H
HarlDane
Guest
So a few weeks ago I'm looking for a good rib recipe for the 4th of July and I run across this site, full of all kinds of great BBQ info and friendly members willing to share their tips and recipes. Fast forward a few weeks (and a few more dollars) and I'm the proud owner of my first smoker (CharGriller Super-Pro with SFB). With a background that only included Santa Maria style BBQ and grilling, I was a little nervous about how things would turn out on my first time trying to go low and slow. I picked up the Super-Pro after work on the 3rd and decided to use the seasoning smoke that night as a trial run in temp management. It was ugly, my temps were all over the place inside the cooking chamber and I was getting high and low spikes like crazy. So now I'm really getting nervous, thinking maybe I would just do the ribs indirect on my trusty Weber, nope, I'm gonna go ahead and try out the new smoker. With the lack of time and materials on hand, I hadn't done any modifications to the CG yet so I decided to improvise a few and hope for the best, if the ribs didn't come out, my Brother in Law's grilled frozen, preformed burgers would have to feed us all. I took some HD foil and layered it up until it was nice and thick and then rolled into a tube, stapled it together and used it to extend the chimney to grill level, next I flipped the charcoal grate over to act as a baffle and finally improvised a charcoal basket using the SFB grill plates and some bailing wire. It wasn't pretty, but hopefully it would work.
I arrive at my moms house on the morning of the 4th, wheel the CG into the back yard and fire it up, crack open a cold beer and say a little prayer to the BBQ gods. The improvised mods seemed to be doing nicely, but I decided to add in a fan pointed at the end of the SFB to help out a bit, there was no breeze on the back porch and if anything else it would keep the air moving and I could stand in front of it when the 104 degree heat scheduled for the afternoon kicked in. With the temps holding steady I threw on my 2 racks of trimmed spare ribs, the trimmed portions of the rib and 2 fatties. I was now sailing in uncharted waters, guided only by what I had been reading the last few weeks. The CG chugged along nicely at about 235, I added pre-lit lump and hickory chunks when the fire box ran low and used the fan and vents to control the temps.
First off were the rib tips and skirt meat I had trimmed off, they tasted great, hopefully a sign of things to come. Next off were the fatties, I sliced them up and served them with a bowl of my own BBQ sauce. The family was a little nervous at first, but after a few good reviews from the more daring members the whole plate was quickly devoured. Finally after 6 hours the ribs were done. I pulled them out, put them on a baking sheet and brought them inside. They looked good, bones were sticking out at the ends, nice bark, good color. I sliced them up and saw a great looking smoke ring, so far so good, but how did they taste? I called in my oldest son/assistant chef, at nine years old he already fancied himself a rib connaisseur, but his experience was limited to restaurant ribs, how would mine hold up. I picked out 2 nice looking ribs and handed him one, it was now time to find out if the advice of the friendly internet BBQ wizards had paid off. Answer? It sure did, the ribs were great, they were a huge success, everyone enjoyed them and I was lavished with much praise. As for my Brother in Laws grilled frozen burgers, they were left largely untouched.
I'd like to thank all of you for making my first "real" BBQ a great success. Without all the great tips and advice I read here I never could have pulled it off. I'm sorry I couldn't provide any quality food porn for you all, I brought along the camera, but with all the pre-smoke jitters, new smoker worry and constant temp/fire checking (I swear I checked on the smoker more than I did my son when we brought him home for the first time as a baby) the camera never made it out of the truck. I'll make sure I take some in two weeks when I head for my cabin for a week of fishing and BBQ (btw, anyone smoke trout?).
Thanks,
HD
I arrive at my moms house on the morning of the 4th, wheel the CG into the back yard and fire it up, crack open a cold beer and say a little prayer to the BBQ gods. The improvised mods seemed to be doing nicely, but I decided to add in a fan pointed at the end of the SFB to help out a bit, there was no breeze on the back porch and if anything else it would keep the air moving and I could stand in front of it when the 104 degree heat scheduled for the afternoon kicked in. With the temps holding steady I threw on my 2 racks of trimmed spare ribs, the trimmed portions of the rib and 2 fatties. I was now sailing in uncharted waters, guided only by what I had been reading the last few weeks. The CG chugged along nicely at about 235, I added pre-lit lump and hickory chunks when the fire box ran low and used the fan and vents to control the temps.
First off were the rib tips and skirt meat I had trimmed off, they tasted great, hopefully a sign of things to come. Next off were the fatties, I sliced them up and served them with a bowl of my own BBQ sauce. The family was a little nervous at first, but after a few good reviews from the more daring members the whole plate was quickly devoured. Finally after 6 hours the ribs were done. I pulled them out, put them on a baking sheet and brought them inside. They looked good, bones were sticking out at the ends, nice bark, good color. I sliced them up and saw a great looking smoke ring, so far so good, but how did they taste? I called in my oldest son/assistant chef, at nine years old he already fancied himself a rib connaisseur, but his experience was limited to restaurant ribs, how would mine hold up. I picked out 2 nice looking ribs and handed him one, it was now time to find out if the advice of the friendly internet BBQ wizards had paid off. Answer? It sure did, the ribs were great, they were a huge success, everyone enjoyed them and I was lavished with much praise. As for my Brother in Laws grilled frozen burgers, they were left largely untouched.
I'd like to thank all of you for making my first "real" BBQ a great success. Without all the great tips and advice I read here I never could have pulled it off. I'm sorry I couldn't provide any quality food porn for you all, I brought along the camera, but with all the pre-smoke jitters, new smoker worry and constant temp/fire checking (I swear I checked on the smoker more than I did my son when we brought him home for the first time as a baby) the camera never made it out of the truck. I'll make sure I take some in two weeks when I head for my cabin for a week of fishing and BBQ (btw, anyone smoke trout?).
Thanks,
HD
