Baby Back Ribs on the Smokenator

Sunday July 25, 2010

After pimping my grill by adding a couple of holes for my smoker probes, I thought I'd try out the Weber kettle grill and Smokenator. My first try yielded acceptable but not fantastic results. I think the problem was that I wasn't measuring the temperature properly; measuring at the vent rather than the grill just allowed for too much variation.

So here is how it went down. Here is a picture of the grill with briquettes in the Smokenator. It shows how the briquettes fit in.

The water pan is sitting in the disposable aluminum tray used to catch drippings. Before we get started, the pan will go in the big square hole and be filled with hot water.

Now the grate goes on top and the ribs get started

The 2 smoker probes are pushed through a bit of potato to hold them in place (as you can imagine, it wasn't my idea - I read of it elsewhere). I'm glad I made the modification. The instructions call for maintaining 250* at the upper vent; but this meant I was under 200* at the grate. In order to get the desired 225* where the food is, I had to crank it up to 300* at the vent. I also think that that large disposable aluminum tray may have affected my heat.

After 3 hours the ribs are looking fine.

Normally I do about 2 hours on smoke then apply the Texas crutch - wrap each rack in aluminum foil with about a cup of apple juice. Having forgotten the apple juice I just went for the third hour on smoke.

Then to finish, I place them on the grill, slather barbecue sauce on each side, and grill about 20 minutes

Finally to the platter

I am such a guy. I was cooking dinner while Carla was driving home today from a visit with high school buds near Yreka/Fort Jones CA. I was so focused on cooking the meat I forgot about a vegetable, or a salad. Well, I guess we could have used those potato bits. Carla whipped up a salad before we sat down.

All in all, a success.

If this looks good and you want to try your hand at barbecue. You have GOT to go to AmazingRibs.com Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn has dozens of great recipes. These ribs are from his "Last Meal Ribs" recipe. So, good they are definitely want you want for your last meal. He has a good section on how to set up your gas grill for smoking. It worked well for me.