Hey Everyone,
I haven't posted in a while, but I've been lurking around reading the board. I got a new 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker this weekend and I thought I'd share some pics from the first smoke. I did 4 racks of baby backs. I made two racks with a pretty basic rib rub and the other two I tried a cocoa based rub for the first time. I used a 2-2-1 method for cooking. During the last hour I added some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce to one of the racks with the basic dry rub, and some Pineapple/Habanero sauce I found at BJ's to one of the cocoa dry rubbed racks. I left the other two racks dry.
Here are the four racks of ribs rubbed Friday evening and getting ready to go in the fridge for the night. The two on the left are the basic rib rub and the two on the right are the cocoa based rub.
Here is my new Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker after I put it together Saturday morning.
Moved it outside and fired the sucker up!
Ribs are on and ready to let the smoke work it's magic!
Two hours into the smoke and I'm getting ready to foil them with a little apple juice.
Four hours into the smoke and they're coming out of the foil to firm up for the last hour. The rack on the left has Sweet Baby Ray's and the one on the right the pineapple/habanero sauce. I applied it right when they came out of the foil and then flipped them after 30 minutes and applied it to the other side. I did the two with sauce on the lower rack so the sauce wouldn't drip on the two racks I was doing dry.
Here are the two racks I left dry after they came out of the foil at four hours. The rack in front is the basic rub and the one in back is the cocoa based rub.
Finished product from left to right. Basic rub w/ Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce. Cocoa based rub with pineapple/habanero sauce. Dry rubbed with basic. Dry rubbed with cocoa based.
Last, but not least, here is the "money shot." :-)
Overall I was very pleased with the WSM! It lived up to everything I'd heard. So much easier to manage heat then in my modified Brinkmann I've been using the past few year. The WSM ran a little hot, which I'd heard would happen the first few smokes, but nothing that messed things up. I thought the ribs were a little too well done and probably would have been a little better if I'd done 2-1.5-.75 instead of 2-2-1 since the hear was closer to 240 most of the smoke.
The cocoa rub was very interesting and I'm looking forward to playing more with some cocoa based rubs! The combination of the cocoa based rub and the pineapple/habanero sauce was a huge hit in my house! I was a little worried it would be too much flavor and get all muddled, but it was really tasty. I sure am glad I happened to notice the bottle of sauce near the BBQ sauce when I was walking down the isle at BJ's, otherwise I'd never have thought to try it.
see ya,
Brad
I haven't posted in a while, but I've been lurking around reading the board. I got a new 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker this weekend and I thought I'd share some pics from the first smoke. I did 4 racks of baby backs. I made two racks with a pretty basic rib rub and the other two I tried a cocoa based rub for the first time. I used a 2-2-1 method for cooking. During the last hour I added some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce to one of the racks with the basic dry rub, and some Pineapple/Habanero sauce I found at BJ's to one of the cocoa dry rubbed racks. I left the other two racks dry.
Here are the four racks of ribs rubbed Friday evening and getting ready to go in the fridge for the night. The two on the left are the basic rib rub and the two on the right are the cocoa based rub.
Here is my new Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker after I put it together Saturday morning.
Moved it outside and fired the sucker up!
Ribs are on and ready to let the smoke work it's magic!
Two hours into the smoke and I'm getting ready to foil them with a little apple juice.
Four hours into the smoke and they're coming out of the foil to firm up for the last hour. The rack on the left has Sweet Baby Ray's and the one on the right the pineapple/habanero sauce. I applied it right when they came out of the foil and then flipped them after 30 minutes and applied it to the other side. I did the two with sauce on the lower rack so the sauce wouldn't drip on the two racks I was doing dry.
Here are the two racks I left dry after they came out of the foil at four hours. The rack in front is the basic rub and the one in back is the cocoa based rub.
Finished product from left to right. Basic rub w/ Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce. Cocoa based rub with pineapple/habanero sauce. Dry rubbed with basic. Dry rubbed with cocoa based.
Last, but not least, here is the "money shot." :-)
Overall I was very pleased with the WSM! It lived up to everything I'd heard. So much easier to manage heat then in my modified Brinkmann I've been using the past few year. The WSM ran a little hot, which I'd heard would happen the first few smokes, but nothing that messed things up. I thought the ribs were a little too well done and probably would have been a little better if I'd done 2-1.5-.75 instead of 2-2-1 since the hear was closer to 240 most of the smoke.
The cocoa rub was very interesting and I'm looking forward to playing more with some cocoa based rubs! The combination of the cocoa based rub and the pineapple/habanero sauce was a huge hit in my house! I was a little worried it would be too much flavor and get all muddled, but it was really tasty. I sure am glad I happened to notice the bottle of sauce near the BBQ sauce when I was walking down the isle at BJ's, otherwise I'd never have thought to try it.
see ya,
Brad