- Jun 28, 2015
- 483
- 296
Now that I once again have a smoker with a bit of capacity and reliable temperature control. It time to build up some smoked meats in our freezers.
First some of you might not consider a MES 30" as having some capacity, but try smoking for a year on a Smoke Hollow Portable Grill/Smoker, then let me know! And living fulltime in an RV, anything bigger than the MES 30" would really be pushing it. And yes I did use freezers as in plural, I decide a long time ago that a freezer was more important than a oven in our RV.
This smoke, my second, proved that the mods I did for my MES 30 made for nice even temps, throughout and I was able to use the bottom rack, the ribs on that rack showed just a bit more heat, and I think that mainly came from the very first recovery when I loaded all the ribs. It ran quite a while for that initial recovery and that plus my opening to spritz had the element on quite a bit, but still they were by no mean burned or dried out so I am calling the bottom rack usable. I also had good success with the AMNPS and am loving the combination of it and the MES.
Back when we had the house, I use to do a all day smoke, every 6 - 8 weeks, the use our food saver to fill the freezers, I can't smoke as much at a time as I did back then but it will be nice to grab a "boiler" bag out of the freezer and have fresh smoked meat.
So long story short I asked "momma" what she wanted me to do first, and she didn't hesitate for a second. RIBS. Which is in this house means St. Louis Style ribs with dry rub. Don't let me catch you putting sauce on my ribs!!!
I have always rubbed with olive oil before putting on my rub, but I noticed lots of folks here use yellow mustard. So I did 2 racks of each, very hard to tell the difference when done, but the mustard does give just a little bit of an extra flavor layer, so I will likely do it that way from now on. I let the ribs set for about 2 hours after putting the rub on to develop let them develop a bit of a glaze.
I didn't have any of my go to rub (It was called Sweat Heat by The Spice Doctors out of Slidell, LA - not sure if they are still around :-( ). I had a bottle of Bone Sucking rub someone had given me so I tried it. OK, but not that Memphis style Dry rub profile I like.
Basic 3-2-1 method. We prefer them to come off the bone fairly clean. I don't have to use a toothpick after eating my ribs, but they definitely aren't mushy. Smoker @225, using AMNPS with Pitmaster Choice pellets for smoke.
I spritzed with Apple Cider with a bit of bourbon in it, every 30 minutes for the first 3 hours. Then foiled with tablespoon of brown sugar, 2 pats butter and a 1/4 cup of the spritz mix. There was a bit of spritz left over at the end that might have went in my belly! Then out of the foil and back in to set. They came out just about perfect for the way we prefer them. The ribs themselves were not the best quality, but that is what happens when you decide to do ribs on Christmas eve, this was the only 4 racks of St. Louis Style I could find.
So on to the photos.
After the first 3 hours and getting foiled.
All foiled up with some place to go!
When they came out of the foil and getting ready to go back in to set.
And the Money Shots!
Finally after cooling, into the food saver bags and into the freezer they go. I will miss them :-)
First some of you might not consider a MES 30" as having some capacity, but try smoking for a year on a Smoke Hollow Portable Grill/Smoker, then let me know! And living fulltime in an RV, anything bigger than the MES 30" would really be pushing it. And yes I did use freezers as in plural, I decide a long time ago that a freezer was more important than a oven in our RV.
This smoke, my second, proved that the mods I did for my MES 30 made for nice even temps, throughout and I was able to use the bottom rack, the ribs on that rack showed just a bit more heat, and I think that mainly came from the very first recovery when I loaded all the ribs. It ran quite a while for that initial recovery and that plus my opening to spritz had the element on quite a bit, but still they were by no mean burned or dried out so I am calling the bottom rack usable. I also had good success with the AMNPS and am loving the combination of it and the MES.
Back when we had the house, I use to do a all day smoke, every 6 - 8 weeks, the use our food saver to fill the freezers, I can't smoke as much at a time as I did back then but it will be nice to grab a "boiler" bag out of the freezer and have fresh smoked meat.
So long story short I asked "momma" what she wanted me to do first, and she didn't hesitate for a second. RIBS. Which is in this house means St. Louis Style ribs with dry rub. Don't let me catch you putting sauce on my ribs!!!
I have always rubbed with olive oil before putting on my rub, but I noticed lots of folks here use yellow mustard. So I did 2 racks of each, very hard to tell the difference when done, but the mustard does give just a little bit of an extra flavor layer, so I will likely do it that way from now on. I let the ribs set for about 2 hours after putting the rub on to develop let them develop a bit of a glaze.
I didn't have any of my go to rub (It was called Sweat Heat by The Spice Doctors out of Slidell, LA - not sure if they are still around :-( ). I had a bottle of Bone Sucking rub someone had given me so I tried it. OK, but not that Memphis style Dry rub profile I like.
Basic 3-2-1 method. We prefer them to come off the bone fairly clean. I don't have to use a toothpick after eating my ribs, but they definitely aren't mushy. Smoker @225, using AMNPS with Pitmaster Choice pellets for smoke.
I spritzed with Apple Cider with a bit of bourbon in it, every 30 minutes for the first 3 hours. Then foiled with tablespoon of brown sugar, 2 pats butter and a 1/4 cup of the spritz mix. There was a bit of spritz left over at the end that might have went in my belly! Then out of the foil and back in to set. They came out just about perfect for the way we prefer them. The ribs themselves were not the best quality, but that is what happens when you decide to do ribs on Christmas eve, this was the only 4 racks of St. Louis Style I could find.
So on to the photos.
After the first 3 hours and getting foiled.
All foiled up with some place to go!
When they came out of the foil and getting ready to go back in to set.
And the Money Shots!
Finally after cooling, into the food saver bags and into the freezer they go. I will miss them :-)
