Turkey and Rib Help

[Guest]

I'm doing a whole turkey and some pork ribs this weekend for fathers day. I only have one smoke under my belt so far - 2 pork shoulders. The turkey goes on the bottom and the ribs will take longer right? I'm thinking standard method with a temp of about 300. Any advice would help, thank you.

 

[Doug D]

300* is too high for the ribs. You have the poultry on the bottom part correct, though-- no juices dripping on anything else. Those two are a tough combo, because turkey is better done at 300-350 (dry water pan), and ribs nice and slow at 225-250.

If I was forced to do them together, I would run at 250* until the ribs were done, and finish the turkey higher if I could, either adding pre-lit fuel to raise the temp, or eliminating the water in the pan (very carefully).

 

[Tyler Montague]

Christopher, I think you might run into trouble with those ribs if you try to do them at 300 degrees. That's an okay temperature for the turkey (you want to get that to about 165 in the breast, and about 10 degrees hotter in the thigh/leg), and you should get there in about 3 hours or so, depending on the size of the turkey etc. The ribs could seize up on you if you go that hot. My idea if you need to have these things come off around the same time: do your ribs at about 225 - 250 for 3 hours, take them out, foil them, and finish them in your oven at 225. After you take out your ribs, stoke up the temp to 300 - 325 in your weber, and throw that turkey on. The turkeys turn out great in the smoker, and they're really easy to do. Good luck!

 

[Steve Hilmer]

I like Tylers idea, you get the benefit of smoking and still can time things so both are done near the same time. I just want to add if you need to put the ribs back on for a breif period at the end to improve the bark and color, 300-350 would be ok. After all, they should be nice and tender after foiling. Many comp smokers grill ribs at high heat (550+) for a few minutes to brown ribs.

 

[Brian L.]

I like Tylers idea too. And if you have a grill, you can fire that bad boy up to finish your ribs when the turkey is ready. Even a gas grill, they're already smoked!

 

[Bill Freiberger]

Another variation on Tyler's reply would be to cook the ribs at 225 for six hours or so, then take them off the WSM, wrap them in foil, wrap them in towels and put them in a cooler for four hours while you cook the turkey on the WSM at 350.

Bill