Done ribs about a dozen times on my Weber, so I'm pretty much a novice still. Not super invested in any recipe I've tried. Going on my annual ice fishing, tube ripping, blown shit upping trip this weekend and am gonna do 6 rack of St louis cut low and slow on Saturday. Hoping to get them all prepped and rubbed wednesday night. I've usually done a dry rub, with a mop over the last half hour or so and optional sauce at the table.

Any tried and true favorite recipes? Someone told me this weekend that they marinate their ribs in root beer for a day before rubbing. Weird, but I'm open to anything. Thoughts?

Beebs wrote:Done ribs about a dozen times on my Weber, so I'm pretty much a novice still. Not super invested in any recipe I've tried. Going on my annual ice fishing, tube ripping, blown shit upping trip this weekend and am gonna do 6 rack of St louis cut low and slow on Saturday. Hoping to get them all prepped and rubbed wednesday night. I've usually done a dry rub, with a mop over the last half hour or so and optional sauce at the table.

Any tried and true favorite recipes? Someone told me this weekend that they marinate their ribs in root beer for a day before rubbing. Weird, but I'm open to anything. Thoughts?

If the ribs are nice and meaty I do a wet marinade of cider vinegar, some of your rub (add a good measure of salt if your rub is salt free) and believe it or not a cinnamon stick or some cloves and cut it with a little water so it's not quite as acidic. I'll do that in the fridge for a day or two and then dry them off and rub them and stick them back in the fridge for a day. If they're not as meaty I skip the marinade and increase the time in the fridge with the rub by a day. Either way they're pretty fool proof. Also I prefer apple, cherry or pecan wood for the smoke on ribs or any pork really.

Rib Rub:

2/3 cup sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle powder (I usually get dried chipotles and dry my own)
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper (fresh ground makes all the difference)
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves

I don't claim to have the experience or the refined palate to make claims for greatest this and best that. All I'll say is that i find it very difficult to believe that there's any barbecue anywhere that's better than Oklahoma Joe's in KC. And if there is, I want some. NOW.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Rib Rub:

2/3 cup sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle powder (I usually get dried chipotles and dry my own)
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper (fresh ground makes all the difference)
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves

That looks ace! This is my go-to rub for ribs/butts, but I'm definitely giving yours a try this summer. Often, I'll rub the hog with plain old yellow mustard before applying the spices.

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary powder

So we got a really nice ~4lb. tri-tip to grill, and I made the mistake of walking away from the grill with the lid down. Come back to see the internal temp of the grill is over 600 degrees and the meat is literally on fire. Dammit, I hate throwing away good meat

Made a smoked salmon on the big green egg this weekend:

Memorial Day brunch. Grilled pizza w/ lemon cream sauce, Canadian bacon, asparagus, caramelized onions, eggs & a three-cheese blend.

A little cooking news: Study Links Homosexuality to Eating Grits

We've got multiple grilling threads going.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6134

This is how precious info gets lost, people.

Just merged them.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Just merged them.

God damned TC. What was that… 30 seconds? You take your moderatin' seriously.

Beebs wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Just merged them.

God damned TC. What was that… 30 seconds? You take your moderatin' seriously.

LOL haven't been on in three hours but if I see something I fix.

wooswiff wrote:Made a smoked salmon on the big green egg this weekend:

Talk to the class about those eggs - are they really worth the money?

Flea wrote:Talk to the class about those eggs - are they really worth the money?

The egg is certainly not cheap. A large egg plus some of the basic accessories will run close to $1,000. The wood lump charcoal that it uses is somewhat economical because it burns a long time and you can reuse any unburned pieces for the next cook, but it's gonna take a hell of a lotta cooks to make up the cost in fuel savings...

So "worth the money" is gonna come down to two things: 1) the enjoyment of cooking on it, and 2) the quality of the food.

As to 1), I love building a fire and having careful control over the airflow and temperature. You don't use lighter fluid or pretreated briquettes - you build a real fire in a pyramid, just like in boy scouts. Some may find this tedious but I personally love it. A gas grill is obviously gonna be quicker to start but I've gotten it down to about 15 minutes from the time I walk out on my deck to getting the egg lit and up to 500F, ready for cooking. It's pretty versatile in terms of different cooking configurations, which keeps it fun for making a variety of dishes. In "direct" mode you can do anything you'd do on a regular grill (burgers, steaks, chicken, etc.) and in "indirect" mode with a ceramic plate blocking the direct heat you can smoke at a low temp (that salmon was smoked at 170F for 4 hours), cook anything you'd cook in an oven (handy in the summertime) and do things that cook at a high temp like pizza or tandoori chicken at 800F+.

