OK, I finally tried my hand at smoking foods and I didn't do too good but it wasn't that bad either. Here is the breakdown: This I started off at about 11:00 AM on Saturday. I planned to cook 2 whole hens (about 3-4 lbs each) , 2 slabs of ribs, 8 burgers, and a pound shrimp. The chicken and ribs went on first because the burgers and shrimp just got grilled. I placed my special rub on the chicken and ribs and placed a half can of beer inside each chicken as well. So in the smoker I started the charcoal, let it flare up, let it die down and ash over until the coals were nice and hot. I soaked my wood chips for about 30-35 minutes before I was ready to add them. Once the coals were ready I placed about 3-4 scoops of wood on the coals. I used hickory. After that I placed my chickens and ribs inside the smoker and closed the lid. Now it was about 12:00 PM or so when the meat was finally put into the smoker. I did not lift the lid or peak inside because I remember from my previous thread somebody said I would let heat which was needed escape. I just opened the lid to the wood chips and placed more on when needed. So at around 5:30 PM I finally go and take a look. The chicken looked good from the outside and when we cut into it. I had my cousin give it a taste, he'll eat anything, and he said it wasn't done. I asked him what he meant and he said eat a piece and you'll see what I mean. Well, it's going on 6:00 and I have several hungry people waiting for food so I fire up the grill to cook hamburgers on and just placed both chickens on there for about 20 minutes and then the were finished. The chickens turned out great. The ribs were good but weren't very tender but I didn't buy the right kind so that may have been the problem. The burgers were excellent and so were the shrimp. So, what did I do wrong to not make the chickens cook all the way through the first time? How can I make my ribs more tender the next time? I didn't like the hickory smoke taste too much, what other woods would you suggest, the only other wood I could find was mesquite. All in all it was good though just need to correct my mistakes for next time. There is plenty of summer ahead to do this again and get it right. So Behad, Tex, and all you other BBQ/smoking experts fire away and tell me my faults. Thanks!
I was so sure this was about nicotine patches or something. While we're on the subject though....has anyone ever tried to cook ribs on a gas grill? I've been wanting to try this on my new grill, but I've never heard of anyone doing it. Pun, as for what type of wood chips to use, I recall quite a few people here recomending pecan chips.
LP...it sounds like you either didn't use enough charcoal or you let the fire burn down too much before putting the meat on. It sounds like you might have one of those Weber circular smokers. After lighting the fire, I would wait only about 15 minutes....when the charcoal is gray around the edges of each briquet, throw the wood on the fire and then put your meat on. As far as wood goes, I only use pecan when smoking. Mesquite works well also but has a strong flavor.
Ditto, esp. the pecan part. I only use pecan wood to smoke with, and I'm the best there is. (Sorry, RMTex!)
Them's fightin' words! Just keeeeeeeeeding! PS....Behad....how did your BBQ come out this weekend? I smoked a 14 pound brisket Saturday thru Sunday...put it on Saturday night before I went out drinking. 14 hours on the smoker and another 6 hours in the oven on Sunday at 200 degrees. By the time I took it out all of the fat had melted away and you could carve it with a butterknife. Had my folks and a couple of friends over for dinner and still wound up freezing 3 or 4 pounds of brisket!
No I used a square one with a big thing hanging on the side where you put charcoal and wood. I'm going to use a round smoker this weekend when smoking a turkey. 14 hours!!! So maybe I should go to bed and let the meat smoke, huh? Any rib tips?
Didn't you learn to smoke a brisket while on this site? It's difficult for me to listen to anyone claim their brisket is better than mine, but until I put up......I guess I have to shut up. Anyway, I also recommend pecan. I like hickory as well, and I often mix the two. Mesquite is fairly oily, so it burns fast and hot. I love it for grilling, but I don't use it as much for smoking any more. Lil Pun, I cook my chickens (BTW....a 3-4 pound chicken is usually referred to as a "fryer"--Hens are older, tougher, and heavier....they're great for chicken soup, but I don't think I'd try to smoke one) at a higher temp than a brisket. For my briskets, I usually try to keep the temp around 225 or slightly above. For chickens, I try to keep the tem up around 350. They won't take nearly as long to cook, and although you won't get as much smoke flavor into the chicken, the skin will crisp up and keep the moisture inside the bird. For ribs, you might try this cheater's method I've been using quite a bit lately. Put your ribs in a large pot or dutch oven and add about a half cup of water for each slab. Boil the ribs on the top of the stove (with a lid ON!) for about 30 minutes or so. Keep an eye on the water though to make sure it doesn't boil out. The ribs will turn this ugly color of gray, so don't be worried that they look like crap. After thirty minutes or so, remove the ribs from the pot, and pour some of your favorite BBQ sauce into the pot (about a 1 to 1 mix of bbq sauce and the reserved liquid left in the pot). Then take the slabs of ribs outside and place them right above your hot coals and sear the outside while basting them with the bbq/boiling liquid mixture. After the ribs start to "look right," you can move them over to a cooler part of the grill and finish them up with an hour or so of smoke at around 250. It's kind of cheating, but the ribs will cook much faster, and they'll be REAL tender.
That's what I had, fryers not hens. Sorry about that. Boiling ribs, that's not authentic but hey you guys are the experts so I'll try anything once.
I have more fightin' words for you.... Although I haven't heard you mention crawfish in.......heck......three or four years, I had three different people from Louisiana (none related......which is hard to accomplish in itself) at my house this weekend while I was cooking the bugs, and they all told me that my crawfish were.....bar none.....the best they had ever had.
Very cool. You got me beat on the crawfish thing. I tried to do a boil at my house once, on the stove, and it was a mess. If your Cajun friends gave it the thumbs-up, the mudbugs must have been rockin'!
Excuse me? I've been smoking meat since you were in diapers! I cooked my first brisket roughly 20 years ago, and have done...approximately....300-500 of them over the years. That's just a guess, of course, but I'll bet I'm not too far off. RMTex, I did ribs this weekend, and they were perfect, as usual. I got challenged to a cookoff by a older guy who thought he could cook. His was all right, I guess, but everyone was in agreement that mine rocked. We are just going to get together and settle this, once and for all. June 19th good for y'all? I'm doing ribs again that day.
Man....I read that, and my first thought was "Damn....he's old." Then I realized I was cooking briskets in high school.....and I'm 37 now. I guess I'm old too. BTW......www.thesmokering.com has some good websites in the webring. www.bbqboard.com is brand new, and they need some more knowledgable smokers posting on their site. They could also use some more newbies asking good questions, so don't hesitate to go visit. I especially like the fact that they take the attitude that nobody owns BBQ and all the different styles have their merits and their devotees.
I'll be 41 in July. Another great site is www.barbecuen.com . Lot's of great info there, including some pics of great smokers like this one:
