Pork shoulder country style ribs

[addicted-to-smoke]

Bought these, about 4 1/4 lbs and as you might be able to see, already cut up.



Made a weird sauce of spicy mustard, hot curry paste, pickle juice and dipped each piece in it. Sprinkled all sides with rub made by some friends.



Here's one of them:



Got them individually wrapped in foil and I'm about to check out the grill (not mine, my dad's Performer). Ribs have been in the fridge for almost 3 hrs.

What next? Bank coals, for an indirect cook, with new coals added every so often? It's almost 12:30pm ...

We're dealing with a moving truck and packing it up today. So I'll be here, but not available every second to tend the BBQ. I want to get them going for the next 4-5 hours or so, low.

What I know nothing about is whether they should be left wrapped for part of it or forget the foil. And I may baste later, I guess, but not with the "sauce" nor the rub I had initially. I'd have to come up with something else for that.

[1buckie]

If you're busy w/ other stuff just let them braize & sear for a bit of crust at the end.....yummmmmmmmmmm

Plus points for pickle juice !!!!!

[addicted-to-smoke]

Wow, major drama backing a 16ft. moving van down my dad's steep driveway and then turning it around and backing it UP the steep driveway. I may need to do a higher heat/shorter cook ... especially since it's 1:30 an no coals lit yet.

... Plus points for pickle juice !!!!!

And GUESS where I got that idea from.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Well, we had almost no charcoal, which I didn't get a chance to check until 3pm. It's now 4:10pm and coals are going. Two charcoal holders filled.

I'll separate them and place on one side, toss on some apple wood chips in foil (cheap Charbroil stuff from hardware store) soaking in water currently ... and just do the best indirect I can in the misting rain. Got two chicken breasts marinating in the fridge, too.

A while ago I was thinking of leaving the spare ribs in the foil, albeit foil opened up, as a way of shielding heat from below and letting heat in from above.

3 kids having frozen cheese pizza now, so that'll buy me some time on the rest if they aren't actually having to wait.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Two charcoal holders arrayed around in semi-circle, each with a  foiled bunch of apple chips, opened up.



spare ribs in foil, opened up



this is dumb, some meat close to heat, the rest far away ... [sigh]

bottom vent open, top vent open ... gonna need some heat, and don't think there's enough charcoal to rise more than 300 degrees at the lid thermo. I'll close down the bottom vent if it DOES look too high soon.

4:45pm. Crap, it's late.

[addicted-to-smoke]

350 at the lid thermo. Screw it--I'm feeling a good vibe here and the meat has foil on the bottom, so I'll let the smoke and cook sink in a while. I have a history of undercooking everything, so let's see what happens after another 30 minutes like this. Of course I'll check it before then but don't want to lift the lid for a good while yet.

Lid vent is on opposite side from heat, so hopefully I'm getting heat transfer over the meats ...

*****************

I FORGOT THE BEST PART.

When I'd come outside to adjust charcoal holders, add smoke wood, put grill on etc. --- it was smoking already and as I approached the grill, saw the lid POP UP (it lifted off the kettle) once. OK ... gas now needs turning off, I said to myself ...

[addicted-to-smoke]

5pm, lid thermo 375. I cut the intake to about half-open. Pork sizzling nicely. Got buttered-and-wrapped corn waiting to go on soon, somehow I've got to put 6 of them down there near the coals. And two chicken fillets to cook. And finally, asparagus.

What the HECK didn't I utilize the 18.5" sitting right next to it, as well???

[1buckie]

 Corn down in......stack stuff up while aspergoose finishes....

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/f'in-thermometers-f'in-hi-heat-f'in-searing/

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/previous-don't-really-need-all-those-kettles-just-one-18-12'-5/

[addicted-to-smoke]

In your pic the corn's up top. I've never tried it that way, and wouldn't "think" it would cook enough up top when in foil?

For what it's worth here's an update.

5:30pm, lid thermo still pushing 375 despite intake no more than half open. Gave the intake another small nudge towards closed. Plenty of coals left.

Blue smoke gone. Well, the "smoke" was an experiment anyway.

Removed the grill, added more smoke wood. This last amount is about half the initial total, so likely won't last another hour. Don't care. -- We'll be eating this dried-out pork in an hour. Some has pulled away from the bone. Of course this is because of the heat, not the cooking time. Bummer, but then again what did I expect, starting LATE and cooking HOT?

Pork is left sitting on the foil. No sense in actually overcooking it. When I'm reasonably sure it's done I may take them out and grill directly for a few minutes to sear/cook done ...

I put the 6 wrapped corn cobs downstairs near the coal holders. Probably rotate the ones farther away in about 15 mins. Seems we'll skip the asparagus on the grill and steam in microwave.

The best corn I've had was essentially roasted on the grill, no husk, no foil, and today's ... not that day. Oh well.

[addicted-to-smoke]

5:50, pork probably a bit dry up top. Spritzed it with lemon juice and the rest of a bottle of strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing (barely anything left).

Lid temp down to below 250; it's dropping due to my intake near-closure. Fine by me. Even if this is $15 worth of ruined meat and hungry people I'll now have a better sense of how to set it up for next time. (I think.)

I'd rotated / moved the corn last time and let it be this time. I was originally thinking 6pm would be done but am leaving it all on grill. Next stop, Weber thermometer to test meat temps.

[jcnaz]

Those pork shoulder slices are very forgiving. They can take some heat. It might not turn out how you planned but I will bet it turns out good!

[1buckie]

"In your pic the corn's up top. I've never tried it that way, and wouldn't "think" it would cook enough up top when in foil?"


 Look at the other link.....corn down in right next to the coals & actually, corn does not 'need' to be cooked at all, just tastes better that way............

Anything that you wrap in foil, be it meat, corn, taters.....will cook faster 'cause the heat it picks up is then contained.....the meats I would have thought you would keep sealed, thereby giving the ability to stack them up if needed, then crisp up at the end, BWTFDIK?

[1buckie]

     

[addicted-to-smoke]

"In your pic the corn's up top. I've never tried it that way, and wouldn't "think" it would cook enough up top when in foil?"

Look at the other link.....corn down in right next to the coals & actually, corn does not 'need' to be cooked at all, just tastes better that way............

Anything that you wrap in foil, be it meat, corn, taters.....will cook faster 'cause the heat it picks up is then contained.....the meats I would have thought you would keep sealed, thereby giving the ability to stack them up if needed, then crisp up at the end, BWTFDIK?

OK, mind sufficiently blown. At any rate I've rotated the corn a second time ... and lid temp continued to fall, which is fine. I was concerned that with the late start/shorter cook time that the meat wouldn't be cooked enough if left in foil covered up/shielded from heat everywhere.

6:30, Dad asking about food, meat shows it's 155+ degrees ... pulled it off and left wrapped, to rest in kitchen. Rotated corn, left on. In a few mins it'll all be over.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Ah, no pix, sorry. Everyone ate everything so quickly and we were doing other things ...

Everything OK, with compliments all around. Then again, some put Pick-A-Peppa or BBQ sauce on them at the table?? Habits are interesting. But the smoke flavor came through well and wasn't overpowering --- hey! this was officially my first smoke!!

But yeah, all were tender and moist, the larger pieces more so of course. Corn turned out well---in my experience it's typically very forgiving. With each cook I hope to absorb a tiny bit more of something I retain for next time.