It was the first nice weekend in Chicagoland since February. Wait what? Yeah, we randomly had a week of 70s in February, then the grey 30s and 40s retuned like they always do. No complaints from me though. We've had a super mild couple of winters but this weekend sealed the deal that spring is here! This is me up late the night before tearing up the kitchen after Caitlin had gone to bed. That's the only time I can get away with things like this.
Bought St. Louis Ribs and Chicken from Costco. I didn't look at the package and I thought I was buying chicken quarters but I accidentally bought leg and thigh meat with bone and skin removed. Where's the fun of chicken with no skin or bone for barbecue? Initially I was mad., but sometimes you gotta learn and the only person to be mad at is yourself.
Ribs turned out great, passed the bend test and toothpick test but I think they could have gone another 30 min to an hour more because they weren't to my liking tenderness-wise. Had a little too much pull from the bone and didn't come clean off. I'd rather have the amazing bark and a little tough than tender with weak bark. So I never ever wrap...maybe some of you can convince me otherwise. Almost had to eat these Memphis style looking at em at first...But again, where's the fun in that?
But alas we must sauce.
Hey, what's more annoying than putting your ribs on the top rack of a WSM and your chicken on the bottom rack when it's time to put it on later? Not much. Can't do the opposite because the raw chicken juice will drop in the pork and contaminate it. Oh well. WSMs are darn near perfect and in my mind's eye and one of, if not the best smoker for your money you can buy at that price point. It's a design flaw that can be overlooked.
So I decided to fire up the kettle separately because I wanted to have more access to the chicken and just leave the ribs alone. With me, chicken can go from great to crappy in a hurry. Forgot to take pictures of chicken pre cook and on the grill, but I had a few beers by then and the effort needed to get out of the lawn chair wasn't worth the picture taking at that time.
Question though, if I did put the chicken at the bottom rack at a later time than the ribs and started to throw wood on the charcoal again would it over smoke the ribs if they've already had their smoke for the first hour of cooking?
At any rate, I had an amazing time barbecueing that day. So much so that I forgot to make our collard greens and mashed taters we had planned. Oh well, who needs sides? I barbecued all winter, but man, I'm really happy warm weather is here. Here's my finished product. I had the meat sweats with a sunburn on my neck, and had every intention of doing some yard work. But nah, it can wait. I do yard work like I barbecue, low and slow.
​
Cheers!
Bought St. Louis Ribs and Chicken from Costco. I didn't look at the package and I thought I was buying chicken quarters but I accidentally bought leg and thigh meat with bone and skin removed. Where's the fun of chicken with no skin or bone for barbecue? Initially I was mad., but sometimes you gotta learn and the only person to be mad at is yourself.
Ribs turned out great, passed the bend test and toothpick test but I think they could have gone another 30 min to an hour more because they weren't to my liking tenderness-wise. Had a little too much pull from the bone and didn't come clean off. I'd rather have the amazing bark and a little tough than tender with weak bark. So I never ever wrap...maybe some of you can convince me otherwise. Almost had to eat these Memphis style looking at em at first...But again, where's the fun in that?
But alas we must sauce.
Hey, what's more annoying than putting your ribs on the top rack of a WSM and your chicken on the bottom rack when it's time to put it on later? Not much. Can't do the opposite because the raw chicken juice will drop in the pork and contaminate it. Oh well. WSMs are darn near perfect and in my mind's eye and one of, if not the best smoker for your money you can buy at that price point. It's a design flaw that can be overlooked.
So I decided to fire up the kettle separately because I wanted to have more access to the chicken and just leave the ribs alone. With me, chicken can go from great to crappy in a hurry. Forgot to take pictures of chicken pre cook and on the grill, but I had a few beers by then and the effort needed to get out of the lawn chair wasn't worth the picture taking at that time.
Question though, if I did put the chicken at the bottom rack at a later time than the ribs and started to throw wood on the charcoal again would it over smoke the ribs if they've already had their smoke for the first hour of cooking?
At any rate, I had an amazing time barbecueing that day. So much so that I forgot to make our collard greens and mashed taters we had planned. Oh well, who needs sides? I barbecued all winter, but man, I'm really happy warm weather is here. Here's my finished product. I had the meat sweats with a sunburn on my neck, and had every intention of doing some yard work. But nah, it can wait. I do yard work like I barbecue, low and slow.
​
Cheers!
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