go for 70 minutes. If I had a thermapen, I wouldn't have to worry about it. Crisped the skin for a minute, slightly worried I would burn the goods, but it turned out fine, and the chicken was still very moist and delicious. The leftovers were really good too. Cold ribs for lunch (an underrated treat, me thinks), and for dinner all the chicken and ribs went foiled into a 300 oven for 20 minutes or so. Then I hit the ribs with more sauce (I used Red Tail ale BBQ sauce- very good with a bit of kick- for both meats) and broiled for a minute.

I do have one question about reading my temps. I have a standard candy going through the lid (ditched the et-73 for a while after I completely ruined a turkey last year). I know the lid temp is supposed to be a bit higher at the lid, but the tip hangs about halfway down, right in between the lid and grate. Do you think I should factor this in and aim for a slightly higher temp, or just keep looking for 230?

Happy 4th!
 
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