The weather cooperated, and I completed my first cook on the WSCG. Here is my summary of the cook and results:
Meat: Pork spareribs and mild Italian sausage. I separated the ribs from rib tips and lightly sprinkled both with Special Shit rub about 40 minutes before cooking. Ribs were slightly less meaty than I like. I uncoiled the sausage and lightly pierced the casing all over with the tip of a toothpick.
Heat: Day was cloudy and about 55 degrees. No rain. Weber Summit Charcoal Grill loaded with 2.5 buckets of Kingsford and 3 hickory chunks spread on top of coals on lower grate. Deflector plate was installed with drip pan 1/3 filled with water on top. Grill started with gas ignition, brought up to temp. Grill ran around 260-270 for the first two hours, then settled in around 240-250, and then ran around 225-235 for the last two hours. I felt like I needed to keep an eye on the temp with my Smoke probe, but never felt like I needed to babysit the grill. Overall, I’m encouraged after the first cook.
Cook: Ribs went on WSCG around 12:30 pm. Lightly spritzed with water every hour or so. Cooked in the center of grill until about 6:00 pm, no mop, no foil wrap, no sauce. Coil of Italian sausage added around 3:00 pm and cooked until 6:00 pm, temp on ends around 165 and temp in center around 185.
Results: Ribs turned out good. Slightly stronger smoke flavor than I expected. Thin smoke ring and very light bark. Rub tasted a little saltier than I remembered from last time. Perhaps I needed a meatier rack of ribs. Sausage turned out better than ribs, with nice smoke flavor, good snap in casing and fragrant fennel, and prominent smoke ring.
Meat: Pork spareribs and mild Italian sausage. I separated the ribs from rib tips and lightly sprinkled both with Special Shit rub about 40 minutes before cooking. Ribs were slightly less meaty than I like. I uncoiled the sausage and lightly pierced the casing all over with the tip of a toothpick.
Heat: Day was cloudy and about 55 degrees. No rain. Weber Summit Charcoal Grill loaded with 2.5 buckets of Kingsford and 3 hickory chunks spread on top of coals on lower grate. Deflector plate was installed with drip pan 1/3 filled with water on top. Grill started with gas ignition, brought up to temp. Grill ran around 260-270 for the first two hours, then settled in around 240-250, and then ran around 225-235 for the last two hours. I felt like I needed to keep an eye on the temp with my Smoke probe, but never felt like I needed to babysit the grill. Overall, I’m encouraged after the first cook.
Cook: Ribs went on WSCG around 12:30 pm. Lightly spritzed with water every hour or so. Cooked in the center of grill until about 6:00 pm, no mop, no foil wrap, no sauce. Coil of Italian sausage added around 3:00 pm and cooked until 6:00 pm, temp on ends around 165 and temp in center around 185.
Results: Ribs turned out good. Slightly stronger smoke flavor than I expected. Thin smoke ring and very light bark. Rub tasted a little saltier than I remembered from last time. Perhaps I needed a meatier rack of ribs. Sausage turned out better than ribs, with nice smoke flavor, good snap in casing and fragrant fennel, and prominent smoke ring.
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