Thank You For Smoking
Jul. 7th, 2015 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroNo, not the movie: I just made good use of my smoker over 4th of July weekend.
I started around 10am, rubbing ten pounds of pork spareribs and four pounds of chicken drumsticks in a mix of brown sugar, chipotle, ancho, garlic, onion, thyme and kosher salt. At noon, the ribs went into the smoker at 225 with a bunch of applewood chips. I added the chicken a little after 2pm, painted it all in barbeque sauce around 5:30 and everything came out a little before 6pm. (No mop—most of the books/reviews seem to think it’s unnecessary. And I figured that ribs didn’t need a brine, and I was correct.)
I came out really well. The ribs were tender and smoky, sweet and spicy and not too dry. I didn’t actually eat any of the chicken until the next day, but it also came out really well. I don’t think this will fully replace my oven slow-cooked ribs (as those take less than half the time, and are still very good if not as amazing), but I think it’s very likely that I’ll do it again.
I also made a coleslaw, a vinegar slaw, a watermelon-cucumber-feta salad, and some homemade bread; which meant that I had altogether too much food for the small group of locals who came over for dinner. And then we had the blueberry pie Jethrien baked and the chocolate mousse cake Sparticleman brought over.
(This was all accomplished while Jethrien took ARR to the Liberty State Park festivities. Which meant that I got a holiday of peace, quiet and exciting cooking and then some social time; and they got outdoor fun and carnival rides. And then we all got tasty food! I call that ideal.)
I started around 10am, rubbing ten pounds of pork spareribs and four pounds of chicken drumsticks in a mix of brown sugar, chipotle, ancho, garlic, onion, thyme and kosher salt. At noon, the ribs went into the smoker at 225 with a bunch of applewood chips. I added the chicken a little after 2pm, painted it all in barbeque sauce around 5:30 and everything came out a little before 6pm. (No mop—most of the books/reviews seem to think it’s unnecessary. And I figured that ribs didn’t need a brine, and I was correct.)
I came out really well. The ribs were tender and smoky, sweet and spicy and not too dry. I didn’t actually eat any of the chicken until the next day, but it also came out really well. I don’t think this will fully replace my oven slow-cooked ribs (as those take less than half the time, and are still very good if not as amazing), but I think it’s very likely that I’ll do it again.
I also made a coleslaw, a vinegar slaw, a watermelon-cucumber-feta salad, and some homemade bread; which meant that I had altogether too much food for the small group of locals who came over for dinner. And then we had the blueberry pie Jethrien baked and the chocolate mousse cake Sparticleman brought over.
(This was all accomplished while Jethrien took ARR to the Liberty State Park festivities. Which meant that I got a holiday of peace, quiet and exciting cooking and then some social time; and they got outdoor fun and carnival rides. And then we all got tasty food! I call that ideal.)
