Category: Weber Smokey Mountain

Quality Grill Parts Heavy Duty Stainless GrateThe @WeberGrills Smokey Mountain Smoker and Weber Rib Rack Review

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

After purchasing the Quality Grill Parts Heavy Duty Stainless Charcoal Baskets I was so impressed with how well they were built and the quality of the material I wanted to upgrade the grates on my 18.5 inch Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker.

I planned to cook up four racks of pork ribs for yesterday’s Pats/Texans playoff game.

Only problem was that fitting four slabs of spare ribs on an 18 inch WSM I was going to need to use a rib rack. The Weber Rib Rack for $12.99 is a nice value, purchase here.   It’s well built and designed.  The slots are spaced enough apart that the ribs don’t lean up against each other.  When comparing them to the Char Broil ones they both had nice builds but the Char Broil one had six slots instead of five which would have placed the ribs closer together and if the ribs are leaning up against each other they won’t develop bark where they touch.

Trimmed the spare ribs into St Louis cuts which basically squares them up.

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The Quality Grill Parts  Heavy Duty Grate for 18.5 inch Weber Smokey Mountain did not disappoint in terms of quality compared the the charcoal baskets I bought from the company.  Same over built, high quality 304 stainless construction.  Comparing the build to the grates that come with the WSM it’s night and day.  They cost $40 on Amazon- purchase here

Check out the short video review here-

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Here are some comparison photos between the Quality Grill Parts 18.5 Heavy Duty Grate and the Stock Weber Unit-

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Here are the ribs on the new grate and racks-

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First overnight cook on the @webergrills Smokey Mountain Smoker For Tomorrow’s #RedSox #Yankees Game

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Started the coals on the Performer,  set up the smoker using the minion method with Apple wood chunks and cherry chips.  Dumped 12 lit coals into the center of the charcoal basket and let smoker climb to 200 before closing all three bottom vents 75% shut and leaving the top vent wide open. 

Pork Butt hit the smoker around 8:50PM.

The temps will be monitored by the Maverick 733 remote thermometer. At 9:17PM the Grate temp is 261.

Update 4:00AM-

Woke to check temps on the smoker and she was cruising along at 223 grill grate temp.  The butt internal temp at 190 degrees.

4:45AM Pork button internal temp is 196 degrees, she will be taken off the smoker, double wrapped in foil and placed in a cooler til game time when the internal temps hit 200.  I haven’t opened the lid on the Weber Smokey Mountain once.  

5:23AM after being on the @webergrills Smokey Mountain Smoker since 9PM as the night and the #Porkbutt is ready to rest. 

Live Smoke- Tuna Steaks On The @WeberGrills Smokey Mountain Smoker 

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

5:29AM 6/28/16

One of my fishermen was kind enough to donate some tuna to the cause. -A simple soy/sesame/red pepper flake marinade overnight and now they are placed on the grates to dry for an hour or two.


7:00AM

Light eight briquettes in the chimney and set up the charcoal basket in the smoker using the snake method with cherry chips and mesquite chunks.  The charcoal will slowly work its way around not having the entire basket of charcoal going at once will help keep the temps down.  We are looking to smoke around 250 degrees.

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The tuna is placed with small gaps in between so the smoke can come on up through hitting each piece of tuna.  The Maverick 732 grate probe is placed and another probe for the internal temp of the tuna.  We will look to bring the internal temp on the tuna to about 135 F.

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8:35AM

130 degrees internal temp,  Pulled the steaks off.

Done!

#Porkbutt hits the @webergrills Smokey Mountain Smoker Follow along at www.northeastbbq.com #bbq #bbqporn

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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Smoker has been running between 264 and 300.

Did not check the lid til 11:06, she’s looking niiiiice

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She has stalled at 167 internal for about an hour or so.  Gonna spritz her and open the vents a little, temps have settled in at grate level at 250.

The stall lasted just over a  hour.  Broke out at 1:15PM.

Just gonna kick back,  drink a beer and let all that fat render down into succulence.

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At 2:00PM she got double wrapped in foil and transported to the house where the oven was preheated for 275.

Temps started to climb slowly and at 4:15PM she hit 203 internal.  A ten hour session!  Wrapped the butt in a towel and placed it in a cooler to rest for an hour.

When we unwrapped her at 5:15PM the results were worth the wait-

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Nephew BJ and BIL Barry as well as The Kimberley’s came over to enjoy some wings and pulled pork.

