First time using any smoker in ages... probably since my September Fantasy Football cookout. Wife told me to make ribs, so I did. A rack of spares and a rack of baby backs. Baby backs came out great, but the spares needed a little work, Probably overcooked but I got distracted toward the end. I felt challenged by "the Smoke" saying a man needed to build and maintain a fire (I'm kidding, it just felt really good to burn some wood)
Saturday Afternoon/Evening I hit the ribs with my rub (salt pepper paprika granulated garlic mustard powder cayenne clove and brown sugar), and wrapped them up overnight. 10am Sunday morning I started the fire and the ribs hit the pit by 1115am. I was a little out of practice of getting a good base down, but once I did I was shocked at how smoothly everything went. I was easily able to keep the pit between 225-245F until about 230p when I think more sun and heat started playing a factor as the temp was more between 245-265F for the second half of the cook. I used a blend of hickory (store bought Kingsford logs) and cherry wood from my neighbor which was about 13-14 months seasoned. Around 145p I took off half the rib tip ends from the spares, sauced them and put them back on for another 45 minutes for a chef's treat as I call them. Around 330 I wrapped both racks in butcher paper until about 5pm, when I sauced them with sweet baby rays thinned out with a little apple cider vinegar. I took the spares off at 530, but gave the baby backs another 20 minutes to finish up. Results below along with a picture of our 4 1/2 month old daughter (groundhog's day baby)
With that successful cook done, I will end on a high note for a little while until we get a little more time.
Pictures: Hitting the pit, clean burning fire, about 2 hours into the cook, sliced, beautiful bite, Kennedy
