Father's Day, 2011. I decided that I would once again do the same three meats: ribs, chicken and sausage. This time, I bought a package of ribs from Costco. They were Swift Premium Baby Backs. The package contained three racks and weighed a total of 9.41 pounds. Since there were three to a pack, it was difficult to gauge how good each rack was, how thick, etc. But, I had been told that the Costco ribs were very good, so I gave them a shot. (As it turned out, they were just okay. I actually preferred the taste of the Hormel ribs from the previous smoke much, much better.)
For the chicken, I had previously bought a whole chicken from McGonigle's, but I had them quarter it versus half it. It had been in the freezer for about 10 days, but figured I would throw it on and see what happened. Once again, I bought 4 Italian sausages from my favorite south Kansas City grocer and I was ready to go.
Due to my work on a home improvement project, I wasn't able to take as many pictures or document temps, etc. However, on this day, the smoker locked in at 225F and really didn't move an inch. I am quite impressed with how well the Weber Smokey Mountain locks and holds the temp.
On this day, I fired up the smoker a little later than the last time (which my wife wasn't happy with since we weren't able to eat until 8pm). The weather conditions were a little different. The weather was muggy, it was hot and there was a slight breeze from the east. Perhaps the humid air is what kept the temp locked in so well.
On two of the racks, I seasoned with Smokin' Guns mild rub and I did one with the Plowboy's Yardbird. Instead of apple smoke wood, I used cherry this time around.
Rather than firing up a chimney full of briquettes, I actually followed advice from my cousin and placed a layer of unlit briquettes in the smoker base and lit them directly. His advice was to do this then assemble the smoker and allow it to gradually creep up to 220F before really tweaking the controls to lock in the temp. This did work well, although I think I didn't allow the coals to really get going before assembly. When I put everything together, it took a good 30 minutes to get up to temp.
The ribs were once again rubbed and allowed to set at room temp for a couple hours. The seasoning occurred around 11am and the ribs finally went on the smoker about 1:30 (the extra half hour was due to the slowness of smoker heating up). Put on the smoke wood, then the meat and sat back. Again, on this day, the smoker locked in and held very consistently. I sauced one rack again with the Head Country sauce and placed in the oven to keep warm. The ribs were off the smoker about 6:30 (I think...bad note taker...but, in my defense, I was working on a project).
For the chicken and sausage, I used apple wood and put the chicken on the lower rack and sausage on the upper (lesson learned from previous smoke). And, at the behest of my wife, I sauced two of the sausages at the end of the cooking cycle. This turned out quite well. Since I was dealing with quartered chicken versus halved chicken, I probably left it on a little longer than I could have. It was still tasty, but not as juicy as the first time around. I think that I also mastered the "crisping" of the skin this time around. Perhaps it was because the coals weren't as hot...who knows? Either way, it was great.
Next up....pork butt for pulled pork. Stay tuned!!!
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