Well, after looking for advice on previous posts I tried my first-ever ribs on my WSM. This was the third time it saw action (one test / cleaning run with no food, one Tasso cook with sand in the water pan, and now one rib cook)
it it turned out pretty good! The family loved them. We had hotdogs available as contingency, though this proved unnecessary.
Setup: 18 inch WSM with Kingsford charcoal & apple wood chunks. I used Soo’s donut method for the charcoal with apple chunks buried on the bottom. I threw a chunk of apple wood in the charcoal chimney to get started with the "starter coals," as suggested by all of you on my previous thread. I used a gallon of tap water (regular faucet temperature, not pre-heated) in the pan & waited for the white smoke to disappear before loading my meat on the grill. I used a digital pit temperature probe to measure the upper grate temp.
Ribs: 2 slabs of Baby-Back from BJ Warehouse. I salted them for two hours prior to the cook, then rubbed with Meathead’s Memphis Dust. Added store-bought sauce (Sweet Baby Ray) in the last 15 minutes. My wife loves that sauce and I have yet to try a home-made version.
Lessons learned: I screwed up the initial charcoal load, so even with water in the pan the temp climbed to 325 and stayed there for a while. I closed down the lower vents to about 2/3 open, and set the top vent temporarily to 1/2 to get the temp down. I added my meat at 280ish because it was getting late in the day. Most of the cook was at 245 though I was hoping for 225. I was able to open up the top vent as the cook progressed. The hot pit DID NOT matter at the beginning. The ribs turned out fine.
The best thing I did was follow your previous advice on waiting for clean smoke. If anything I need to add more wood next time. The smoke flavor was mild; which is much preferable to a creosote-flavored first cook.
Memphis Dust is good stuff. I might cut back a bit on the ginger for next batch, but that’s just me.
Total cook time: 4 hours. Ribs were moist, tender, and delicious!
Conclusion: the WSM is an amazing smoker that can deliver fantastic results for a beginner. All of you on this forum are a great source of help for getting great results!
Curent status: celebrating with a Sazerac or two & trying to finish this post before food coma & meat sweats render me entirely useless for the rest of the night.
it it turned out pretty good! The family loved them. We had hotdogs available as contingency, though this proved unnecessary.
Setup: 18 inch WSM with Kingsford charcoal & apple wood chunks. I used Soo’s donut method for the charcoal with apple chunks buried on the bottom. I threw a chunk of apple wood in the charcoal chimney to get started with the "starter coals," as suggested by all of you on my previous thread. I used a gallon of tap water (regular faucet temperature, not pre-heated) in the pan & waited for the white smoke to disappear before loading my meat on the grill. I used a digital pit temperature probe to measure the upper grate temp.
Ribs: 2 slabs of Baby-Back from BJ Warehouse. I salted them for two hours prior to the cook, then rubbed with Meathead’s Memphis Dust. Added store-bought sauce (Sweet Baby Ray) in the last 15 minutes. My wife loves that sauce and I have yet to try a home-made version.
Lessons learned: I screwed up the initial charcoal load, so even with water in the pan the temp climbed to 325 and stayed there for a while. I closed down the lower vents to about 2/3 open, and set the top vent temporarily to 1/2 to get the temp down. I added my meat at 280ish because it was getting late in the day. Most of the cook was at 245 though I was hoping for 225. I was able to open up the top vent as the cook progressed. The hot pit DID NOT matter at the beginning. The ribs turned out fine.
The best thing I did was follow your previous advice on waiting for clean smoke. If anything I need to add more wood next time. The smoke flavor was mild; which is much preferable to a creosote-flavored first cook.
Memphis Dust is good stuff. I might cut back a bit on the ginger for next batch, but that’s just me.
Total cook time: 4 hours. Ribs were moist, tender, and delicious!
Conclusion: the WSM is an amazing smoker that can deliver fantastic results for a beginner. All of you on this forum are a great source of help for getting great results!
Curent status: celebrating with a Sazerac or two & trying to finish this post before food coma & meat sweats render me entirely useless for the rest of the night.
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