I am a smoker, the BBQ type.

[Ns1]

Ciabatta is from Trader Joe's and spring salad mix is from Costco. Good eye.

Trader Joe's half baked ciabattas are excellent - a regular in my freezer. Along with that crazy cheap French butter they have....

 

[agent00f]

I MUCH prefer them with the foil method - both for consistency to when they will be ready and for the tenderness.

"Baby back" is such a loose term that it's impossible to say without seeing them - the baby backs you get at a restaurant are nothing akin to the baby backs you get at most grocers. The store bought ones are much larger/thicker. I'd say you're looking at 6 hours or so at 225, maybe more, maybe less. Smoker is going to move between 225 - 275 anyway, so I wouldn't fret too much about the temp as long as it's around there.

Foiling is just a humidity control method and entirely depends on working backwards from choice of outcome through the specifics of the grill/smoker. Ie. foil more/less for wetter/drying product. Most people tend to prefer a moist inside, especially for higher temp texture which is prone to drying out, which is a good reason to use sous vide. The traditional method tends to have less operating range for optimal outcomes, but is easier to imbue smoke flavor.

The size of back ribs vary down the back of the animal, and many lower price places use the smaller/thinner cut to save on cost.

 

[Ns1]

So I put those baby backs on the smoker last night. I learned that I needed a bigger smoker, and I need to learn how to cut through hard as fuck bark. Serrated knives are clutch.

Took almost 8 hours @ ~225, no foil. In the time it took me to make these, I was able to bang out a half rack in the oven @300, eat them, pass out, wake up and make some chicken wings, pass out again, and wake up again to pull these off the smoker and eat some of them.

 

[zinfamous]

I finally realized why you are able to keep smoking food over several weeks, months at a time: it's not balls cold and raining or snowing for half the year where you are.

 

[agent00f]

Not sure if it's ever been mentioned but as a PSA costco has whole prime brisket for $3/lb.

 

[Ns1]

I finally realized why you are able to keep smoking food over several weeks, months at a time: it's not balls cold and raining or snowing for half the year where you are.

remote thermometer also helps. was a balmy 37' last night as I was checking my ribs @ midnight...

 

[Jeeebus]

I've got 2 baby back racks that I will probably throw on the smoker tomorrow. Would have preferred St Louis cut, but none in stock. I'm too lazy to cut spare ribs down.

 

[ponyo]

8 hours for baby backs? If you're not going to foil, rib rack will help with the space. Or if you're cheap and lazy like me and don't want to buy or clean rib rack, you can roll the ribs and use bamboo skewers.

Aldi is having sale on spare ribs for $1.99 /lb starting Sunday so I'll pickup some to smoke Sunday or next week. Costco is $2.79 /lb for St. Louis cut spare ribs.

Not sure if it's ever been mentioned but as a PSA costco has whole prime brisket for $3/lb.

That's regional and only available at certain Costco Business locations just in that region. There's no whole prime brisket at any Costco in GA right now. We also don't have any Tri-Tip in GA. In CA, you can buy choice Tri-Tip at Costco for $3.49 /lb. If we had that here in GA, I would smoke Tri-Tip all day long.

 

[Ns1]

8 hours for baby backs? If you're not going to foil, rib rack will help with the space. Or if you're cheap and lazy like me and don't want to buy or clean rib rack, you can roll the ribs and use bamboo skewers.

Yeah man, it was nuts. After 7.5 hours it seemed to stall around 190 - could not get it any higher, but they "felt" right...

I've been doing them @ 275 or 300 in the oven in 1/3rd the amount of time.

I think my main issue is lack of rack space which leads to poor airflow when loading in multiple items. Gotta get that rib rack now that I'm doing ribs....

 

[ponyo]

I don't measure ribs temperature when I cook. I go by poke with toothpick and bone twist test and also the bend test when I pick up the ribs with the tongs. I think you should've foiled. It would've protected the ribs some from the charcoal heat and cooked faster. I smoked St. Louis cut spare ribs about two weeks ago on the Big Joe and it finished in around 4 1/2 hours. I cooked it at 275 without foiling. I wanted to test the Big Joe to see how moist it could keep the ribs without foiling. It was really good but we prefer foiled ribs we cooked the week prior on the Big Joe.

 

[Ns1]

I don't measure ribs temperature when I cook. I go by poke with toothpick and bone twist test and also the bend test when I pick up the ribs with the tongs. I think you should've foiled. It would've protected the ribs some from the charcoal heat and cooked faster. I smoked St. Louis cut spare ribs about two weeks ago on the Big Joe and it finished in around 4 1/2 hours. I cooked it at 275 without foiling. I wanted to test the Big Joe to see how moist it could keep the ribs without foiling. It was really good but we prefer foiled ribs we cooked the week prior on the Big Joe.