So the variety makes it worth it since we can keep our menu varied, but the bigger selling point in terms of convincing my wife was how great the food always turns out. I'm not a great cook but I'm also not a terrible cook, and of the 100+ meals I've made on the egg, maybe only one or two have turned out bad. The first meal I made on it was a roasted chicken and potatoes with grilled asparagus followed up by some baked chocolate chip cookies, and my wife was completely sold from that point on. It takes a bit of learning to get the hang of controlling the temperature and building an efficient fire, but once you get the basics figured out it's pretty forgiving. I mean, if you accidentally leave the vents wide open and let an inferno get going while you go inside to grab a beer then it can still turn your burgers into hockey pucks, so it's powerful but you have to pay a little attention. Such is the duality...

Sorry if that was a mouthful. They say they only need to sell an egg to one man and then he'll convince two friends to buy one, and they'll convince two friends, etc. I'm not trying to make a sales pitch, just sharing why a very expensive purchase like this is indeed more than worth the money to me, especially since I'll be able to use it for as long as I live. If you enjoy grilling with a little bit of fussing over the fire & cooker and then impressing the hell out of your dinner guests, maybe it'll be worth it to you too.

wooswiff wrote:They say they only need to sell an egg to one man and then he'll convince two friends to buy one, and they'll convince two friends, etc.

my neighbor's got one.



i'm good w/ my propane grill

I've seriously considered an Egg, especially now that we're moving and consolidation appeals to me. Right now I have a charcoal smoker, a charcoal grill and a gas grill. I also have a large, custom built, heavy wall smoker with an offset firebox sitting at my father in-law's place that needs a little work but is a really nice tool. I like having the gas grill for vegggies, fish and convenience so I want to keep that but I'd like to pair down to only one more charcoal grill/smoker so I've got to decide to go with the offset fire box smoker and also use it as my charcoal grill or shell out the bucks for the Egg. My one concern, aside from the money, is that if I ever want to do a large smoke I might be better off with the large smoker/grill and, of course, it's free. Glad to hear your thoughts on the Egg, thanks.

Probably depends on how much you mean by a "large smoke". 6 racks of ribs pretty doable to fit on; I've seen pictures of people fitting 8 and more by making clever use of extenders and kitchen twine. There is a bigger egg - the XL - but that's not recommended unless you're regularly cooking for 10+ guests. Otherwise it's overkill.

I like your idea of keeping a second cooker. I had a weber kettle before I got my egg and still pull that out every now and again when I need a second cooking temp and/or more grilling capacity for a larger gathering.

What are people's thoughts on the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker? I am thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these. Lots of great reviews, and some of the bad ones are that there is too much room. Thought I would get the opinions of people I "know" and trust.

PeterJ wrote:What are people's thoughts on the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker? I am thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these. Lots of great reviews, and some of the bad ones are that there is too much room. Thought I would get the opinions of people I "know" and trust.

I have the 18.5 inch WSM and swear by it. I've never even used the second, lower rack on it and it's capacity has suited me. I can fit two big butts or three loin back racks on it without sweating.
I like the idea of building a fire to smoke with. This isn't quite a hardwood only smoke, but you still get some of that feel. My WSM also locks in and holds a temp like nobody's business. Usually, when I do a long butt smoke, I get the smoker temp locked by midnight or so and it's still running tough when I wake up at 6.
Plus it's a Weber, so it's built pretty solid.
I did a quick mod, though. No water pan for me. I use a terracota planter base as a heat sink.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Rib Rub:

2/3 cup sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle powder (I usually get dried chipotles and dry my own)
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper (fresh ground makes all the difference)
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Trying this rub on the butt I'm smoking mañana. You may expect a visit from a little person with a largish twig if it's not satisfactory.

Who wants some? Be here in 12 hours give or take.

^^^^

Flea wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Rib Rub:

2/3 cup sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle powder (I usually get dried chipotles and dry my own)
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper (fresh ground makes all the difference)
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Trying this rub on the butt I'm smoking mañana. You may expect a visit from a little person with a largish twig if it's not satisfactory.

How did you like the rub?

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

Flea wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Rib Rub:

2/3 cup sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle powder (I usually get dried chipotles and dry my own)
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper (fresh ground makes all the difference)
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Trying this rub on the butt I'm smoking mañana. You may expect a visit from a little person with a largish twig if it's not satisfactory.

How did you like the rub?

I'm using it again today, if that tells you anything.

And that's a wrap.

Just one more...

Nice.

Flea wrote:Just one more...

Awesome.

Can't wait to get into our new house and have my smoker set up again. Haven't done anything this season.