Spare Ribs went on sale at Ultra for $1.76/lb. That helped me to make my decision for what to smoke for the corn roast. I purchased 6 individually cryovaced racks. The racks ran a little on the small size. I'm guessing that some hog farmers may be liquidating their herds doe to the continued drought. the smaller size would work to my advantage when fitting these in the smoker anyway. In addition to that, I trimmed them up a bit, more or less Saint Louis style. (I didn't slavishly go for straight racks, I just trimmed the brisket off mostly. The flap had already been mostly trimmed and I only needed to trim additionally on one of six racks. I also trimmed off what I believe to be the sternum portion of the ribs.
We have a hot day today. At 1:00 PM we're at 89° and should go a bit higher. Wind is breezy reported at 15 mph but much lighter on the patio. The sky is clear and the sun hot.
I'm using a rub modified form the Mother's Day rub. I had meant to add some mustard powder but I forgot. <sigh>. Next time.
- 3 Tbsp. Coarse grind black pepper. (**)
- 4 Tbsp. ground Sage
- 2 Tbsp. Coriander (**)
- Chopped fresh Rosemary - about 2 Tbsp.
- 2 Tbsp ground dried Oregano flakes. (**)
- 1 Tbsp. ground Chili Ancho
- 1 Tsp. ground Chili Chipotle
- 1 Tsp. Cumin
- 2 Tbsp. garlic powder (not enough fresh.)
- Enough peanut oil to make this mixture a slurry.
I ran out of rub before I rubbed the tips so I mixed up a dry rub similar to above except I used dry Rosemary and about 1 Tsp. Kosher salt and 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar.
This is going to be a double cook. The racks of ribs go in the WSM (equipped with an extra cooking rack) and the trimmings will go in the mini-WSM. I'm using lump charcoal and hickory, walnut, maple and apple (WSM) or pecan, apple, maple and a little cherry (mini-WSM.) One gallon of hot water was added to the bowl in the WSM and about half that much in the mini. The WSM was started with a Minion lay and was buttoned up with one bottom vent open half. The mini was nearly full from a previous smoke so I put all of the charcoal in the chimney to light and added the smoking wood to the fire ring and then poured lit coals onto the wood arranged around the outside edge inside the fire ring.
The smokers weren't given more than about 5 minutes to get going before loading the meat.
Racks of ribs in the WSM:
| time | temp | comment |
| Started out with pone bottom vent half open. | ||
| 12:50 PM | Meat on! | |
| 1:51 | 172°/170° (grate, lid) | |
| 2:40 | 174°/175° | |
| 3:35 | 174°/177° | |
| 4:09 | 180°/180° | |
| 4:35 | 183°/185° | |
| 6:50 | 246°/210° | Water gone? |
| 7:30 | 245°/205° | Tips are done but the ring still have more to go. |
| 9:17 | 213°/195° | Meat just barely starting to pull back on bones. Stirred the fire a bit and threw in a couple more chunks of apple. Seems to be plenty of charcoal left and it seems to be well lit. Opened the one bottom vent a little bit. |
| 10:10 | 228°/190° | Not pulling back on the bones much yet but the ribs on the bottom rack were starting to. Since there will be opportunity for further cooking when reheating, I'll take them off now. They do seem pretty flexible when picked up by hand. Meat off! |
Grate measured using a Maverick ET-73 and lid using the built in Weber thermometer.
Rib trimmings in the mini:
| time | temp | comment |
| Started with bottom vent half open and (Doh!) top vent closed. At about half an hour stupidity realized and top vent opened. Coals still lit! | ||
| 1:25 PM | Meat on! | |
| 2:40 | 200°(lid) | Nice recovery |
| 3:35 | 185° | Opened the bottom vent a little to about 2/3 open. |
| 4:09 | 180° | |
| 4:35 | 190° | |
| 6:50 | 170° | |
| 7:30 | Meat off! Time for some rib tip trimmings for dinner. |
Some of the rib tips were served as soon as they came off. they were a little dry but still very tasty. The racks that came off the main smoker went into a covered turkey roasting pan to rest a bit and chill before they were put in the cooler.
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