Inspired by an article in the current Cook's Illustrated, I
decided to have a go at beef back ribs. I went to my local
butcher to see what he could offer. An 8lb, 8 rib chunk
looked about right, $2.78/lb, I bought it (beef is a little
pricier in MN). Shortly afterwards, I was invited up to a
lake cabin in the North Woods, so I packed up all my stuff
and brought the ribs with. Well, my host had a Char-Broil
gas grill, a small Weber charcoal unit, and a Coleman bullet
type charcoal water smoker. The bullet smoker was bright
red, and had clearly never been used. Turns out it had been
a gift from one of his sons, and he never figured out how to
use it. Curiously, one one the three legs was already bent
and one of the tabs that the firebox rests on was missing.
This was going to be a bit of a challenge, the cooking
chamber did not separate from the firechamber, and there
were no vents on the bottom or top of the unit. The unit is
open at the bottom, this is the fresh air supply. The lid
fit poorly enough so the unit could breathe. I found a
piece of cinder block to set the fire pot on, started the
coals, something called Cowboy lump I found in Hackensack.
When the coals were ready, I put some water in the water pan
and carefully assembled this death trap. I'm glad I had to
foresight to bring my big leather up-to-the-elbow grilling
gloves along. I put the cover on and waited for the temp to
come up to 'ideal' (three choices: warm-ideal-hot; WTF!)
This took awhile. I had prepped the ribs a couple hours
before with a simple rub of Tone's Montreal Steak Seasoning
(salt pepper garlic etc). I decided to build a little meat
teepee with bamboo skewers and two 4 bone sections of rib.
Since I didn't really know WTF the rinky-dink thermo gauge
was telling me, I ran my taylor probe down through one side
of the teepee so the tip of the probe was just above the
grill grate surface. After awhile the temp just wasn't
climbing up over 200, so I elected to get rid of the water
pan. Again, thanks goodness for big-ass red leather
grilling gloves. With the water pan out, the temp climbed
(clumb?) nicely to 280 and was fairly stable for the next 3
hours. Whenever it started to drop, a quick stir of the
coals seems to kick start it back up. At one point perhaps
two hours in, I pulled out of the coals the little foil
packet of hickory chips and took a look at what was left of
them. Since they looked like mini-lump at this point, I
tossed them back in minus the foil. After three hours, I
pulled the cover. The ribs were all-a-glisten, and pulled
back from the bones at least an inch and a half. Wrapped
them in tinfoil, put them in the stryro cooler for one
hour. There was no way to smother the fire, so I had to
just let it burn out in the driveway (which is where I set
it up)

Amazingly, they were delicious, just enough tooth to make it
fun, no way to eat these monsters without getting ear-to-ear
juicy face.

Still, it occurred to me I might be doing my friend a favor
if I accidentally backed up over this nasty little el crappo
coleman (ECC?)

Robert the Undaunted

Robert wrote:
Inspired by an article in the current Cook's Illustrated, I
decided to have a go at beef back ribs.

This was a good edition.

come up to 'ideal' (three choices: warm-ideal-hot; WTF!)

Sound like a Mecco cooker. One central hole in the firepan and there was
about a 3mm space all around the lid for venting?

Good story. I think I'm gonna have to try that cut of meat now.

--

I used to get beef ribs about 99 cents a pound maybe 4, 5 years ago. The
other day I saw some really nice looking ones, $3.69/lb...no thanks.

Anyhow, garlic cloves or even a whole head of garlic tossed onto the
fire make a nice addition to the smoke for these.

They can be surprisingly good grilled directly over slow coals (a small
batch, spread around on the fire grate in a kettle), don't necessarily
have to treat them the same as spares if you don't mind a little serious
gnawing. Can even cut them into individual ribs, grill them over coals
slow enough that, turning them every which way every 10 minutes or so,
total cooking time comes out about 45 minutes to an hour and fifteen
minutes. Taste more like steak that way - but I wouldn't try cooking
them fast like steak, you need the longer time to cook out most of the fat.

Duwop wrote:

Sound like a Mecco cooker. One central hole in the firepan and there was
about a 3mm space all around the lid for venting?

I do not think there was a central hole in the firepan. I
can't see how that would be a good idea since this unit was
open on the bottom. The cover didn't really fit loosely,
just very badly. I found a picture of a Meco, it looks like
their temp gauge is down on the side more, this unit's temp
gauge was up on the top. I could not find any references to
this particular Coleman unit with a casual amount of
googling, I suspect they came to their senses and pulled it
off the market before somebody hurt themselves or burned
down their house & kids with it.

Robert

On 21-Jun-2004, Robert wrote:

snip most of long but entertaining post


Amazingly, they were delicious, just enough tooth to make it
fun, no way to eat these monsters without getting ear-to-ear
juicy face.

Still, it occurred to me I might be doing my friend a favor
if I accidentally backed up over this nasty little el crappo
coleman (ECC?)

Robert the Undaunted

I'm surprised you did so well, given the tools you had to work with.
Even down to the Cowboy lump which most of us rate near the
bottom of the lump chain. I have a Coleman bullet gasser, but it
bears very little resemblance to the description of your friend's.
Mine has vents albeit non-adjustable and the body does remove
from the base just like the brinkman or WSM. Unlike the WSM,
mine came with nice wood handles on the barrel for easy removal.
Mine had the same type of thermometer (low/med/high) until I
replaced it. My only real complaint is the fuel control sux. It's
difficult to get it set where I want it. Oh, and I do love those
messy beef ribs. Very worth the effort. Your ear to ear mess is
a very apt description.
--
M&M ("When You're Over The Hill You Pick Up Speed")