For sure I'm foiling next time. I just got lazy as fuck this time. But hey, at least now I know what happens when you don't foil...

I use the temp to tell me when to go back outside and try the bend test. That's why I even pulled them off at 8 hours, because they appeared to pass the bend test.

 

[Jeeebus]

Ready for tomorrow...

 

[HomerJS]

Not sure if it's ever been mentioned but as a PSA costco has whole prime brisket for $3/lb.

Really?? What state? Brisket prices vary by region

 

[Ns1]

Really?? What state? Brisket prices vary by region

SoCal, at least. For prime seems to be only the flat, as the "choice" version is a full ~18 pounds.

*USDA Prime Commodity Beef Brisket, 9 lb avg wt
Item 22578
$2.89
per pound

http://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/*USDA-Prime-Commodity-Beef-Brisket,-9-lb-avg-wt.product.100082810.html

 

[agent00f]

Really?? What state? Brisket prices vary by region

SoCal, at least. For prime seems to be only the flat, as the "choice" version is a full ~18 pounds.

*USDA Prime Commodity Beef Brisket, 9 lb avg wt
Item 22578
$2.89
per pound

http://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/*USDA-Prime-Commodity-Beef-Brisket,-9-lb-avg-wt.product.100082810.html

I recall at least some of the ones there include the point, and ranged from ~10-18lb, and fwiw this wasn't a business costco. The price for flat has climbed to a ridiculous $8 for smaller cuts in some of the local groceries so seemed a good deal.

 

[MongGrel]

Ready for tomorrow...

I need to smoke something in my puny Webber Kettle over on the Gulf Coast, looks good.

Been slacking a bit myself lately.

Is a bit harder in a non dedicated smoker, but works if you watch it with a thermometer.

Souse Vida with a zip lock burp and a pan of water isn't even that hard once you've done it a few times with a digital thermometer and watch it a bit.

I try to cook well on the cheap, have a few secret weapons.

 

[Ns1]

Man having cheap bbq leftovers in the fridge is awesome. And this rack ended up way better.

 

[preslove]

what would be the downside of getting a cheap electric smoker like this one?

 

[ponyo]

Publix

I need to smoke something in my puny Webber Kettle over on the Gulf Coast, looks good.

Been slacking a bit myself lately.

Is a bit harder in a non dedicated smoker, but works if you watch it with a thermometer.

Souse Vida with a zip lock burp and a pan of water isn't even that hard once you've done it a few times with a digital thermometer and watch it a bit.

I try to cook well on the cheap, have a few secret weapons.

I love the Weber Kettle. I had mine for about 17 years and it's still rock solid. I replaced the old worn cooking and charcoal grates last week and it's just like new again. I think I'm going to keep mine forever. The main thing you lose with the Kettle over dedicated smoker is space since you can't use half side of the grill once you set up the indirect cooking. And you have to keep rotating the meat since it doesn't have a heat shield but you could build one easily. Dedicated smoker is easier but Kettle is awesome too.

 

[ponyo]

Man having cheap bbq leftovers in the fridge is awesome. And this rack ended up way better.

Leftovers are great. Ribs reheat well. We always finish the ribs in couple of days so we never have leftovers to freeze but I have bags of vacuum sealed pulled pork, brisket, and chicken in the freezer from previous cooks. It's simple to reheat the frozen bags in hot water or sous vide water bath. I'm thinking about buying a slicer so I can smoke and slice my own lunch meats and cheese. I don't need a slicer but it would save time cutting deli thin slices.

 

[ponyo]

what would be the downside of getting a cheap electric smoker like this one?

It's electric so electric parts can break and go bad. Stuff like heating element is guaranteed to go bad after some time. But electric smoker would be cheaper and easier to operate than something that uses fuel like charcoal until it breaks.

 

[Ns1]

I'm thinking about buying a slicer so I can smoke and slice my own lunch meats and cheese. I don't need a slicer but it would save time cutting deli thin slices.

Also allows you to do all kinds of awesome kbbq things. It seems like the cleanup is a PITA for residential purposes though...

 

[ponyo]

Also allows you to do all kinds of awesome kbbq things. It seems like the cleanup is a PITA for residential purposes though...

Yeah my wife wants a slicer for kbbq. But cleanup is PITA. I'm thinking about buying the cheap Chef Choice 609 electric slicer from Amazon but waiting to see if it goes on sale.

 

[Jeeebus]

2-2-1 baby backs, ready @ 4pm. 30 minutes later and I'm ready for my food coma.

 

[Ns1]

man our ribs look nothing alike