Three Full Racks of Baby Back Ribs

I smoked three full racks of baby back ribs today.  No photos to show, but I thought I'd post this anyway so I can remember how the ribs turned out.

I smoked the ribs on my 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain smoker.  I cut each slab in half and put three sections in the lower grate and three on the upper grate.  I did not add any wood.  (If I don't use wood, is it still considered smoking??). After 2 hours at 250 degrees, I put the ribs in a foil pan.  I put a relatively small amount of Sweet Baby Ray's Original sauce on the ribs and closed the pans up with sheets of aluminum foil.  After another 2 hours, I removed the ribs.

I didn't do the ribs the "regular 3-2-1 way.  Instead, I did it 2-2 instead.  Actually, they weren't bad at all.  The ribs still had a decent bite to them and came off the bone relatively easily too.  So, perhaps 2-2 ribs work ok for our family!

Pulled Pork - Finally Done Right!

I started smoking a 7 lb pork shoulder (pork butt) at 7:10 AM.  I used apple wood for the cook.  It took 8.5 hours to get the butt to 195 degrees which is the minimum internal temperature for the collagen and fat and connective tissues to breakdown.  I decided to go as high as 206 degrees before stopping the cook.  Total time was 9 hours 20 minutes!

I had switched the charcoal ring on the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain smoker with the 18.5" charcoal ring.  I put perhaps a full ring of charcoal in it using the minion method.  I was able to keep the smoker between 245 and 260 degrees for 6 hours.  As the temperature of the pit started to drop to 225 degrees, I decided it was time to put in more charcoal to finish the cook.  I used a hotter and longer burning version of Kingsford to get the coals back to the 255 degree mark.  I also had to add more water in the water pan.  I had filled it up 3/4 of the way up, but after 6 hours, most of it was already evaporated.

After letting the meat rest for at least 20 minutes, I pulled the pork.  It pulled easily!  It was literally falling apart!  I probably didn't even need the pork shredders!  My past cooks never had the internal temperature go beyond 190 degrees.  Because of this, it would not pull apart like this one did.  Going forward, I'll always put in more time and get the internal temperature to go higher than 195 degrees!  I've heard 203 degrees is a good goal to hit.

More Egg Rolls!

We made more egg rolls!  This time we added some peanut butter to the filling.  Tastes better to me that way.  Many restaurants use peanut butter in their egg roll fillings.  For traditional egg roll skins, it works.  But for spring roll skins, I think it may be better without the peanut butter.

Frying works best with the large 22" wok.  You can move things around easily without fear of oil splashing out of the wok.  Using the large patio umbrella helps a lot too on a hot day!

More Chicken Legs - Better This Time

I made more chicken legs today, but this time it was better!

I originally wanted to smoke the chicken with Apple wood for only an hour on the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain and then finish the chicken on my Weber Spirit E-310 gas grill.  But I was tied up doing some work and was forced to leave the chicken in the smoker for over 2 hours.

I didn't monitor the temperature of the smoker this time with the Thermoworks Smoke system, but instead, I just left the chicken in the smoker for two hours and didn't open the lid at all.  I did not use the water pan and put all of the chicken legs on the top grate.  It was packed!  After two hours, I found that the chicken had a small dusting of charcoal dust on the surface.  I decided that I would squirt Apple juice on the chicken to rinse off the charcoal dust.  I can't say all of it was knocked off, but most of it was.

I transferred the chicken to the Weber Spirit E-310 gas grill to finish off the chicken.  The internal temperature of the chicken was around 155 degrees before transferring.  After about 1/2 hour on the grill, the internal temperature had risen to 175 degrees and higher on some pieces.

That's a lot of chicken on the grill.  But it didn't seem to make any difference in how the chicken cooked.

I left the skin on the chicken legs this time whereas the last two cooks I had removed the skin.  I think removing the skin while smoking is a mistake.  Without the skin, the meat takes on a rubbery texture. With the skin on, the skin takes that on instead.  While cooking the chicken directly on the gas grill would allow the skin to be more edible, you don't get the charcoal and smoke flavor unless it's smoked first on the WSM.

I suppose with more testing, I can find a happy medium for the skin.  But for now, this is still better than the past efforts.

