Rib Tests, July 30th 2011
Today's rib tests were outstanding... I'm very pleased with myself! I purchased a second Weber Smokey Mountain for an upcoming barbecue comp in Maine this August, and needed to give it a test run before the event. This new WSM is the 22 inch model, which in diameter is a mere 4 inches bigger than my 18 inch model, but holy crap does 4 inches make a difference. This smoker is freaking huge. When I last smoked ribs I thought the 18-incher was a bit tight for fitting multiple slabs of ribs on each level, so I figured going bigger would alleviate that problem. It did of course, but what I realized while cooking on this fella is that it can hold a ton more coals. This may prove valuable in the brisket and shoulder cooks which should take 14-10 hrs respectivly. I'll have to stew on that for a bit, but for now please geek-out with me on the details of today's rib smoke!
Here's what I did:
- Three racks from Price Chopper, 2 baby backs and 1 st. louis:
- Babyback from Prairiefresh: 2.40 lb
- Babyback from Hatfield: 2.52 lb
- St Louis Cut Spare Rib from Hatfield: 2.25
- All racks needed to be trimmed heavily, with the St Louis cut neededing the most. That slab likely ended up being 2.00 lbs after trimming, the others probably lost .10 lb at most.
- Removed membrane from all, trimmed the "hanging pork flap" from the bottom of the St Louis
- Rubbed all with a shake of 1 part BBQB rub (version without coriander and with just 75% salt amount because it was table salt), 1/2 part granulated brown suger, and 1/2 part white sugar
- I fired the 22 inch WSM up with a full chimney of Stubb's charcoal and let it run real hot for an hour to break it in and cook off any factory imprefections. It reached 350 at its peak.
- I then pushed the hot coals to one side (they were about 50% spent), and poured in 1 to 1.5 chminey's worth of unlit coals on the empy side and mixed the hot coals around the entire basin thoroughly.
- I let this cook for 15 minutes completely open (the cooking chamber was off entirely), and then reassembled it
- Added 2 big chunks apple and 2 big chunks red oak
- Water pan had 2 quarts cider
- Cooker reached 225 when I put all threee slabs on the top grate, bone down
- Cook time started at 2PM, with smoker at 225 degrees
- At 3PM smoker soared to 300 degrees
- Closed two bottom vents 75%, closed one bottom vent 100%, closed top vent 50%
- 15 minutes later smoker temp was at 240 degrees, and I opened the closed bottom vent to 50%, and top vent to 100% open
- At 4PM smoker at 240 degrees
- Mopped with cider with a little shake mixed in
- Dusted with more shake
- At 6PM smoker at 240 degrees, ribs at 170-180 degrees
- Mopped with the Memorial Day 2011 sauce (not the finishing sauce with root beer)
- At 7PM smoker at 210 degrees, ribs at 180-190 degrees
- Pulled off smoker, sauced again, wrapped in plastic and set in cooler
- At 9PM cut up and devoured without any more sauce applied
My Take:
- Outstanding! Better than Memorial Day batch which was my best run yet so I think I'm onto something here
- St Louis were my favorite, which is suprising to me because babybacks have been killing it for me recently
- Smoke level was more prevelant than last time, but not overpowering by any stretch. I think the red oak/apple combination is a keeper.
- Meat was prefectly tender, nice chomp marks when bit into, and pulled away easily
- Shake and sauce combo are a huge hit; I think I'll forget the root beer sauce for the comp... its not necessary
- I'd like to puree the final sauce next time once cooked because I'm not liking the way a few chuinks of onion or bacon are resting on the finished ribs
- It is so easy to cut the st louis style for presentation... considerably easier than baby backs. This alone is making me think I'll go with st louis for the next competition... though maybe I'll do a few racks of each and pick the best tasting and looking
- I might consider saucing the slab again once its out of the cooler right before slicing... I had a few ribs that were very saucy and a few that were not and my thinking is judges like sauce. A little more internal debate between me, myself, and I should resolve this one by August 12th!
- Lastly, damn i really love barbecue.
