So after weeks if not months of going back and forth about my desire to purchase a pit barrel cooker I finally decided that I should get one. I picked one up at my local ACE hardware on the 3rd and because of this the wife wanted ribs for the 4th. Since I adhere to the happy wife happy life philosophy I was happy to comply. Picked up a couple racks of baby backs and since this whole ordeal was so last minute just figured I would use the rub that pit barrel provides with the cooker.
So on the 4th I set the PBC up based on the lighting instructions that have been posted up top. Filled my basket with kingsford briquettes, pulled out 40 to light in the chimmney, and once those were going put them back into the basket along with a piece of cherry wood. I let the coals go for 10 minutes with the lid off then put the lid on for 10 minutes before hanging my ribs. Out of curiosity I placed an oven thermometer in the cooker just to see what temp it ran at. Everyone here and just about everywhere I have looked on the internet have said to not worry about the temp of the PBC. I looked at it about 15 minutes after hanging the ribs and about 2 hrs into the cook. It stayed around 275 for me the whole time.
I only peeked at the ribs at the 2 hour mark and again at three hours. The pull back was looking good at three hours and so I sauced them and put them back on for about 20ish minutes. Overall the cook went great, ribs turned out good with a bit of chew but still came clean off the bone. I did not place my rub on these ribs until about an hour before putting them on the grill, so I don't know if the PBC rub is just boring or if it is because I didn't give them enough time to absorb it but I was a little underwhelmed by the flavor (although the wife liked them). I've always done my ribs with some sort of a mop during cooking and was wondering if anyone does this with the PBC? Anyway its just something for me to work on which is just an excuse to make more ribs.
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Two hours in
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So on the 4th I set the PBC up based on the lighting instructions that have been posted up top. Filled my basket with kingsford briquettes, pulled out 40 to light in the chimmney, and once those were going put them back into the basket along with a piece of cherry wood. I let the coals go for 10 minutes with the lid off then put the lid on for 10 minutes before hanging my ribs. Out of curiosity I placed an oven thermometer in the cooker just to see what temp it ran at. Everyone here and just about everywhere I have looked on the internet have said to not worry about the temp of the PBC. I looked at it about 15 minutes after hanging the ribs and about 2 hrs into the cook. It stayed around 275 for me the whole time.
I only peeked at the ribs at the 2 hour mark and again at three hours. The pull back was looking good at three hours and so I sauced them and put them back on for about 20ish minutes. Overall the cook went great, ribs turned out good with a bit of chew but still came clean off the bone. I did not place my rub on these ribs until about an hour before putting them on the grill, so I don't know if the PBC rub is just boring or if it is because I didn't give them enough time to absorb it but I was a little underwhelmed by the flavor (although the wife liked them). I've always done my ribs with some sort of a mop during cooking and was wondering if anyone does this with the PBC? Anyway its just something for me to work on which is just an excuse to make more ribs.
Pre-cook
Start
Two hours in
Finished product
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