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Your advice worked - thanks so much


 
B

Ben Milano

TVWBB Member
Well, like all of us I am sure I was back at the ol' smoker again this weekend. This time i had all of your advice with me and used it like a preacher uses a Bible and it worked.

I smoked aboiut 3-4 pound sof St Louis ribs plus another 3-4 pounds of sausage plus I made and smoked some homemade beans. Everything was from scratch.

I used a mustard slather and a simple, homemade rub on the ribs - smoked 'em for about 6 hours and mopped in every 30 minutes for the last 3 hours. The ribs had a dark mahogony color to them, almost like a fine shallac.

The sausage was smoked for the 3 hours and just turned once.

Beans went in around hour 4 and smoked for two hours. What was the killer is that I placed the beans on the bottom rack of my WSM and let all the drippings do their thing. Took everything off around 5pm , mixed up the beans and grilled some dogs, burgers and corn. Lawdy that was a GREAT meal. I served about 10 adults and they could nto beleive how great the food tatsted, especially the beans and sausage. They also couldn't understand how I can cook food for 4-5-6 hours and it comes out perfect and not burnt, tough, etc. My mother-in-law asked if I could smoke the tirkey for this year's Thanksgiving dinner!

Temps stayed between 225-250 and slowed down to about 200-210 each time I opened the lid to mop. I added charcoal and wood chunks throughout the smoiking process and it worked. Next time I plan to try using tin foil for the last 2-3 hours of my rib smokin' and see how they turn out.

I am slowly but surely working my way up to brisket and pulled pork.
 
Ben, sounds like you had some terrific food and a great weekend.

A note on ribs and foil: 3 hours is too long in my opinion. It will make the meat quite mushy. Many people here like their results at 2 hours; many of us prefer a shorter foiling time, some 45 min-1 hour, some up to 1.5 hours. You need to see what works best for you. Instead of mopping you can use one or more of your mop ingredients (the liquid(s) alone or with seasonings) to add to the foil before seasoning. When you remove the ribs from the foil you can return them to the smoker for glazing or saucing, or just to add textuure to the meat and rub.

Seems to me you're quite ready for a nice, long, overnight butt cook!
 
Hi Ben

The butt is not to be feared.My butts are better than my ribs.I usually start around 5:30am with the fire and finish in the afternoon.This is on a 4-5lb butt.Once you cook and have fresh pulled butt you'll never go back.

Good Luck
Jeff
 
Ben--

Not start to finish. There is an approach for spares posted here called 3-2-1 which you'll see referred to here and there. That's 3 hours on the grate to start (unfoiled), 2 hours foiled, the last hour unfoiled.

I find that lengthening the first unfoiled part and shortening the next two parts works best for me. I cook unfoiled till the ribs are very well-colored (my last cook it was about 4.5 hours--I don't time them, I look for the color). Then I foiled with about 3 T of juice till a toothpick inserted between the bones went in easily, which was about 1.25 hours or so. (If, in checking, the toothpick meets resistance, I leave them in the foil.) Then I removed them from the foil and returned them to the grate to firm a little, about 20 min.

You have to play around to see what approach you like best. Btw, I always do spares so that's what the above refers to. I don't go by the clock; I go by the look and feel of the meat.
 
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