It was a Sweet Baby Ray’s kinda day-

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Nephew BJ approves

Pulled-

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Sauced-

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This is happening! Pork butts on the @WeberGrills Smokey Mountain Smoker In The Snow

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Follow along live at http://www.northeastbbq.com

Had to shovel out the smoker but the show must go on.

5 lb pork butt.
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Rubbed down with EVOO and my go-to Paul Prudhomme Blackened magic rub.

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Smoker at 276- butts hit the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker at 7:20AM
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Two hours in and she is developing some nice color- smoker running between 266 and 315.  Internal temp 132.  It was looking a little dry so I added some warm water to the water pan and spritzed the butts with a mixture of honey, tabasco, apple cider vinegar, worcestershire, and ketchup.

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12:00PM Update Pit temps started to recede under 260 degrees despite all bottom vents being wide open so I fired up a half a chimney of briquettes and added them through the smoker fuel door. Internal temp 160. Also spritzed again with the liquid mixture to build flavors and bark.   Looking good.  Don’t think I’m going to foil them.

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1:20PM She broke out of the stall.  170 internal and has a nice bark forming.

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1:50PM Pulled The Butts Off and Wrapped Them To bring to Sista Felicia’s. Wrapped in foil and tossed them in a cooler to transport and will finish in her oven
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Brought butts to my sisters and tossed them in my sister’s oven til 195.
Pulled them out and rested for a half hour. Couldn’t resist ripping off a hunk of burnt ends
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Holy Crap I Can’t Believe I Promised Everyone Smoked #Ribs In A Snowstorm Live Blog

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

All month long I’ve been looking forward to the first Patriots playoff game to smoke up some ribs for the crew.  Babyback ribs were on sale so I picked up three racks and looked at the forecast yesterday which said the rain and snow was supposed to stop between noon and 2pm today.

Well fast forward to today and there’s no rain at all, instead it’s a full on sideways huge wind snowstorm.

Not to be deterred by the weather we forge ahead!

Babybacks were on sale at Stop and Shop yesterday but they didn’t have them in yet and would be frozen so I went to Market Basket, paid a little more from them but they were in the case unfrozen.

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Took the ribs out of the cryovac and gave them a thorough rinse.

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Next piercing the sinewy membrane on the bone side of the ribs and peeled off the membrane.  This is not difficult at all.  just carefully slide your knife under the membrane til you get to the other side and once you have enough lifted away from the meat take a paper towel to help you grip the membrane and pull it away from the rib.  It may take one or two trys to get it all off but this step should not intimidate you.  It’s alot easier than it looks.

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Once the membrane is off pat the ribs down with a paper towel to get them dry of any excess moisture from when you washed them.

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Next slather a small amount of yellow mustard on the ribs which is used to help adhere the rub to the ribs.  You won’t taste the yellow mustard it’s simply used to aid in adhering the rub so there’s no need to go out and purchase some fancy expensive mustard for this.

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Now for the rub.  I use the Paul Prudhomme rub for just about everything.  It’s fantastic.  Apply liberally on all sides and let the ribs rest for a couple hours.

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Next to set up the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker.

The wind is driving the snow sideways .  Going out for ten minutes my sweater is completely drenched with wet snow.  Took about ten minutes just to get the chimney lit.

Set up the smoker using the minion method with the charcoal basket at the bottom of the smoker hollowed out and the inside circumference of the charcoal basket lined with briquettes, cherry wood chips and apple chunks.  Once the 1/3 of a chimney of briquettes got going I dumped them into the center of the charcoal basket, looking for a gradual build up in temperatures to 225-250.

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So now that the pit temps hit 200 we toss the Ribs on

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Luckily last weekend I bought a nice plastic cover for the Maverick remote temperature gauge/  These things don’t like to get wet and today probably would have fried the unit if it wasn’t in the plastic housing.  $2.99 cents at Ocean State Job Lot was a good insurance policy for the sensor to stay dry.

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Two hours in I wasn’t satisfied with the color, and the Weber Smokey Mountain had been cruising along at 225.  I opened the fuel door and saw quite a bit of charcoal had been used up.  Figuring we needed another two hours of heat and looking for a little more heat I fired up 2/3 a chimney of briquettes and added them to the charcoal basket.  I also mixed up a container of a couple of tablespoons of Stubbs BBQ sauce, a couple of ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of tabasco sauce and spritzed the ribs.