Spring Rolls - Neighborhood Party

Fried up a bunch of spring rolls for a neighborhood party today!  Our next door neighbor hosted a gathering for the neighbors on our block and a few others near our block.  Lots of fun meeting our new neighbors and getting to know them.

We got up early today to cut the cabbage and the cha siu pork and while my wife rolled the spring rolls, I fried them up in my outdoor wok.  I decided to use the large 22" wok to help cut down on oil spatter.  Having the large wok, you can move the spring rolls around a lot easier without fear that stirring the oil will accidentally spill the oil over the side.

We made a lot more spring rolls than you see in the photo above.  I'd say we had at least twice what you see here.

We also made some as egg rolls too.  The egg roll skin is thicker and has more texture than spring roll skins.  But spring roll skins are lighter and are probably more preferred by Chinese people over egg rolls.  However, most Chinese takeouts probably offer egg rolls over spring rolls on their menus.

Weber's "Kick'n Chicken" Rub

I tried to get the Weber Smokey Mountain smoker to hit 300 degrees... but couldn't.  No matter what I did, it never broke 275 degrees.

I put in a full chimney of Kingsford Original charcoal to the minion style of lighting coals in the WSM.  I even had more charcoal in the 22.5" smoker.  I waited until the coals were fully ready to go before putting the chicken on the grate.  All vents were open too (bottoms and top).  It didn't matter.  The temperature hovered at 262 degrees.  I decided to open the access door slightly by unlatching the Cajun Bandit latch on the Cajun Bandit stainless steel door.  I even tried to skew the top portion of the smoker to let more air to escape out from the top, but that made the temperature drop!  I decided to put the top back on correctly and that made the temperature rise again.

Stirring up the coals with my fireplace poker didn't help either.

Perhaps these changes could have worked if I used the 18.5 inch smoker instead, but with the 22.5 inch, I had a hard time making the temperature rise past 275 degrees.  I did not use the water pan nor did I leave the water pan in the smoker either.  Instead, I put in the second "internal" grill grate and foiled it for easy cleanup from the chicken leg drippings.

I guess if I want to get a higher temperature, I will need to use my Weber Spirit E-310 propane gas grill instead.  Too bad I can't do it on the smoker!

The rub I used this time was the Weber "Kick'n Chicken" rub.  To me, it had a little too much of a kick to it.  You can see the red pepper flakes in the rub.  It was ok, but I'm not sure I liked it enough to use it again.  I also put too much rub on the chicken as you can see.  Perhaps it would have been better if I hadn't put on as much.

Smoked Chicken On The Weber Smokey Mountain - 22.5 Inch Smoker

Smoked a bunch of chicken legs using Flavor Connection's "Rib Rub & Seasoning" that was purchased through Costco.  For some reason, neither of the two Costco's that I frequent have this rub in stock anymore!  But I had enough to do some chicken legs.

I also smoked some legs and used a Korean Bulgogi sauce.  That didn't turn out as good.  Perhaps had I marinaded it for several hours instead of just applying it during the smoking process, it might have been better.

The photo above is a photo of the chicken with the rub.

Three Full Racks of Baby Back Ribs - 3-2-0

I smoked up three full racks of ribs today on the Weber Smokey Mountain smoker.  The ribs were rubbed with yellow mustard as a binder and then sprinkled with a modified version of the Pork Barrel BBQ - "All American Seasoning & Rub".  I added additional paprika, salt and a little sugar.

The ribs were done in a 3-2-0 method.  Three hours on the grate unwrapped and then two hours wrapped in aluminum foil (I used an aluminum foil pan and closed the top with aluminum foil.  The 0 represents 0 hours back on the grate.  The rib slabs were cut in half before cooking so that all three racks could fit in the 18.5 inch Weber Smokey Mountain smoker.  I put three half racks on the lower grate and three on the upper grate.

The smoker ran for most of the time at 255 degrees throughout the cook.  But in the end, the temperature of the pit had dropped to 236.7 degrees and the internal temperature of the ribs was at 201.3 degrees.  Since the final stage of putting the ribs back on the grate to firm them back up was skipped, the ribs were definitely "fall off the bone" having gotten to 201.3 degrees!

Overall though, not bad.  The top two photos were taken after three hours and just before putting the ribs in the aluminum pans for wrapping.  The next two photos are the finished product after 3-2-0.