Well, I finally received my order of smoking wood (apple, cherry, hickory, and white oak), and fired up the new 22.5 this weekend. Watched Chris's video on the St. Louis trim method, and I felt I was finally ready to give this a go.

Bought three big ole' slabs from Costco. Turns out there were two full racks per package. At least they already had the membranes removed.



Went with the BRITU rub (had to double the mix for the quantity).




After setting for the allotted sit time... they were ready to go. Rolled 'em up, and got 'em ready for action.




Went with the Minion method... threw three apple chunks and one hickory chunk on the coals. Went with 2 gallons of cool water in the bowl. Let that all sit for about an hour to stabilize.

Decided to lay some racks flat, and keep some rolled... just to see the difference. I used the spare room to throw a couple of fatties on.
Here's how they looked after the 2 hour mark. Flipped and rotated them.



Here's a shot of the fatties after pulling 'em off. Nice smoke ring. Obviously I helped myself to a substantial portion of these while waiting for the ribs to finish.




Here they are at the end of the smoke... about 5.5 hours.




Here are the ribs all glazed and beautiful. I used the 5:1 KC Masterpiece:Honey sauce, putting it on at the very end of the session... probably with 30 minutes left.




One quick shot of the smoke ring...




Plated with a bottle of Ledson Zinfandel (Sonoma County, CA). Found the Petit Syrah went MUCH better with them, with the cayenne pepper and such.




All in all, a very successful kickoff to a wonderful life of smoking pleasure!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Stevo (Steve Y),

OMG this looks outstanding!

Im makin spares this weekend! very nice glaze

looks great, good job

Thanks... that glaze goes PERFECT with the rub. It was the first time in five years that my wife ate ribs...

Great looking ribs.

WOW, they look great. Well done. Did you see a difference between the flat vs rolled?

I'm not a huge huge rib fan, but I bet I could eat a whole slab of those!!! Beautiful!

Great job on the ribs Stevo... Ribs from Costco that I buy here still have the membrane on. Tnx for sharing the pics...

joe

Awesome display Steve!! FABULOUS!

Awesome job Stevo!!! They look fantastic!

Great looking spares!

What did you do with all the trimmings? I hope you didn't throw them away!

Thanks, everyone. My wife is now getting used to me taking pictures of our food...

I couldn't tell any difference between the rolled and the flat ribs... which is a good thing.

Dave - we took the trimmings and followed a recipe on 'riblets'. Overcooked them a little bit, so we may shred 'em up and throw 'em in a batch of BBQ sauce. Either that or we'll use 'em as dog treats for the next week or two.

Now, I've got to pose a question: I've got a friend who's giving me elk, caribou, deer, and a host of other exotic meats this weekend... any ideas on what to do with these?

Your preparation of the game meats will depend on what cuts he gives you.

Personally I think it doesn't get a whole lot better than elk back strap cooked nice and bloody rare with a simple rub or just salt and pepper.

Hey Stevo - What a kick and what a great bunch of pics. Nice job and for your first on the WSM, I'll bet your wife was happy. Now you may have created an addict and didn't know it. Nice looking spread and I'm sure she won't object to you taking pictures if they all turn out to look as good as these. Bob B

wow, fantastic looking!

I love the wine pairing; I have wine with everything!

well done.. looks good..

Dave - what do you typically do with your trimmings? With so much to work with, I'll be looking for alternatives to making doggie treats!

I'll post a new thread when I find out what I've got for those exotics. I can't wait to experiment!!

I'm with ya on the elk... some of the finest eating I've ever done!

Steve,

Those look fantastic. Nice work. As far as the trimmings: cut 'em up and throw 'em into some Hog Apple Beans. Or simmer them in some sauce.

Ahhhhh... now that I hadn't thought of... Thanks, Jim!

I can see that this could take over my weekend life if I let it!