Smokers

[Whatnext]

Any smokers in here. I'm not talking about getting your nicotine fix, I'm talking about firing up a smoker and making your own BBQ. I am hooked on it. I smoked our thanksgiving turkey a few years back and now I'm not allowed to cook it any other way. My twins were born New Years Eve and will be smoking a brisket for dinner. If I can make an excuse to use my smoker I do it. Anyone else in the same boat? If so what's your favorite thing to smoke and how long have you been making your own BBQ?

 

[Jakesmum]

My husband broke our smoker a couple of months ago and I really miss it! He started smoking ribs and I won't let him do them any other way now!!! I've never thought of doing a turkey, we'll have to try that when he replaces the smoker. We make our own sausage and pepperettes, we also will smoke bones for the dog occasionally.

 

[voidecho]

I've been BBQ'ing a lot for the last ten years or so. Love it. I've done a couple non-sanctioned competitions with good results and I'm thinking about getting into it even more. Have my eye on a custom made reverse flow smoker from a fab shop not too far away.

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Ribs are what I do best and most often, but I do pulled pork and brisket too. Right now one of my favorite things to make are smoked chicken wings. BBQ them for 60-90 minutes with a dry rub, then pull them off and fry them for a few minutes to finish them off and crispin them up and toss them in a bowl with my favorite sauce. Mmmmmm........

 

[raji]

I'm the griller in our family and really enjoy it. Use the grill all year, not just for summer and probably more than half our dinners start on the grill. The ironic thing about that is that my husbands family business is a distributorship for anything that uses natural or propane gas, so grills are what he sells half the year! Never did get the allure of the smoker, myself. About 15 years ago, he brings home a "Big Green Egg" and I hated that thing! Never could get the hang of using it. I think my big problem was patience(I have none!) So, I probably never gave it a fair shot or made the effort to learn! Plus, I thought it was so ugly sitting on the deck!
Voidecho, since you mentioned cooking ribs, I just recently tried to do ribs. First time they pretty much sucked! Second time actually not too bad. But it was dumb luck. I'd love to know from someone who knows what they're doing, a couple of things. First, what is the difference in baby back and st.Louis ribs, and which is better to use? I think my first time I got beef ribs, do you cook them differently? Basically, any hints would be much appreciated!
Must say I'm impressed with all you who can and do smoke food- because its really delicious to eat!

 

[QY10]

We use our little charcoal smoker pretty often!

 

[voidecho]

Baby back and St Louis style ribs are both pork, they're just different parts of the ribs. Baby back ribs are cut closer to the backbone, so they'd come higher off the back of the pig. St Louis style are actually spare ribs and they would come more from the side of the rib cage. They call them St. Louis because of how they're cut. Spare ribs are a large hunk of rib meat that isn't really a uniform shape. Trimming off the excess and making it a uniform size (about 6x16) makes them St. Louis style ribs.

Baby backs are typically smaller and take less time to cook. Spare ribs have more meat and take longer.

I typically smoke spare ribs for 3-4 hours with a dry rub on them, then wrap them in foil with a mixture of butter, honey and brown sugar and put them back on the smoker for an hour. After that hour, unwrap, sprinkle with more rub and smoke for another 1-2 hours until done. You can glaze with a bbq sauce for the last 30 minutes or so. Depending upon the weather, size of ribs and cooking temp (225-250) they can take anywhere from 4-8 hours to cook. I usually plan on six hours.

 

[raji]

Thank you so much. That makes much more sense to me now! Appreciate all the info!


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[angelbears]

Void, do you remove the membrane from the ribs?

BTW, I have seen some pics of Void and his crew cooking they look like they know what they are doing.

 

[raji]

And, if you do, how in the hell do u get it off? I saw that somewhere and must have spent 30 min trying before I just gave up! So glad u asked that!


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[voidecho]

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. In general, it's recommended to remove it.

They can be a pain. I use a butter knife to gently slide under the membrane near the middle of the ribs, careful not to rip holes in the membrane. Then I slide a finger a finger under the membrane slowly and carefully separating it from underneath. Once I get enough separated that I can grab it I'll use a paper towel or regular towel to grab it and pull it off. My main advice is to start slow until you have enough to grab.

 

[voidecho]

This is basically how I do it, but I start in the middle. Once you get it going it generally comes off in one big strip.

[video=youtube_share;I-RL_f8qdJE]http://youtu.be/I-RL_f8qdJE[/video]

 

[raji]

Great video! I'm really wanting ribs now, with all this talking about them! Looking forward to trying this trick now! Thanks for all your tips! My family will be grateful.


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[voidecho]

There's a video I'm trying to find that shows the best method ever, but can't find it.

When Diner's Drive Ins and Dives visited The Memphis BBQ Company the chef Melissa Cookston (great chef name) bbq'd some ribs. She picked up a rib, somehow slid her finger under the membrane, flipped it over and twisted the ribs once and in one swift movement the membrane came off. My jaw dropped.

Must find video.

 

[voidecho]

Ok, here it is. 2:50 inthe video below. It's a baby back rib, but could work on spares maybe.

Memphis Ribs in Mississippi Video : Food Network

 

[DDSK]

I just saw this thread.
I have even smoking meat a long time with charcoal smokers, propane smokers and now with a pellet smoker, the best smokers for the back yard cook in my opinion.
You can choose the flavor of wood you want and temperature control is a breeze, just dial it in.
My all time favorite thing to smoke is pacific spiny lobsters, yummie!
Cut the tail down the sides and take the belly she'll off, brush it with garlic infused olive oil and smoke it.
Yeah I know lobster is expensive, but my son is a free diver and drags them out of the rocks along the harbor rocks in our parts of Southern California.

 

[voidecho]

I pick up my custom reverse flow smoker the end of this week. Can't wait.

 

[DDSK]

Experimentation is the fun part there are a lot of rules to thumb to go by, but in the end it is a matter of trial and errors to get it down pat.
This can get expensive, good thing smoking meats lends itself to the cheaper cuts of meat.
However it is hard to beat a perfectly smoked prime rib

 

[raji]

Although I've been cooking my ribs in the oven, I wanted to thank you, Voidecho. Your help and tips made all the difference. I have to say they've turned out pretty damn good! Actually, now a regular request from my husband and daughter. So thank you very much!


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[DDSK]

Huh and I thought BBQ was a man thing lol

 

[voidecho]

I'm glad you're having fun and filling tummies with your BBQ!