Some notes on the pork loin rib cook on 9/25:
- Started around noon, getting the fire basket going. I used the majority of a bag of lump charcoal and put a couple of tumbleweeds underneath to get going. All of the doors were open. Probably could shaved some time off the start up by closing the doors after 20 or so. Once I closed the doors and went inside for a brief moment…I came back out and the charcoal bed was roaring. Got the temps down under 300 and then dialed it in to about 250 degrees. All vents were closed except one which I tuned here and there, leaving only a 1/4 to 3/8’s of an inch open. Same with the air in-let.
- Seasoned the ribs a few hours earlier, about mid-morning. I’m interested in seeing if an overnight dry brine is noticeable. Light salt, with Memphis Dust.
- About 2 hours in, temperatures started dropping. Needed shake up the coal bed a bit. Then temps stayed pretty solid for the rest of the cook.
- Made a KC-style sauce to go with. Nothing spicy so everyone could enjoy – though this sauce could really shine with a few hot peppers…
- Temperatures varied from 250 to 300…tried to stay as close as possible to 275. Not a lot of big temp swings…the biggest one was the coal bed shake up.
- At 3.5 hours, I was ready to sauce. Here I made my biggest gaff. I used our big bertha pan for making the BBQ sauce…this pan was a little to big for the smoker front table, so I opened the main chamber and put the whole pan in, while I pull 3 of the 6 ribs. Once the ribs were on a tray, I left the main chamber open and used it as a shelf for the pot of sauce. This allowed O2 to get the coal bed going and before I knew it, the flames were up and the temps were above 500 degrees!!!
- Along with the increase in temp, the remaining 3 ribs in the warmer are getting roasted now. I wanted ribs-two-ways, sauced and dry. I think this style lends itself to the sauce…
- I never did get the temps back down under 300, despite closing everything. The sauced ribs were back in for the last 30 min.
- Next time, sauce at 3:00 and don’t open the main chamber. 3 hours, 30 min might be a sweet spot for time. All in all, not a bad length cook.
- One of the sauced ribs actually fell off the hook, indicating it was overdone. None of the sauced ribs were dry. The dry-rub ribs were good, with some being really overdone/burnt.
- Baked beans in the main chamber. The main chamber was at about 150 degrees…a nice temp for keeping baked beans warm. I think starting ’em on the stove and getting everything hot, then transferring to the MC. There’s a lot of smoke within the MC and Vertical (temps in the Vertical were around 100 degrees, smoke cheese territory?) Might make for some tasty smoke flavor. Being all charcoal, it shouldn’t have any of the bitterness associated with lower temp smoking (of wood splits)
- There was a nice smoke ring and a noticeable, yet not overpowering smoke flavor. If I’m going to sauce…I think next time, just do salt at first. Maybe pepper too. The thought is, the small granules of paprika, garlic powder, etc, get in the way of the smoke adhering to the meat.
- All-in-all, a very successful first cook in the Warmer. We were lucky to share these with our good friends Tim and Maya!