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The snow has stopped, it’s just raw and cold out but the extra lit charcoal has helped the temps on the pit climb.

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2:45PM Pull the ribs off the pit and foil them.

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A drizzle of honey, a drizzle of Sweet Baby Rays and a light sprinkle of brown sugar. Ribs foiled meat side down and back on the smoker.

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3:30 Update Unwrapped the ribs and put them back on the pit.  Was careful to collect the drippings from the foil to add into the final BBQ sauce for an extra kick. Dipping my fingers into the drippings all I can say is OMG.  Difficult to have patience but we’re gonna let the bark firm up for another 45 minutes or so. Pit temp is 350

3:40 Update Just gave the ribs the final spritz with a combination of the drippings from the foil, The stubbs, the tabasco sauce and apple cider vinegar mixture.  Opened all the vents to try to get everything to caramelize as much as possible.  Will pull off at 4:00PM

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The money shot-
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NY Strip Loin On The @WeberGrills Smokey Mountain Smoker Using @Cavetools Magnetic Meat Temperature Guide

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Follow along at www.northeastbbq.com

12:10PM NY Strip Loin Hits The Smoker
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Cavetools Magnetic Meat Temperature Guide Newly Affixed To the Smoker

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Loin pulled and wrapped in foil when it hits 120 degrees internal 2 hours and 38 minutes at 250 degrees on the smoker.  It was a 5.5 lb loin.
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The Kettle Will be Fired Up Now To Sear The Meat after Resting For a Half Hour

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After The Sear Place Offset The Coals To Wait Til It Hits 125 Degrees.

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Pulled Off And Resting-

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The Money Shot-

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Boneless NY Strip Loin Roast Live Smoke Sunday Morning

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Follow along with this morning’s live Boneless NY Strip Loin Roast Smoke at www.northeastbbq.com

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Here’s tomorrow’s victim.

Update 6:00AM

Bust the Loin Roast out of the package and prepare the rub.

Cut a criss-cross pattern in the fat cap to get the rub to penetrate in there and create a nice flavorful bark on top.

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When I selected this particular NY Strip Loin Roast I looked for the one that had the most fat throughout as this fat will render fantastic flavor through the slow smoking process when it renders down.

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Start out by slathering on a coating of EVOO and coating it with coarse salt and black pepper.

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The next layer of flavor will be a coating of Montreal steak and chop seasoning.

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We’ll let her sit for an hour or so while we build our smoke using the minion method in the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker.

Set up the charcoal basket with a ring of briquettes and an empty center.  Two pieces of apple wood from Russell orchards and a sprinkling of Cherry wood chips.

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Prepping the smoker with the @webergrills Charcoal chimney inverted and 12 briquettes inside. Placed a upside down espressos can in top of the Smokey Joe then placed a Weber lighter cube on top of that. Don’t want this mornings smoke session to go to hot so we will dump the 12 lit briquettes in the center of the minion method set up of unlit coals in the bottom of our Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker.

 

Once the coals in the chimney are glowing red and the ones on the top are ashed over they are dumped into the center of the charcoal basket in the bottom of the Weber smokey Mountain.  Looking to build the temp gradually to 250 degrees for the duration of the smoke.

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Now we wait for the temps to climb.  When the smoker temp reaches 225 I’ll close one or two of the bottom vents and try to get it to settle in at 250.  I find if you let it rip and don’t adjust your vents before you hit your target temp the heat can get away from you and it’s easier to get in front of it and slow it down rather than knock it down and have to fiddle with it a whole lot more.

Update 7:15AM

Loin Hits The Smoker

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Update 8:50AM
Hits 120 internal and I pull it off and double wrap it in foil for an hour to bring it to a final temp of 125 for a nice rare condition.
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10:45 Update

So when I unwrapped it and took an internal temp it only read 110 and  didn’t seem done.  So I fired up the kettle and put 3/4 chimney of briquettes into the charcoal baskets.

Going to sear it and then put it offset to bring internal temp to 125

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So I took it off and wrapped it again once the temps got to 122.  After a half hour wrapped cut into it and I can’t explain how tender and delicious it is.  I will never pass this cut of beef up again when it’s on sale at that price.  And thanks to Bill O’Connor from North Shore Kid who called to let me know about the sale at Stop and Shop East Gloucester yesterday.

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