First Cold Smoke and Ribs Done on OBS

[hal4uk]

Graciously crafted perspective, Caney.
Awrighten.

[Kitchen Commander]

TedEbear, thank you sir. I appreciate the feedback.  I'll be sure to give thee BBQ guru's idea a try.  I'm a newbie at smoking & open to all suggestions. So far the ooooze &  awwwwz from everyone tell I've gotten it right so far.  I'm bound to screw it up eventually though.

Caneyscud, thank you as well sir.  I loved your perspective on different tastes.

[TedEbear]

That's kind harsh Ted. He was just pointing out that there is many ways to do this smoking thing we do. Having a table full of Trophies doesn't always mean everything. I am looking at my table and there AINT ONE trophy sitting there that says I know anything about smoking ribs. However I think I can say that I have sure helped a whole bunch of folks make some really good ribs. Trophies aint everything as long as we all reach the same end result. Good Food!!

I see it from a different angle.  I was merely passing on to the OP what I had been told by a BBQ smoking guru at a recent cookoff.  This other individual then jumped in and pounded me with a 500 word dissertation. 

For one, mesquite is a strong flavor for smoking.  I think many would agree that smoking a thin meat such as ribs for 5 hours with it is waaaaay too long. Again, to each his own. 

When I use Google to search for a new chili recipe it produces tens of thousands of hits.  I quickly narrow down my choices by focusing on the ones with lots of positive feedback.  There are many ways to prepare ribs.  I narrow down my choices by listening to the hardcore cooks who are surrounded by $50,000 worth of smokers and related equipment and apparently take their craft seriously.  Their awards on the table indicate successful results to me.

 

[Caneyscud]

I be that other individual.  And if it wasn't for a proclivity toward sensitivity you could clearly see that I was not pounding you - it was not my intention, nor was it my intention to "pound" the "guru".  That is not my style and I do not do that!  As I sit here typing, it is tempting though.  I have quite a few posts on this forum and on many more other forums with very few "poundings" as you call them.  That is one reason why I really like this forum - the civility.  The only "poundings I give out are when one of my forum buddies is being attacked.  (Well I did kinda pound the guy who solved the problem of "the stall" - but the story was full of inconsistencies and wasn't new anyways).  I was merely pointing out differing opinions.  There is nothing wrong with a good debate.  If your opinion runs to believing the opinion of a guy who according to you  is a one of the "...hardcore cooks who are surrounded by $50,000 worth of smokers and related equipment and apparently take their craft seriously.  Their awards on the table indicate successful results to me." So be it.  I did not in any way say you shouldn't.  I was addressing the newbies and those seeking for good ways to cook ribs.  As for me, I trust my own taste buds much more than I trust others to tell me what I should or should not like.  I think I know what I like better than someone else does - my tastes are not influenced just because there are 1,000's of positive feedbacks and by golly if 1000's of people like it, I should too!   Maybe it's because I have a lot of miles on my feet and have actually tried and experienced a lot of different bbq options.  I could go on about the little Greek man in Memphis who sells 100's of 1000's of ribs cooked in what used to be coal chute in a basement (and they are not my favorite ribs either) or I could go on about the countless ribs produced in the concrete block pits of Central Texas (people flock from other states and countries to the places I refer to), or I could go on about the best pulled pork sandwich I ever had -  produced by an old black man (probably now deceased) in Alabama - his "pit" was some corrugated sheet metal wired together and he heated the pulled pork up in a cast iron skillet on top of an ancient and rusted gas kitchen range set up in a plywood lean-to.  But I won't!  In my book, it aint' in the tools ya brung - it's in learning to use the tools ya brung.  I'm sure a lot of great cooks are now surprised to learn that they don't "...take their craft seriously." even though they have championships, or fortunes made off their cooking, or maybe just the accolades of family and friends - just because all they cook on is an Ugly Drum Smoker, or a BGE, or a Texas Hibachi, a Bandera, a Weber Kettle, a smoker made from a former 300 gal propane tank, or even just  two blocks and a refrigerator rack.  The first question I would ask the guru is "If you only use 2 hours of smoke, why does he have "$50,000 worth of smokers and related equipment"?"  Seems like overkill to me.

Kitchen Commander - sorry your thread has been hijacked!

[Caneyscud]

So far the ooooze &  awwwwz from everyone tell I've gotten it right so far.

KC those are great to get aren't they!  Makes all the "hard" work worthwhile.

[KyNola]

Ted, let me start by saying to you I am not pounding you.  I have judged more than one BBQ competition and those trophies mean one thing.  One that particular day the judges liked his ribs better than the other competitors.  That's all it means.  Two weekends ago I judged a competition with 42 teams.  Some of them were pros and some were "backyard" competitors.  Some of the pro teams had more hardware and trophies than you can imagine.  Know who won the Grand Champion and Reserve Champion at that competition?  Two "backyard teams".  It's just like football.  On any given day any given team can win it all.

I know Caney and know that he is never going to pound anyone unless they are personally attacking a member of this forum.  In a very brief nutshell, all he was trying to convey to you is that smoking ANYTHING is subjective.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  This is twice you have quoted the BBQ guru.  Two questions for you.  1. Did you taste his ribs and were they indeed the best you have ever eaten and 2. If he doesn't like more than 2 hours of smoke on anything, how did he finish those ribs?  The reason I ask the last question is because that pit is going to continue to smoke all day long.

If I offend you in any way with this response, please send me a PM and I will delete this reply.

[Kitchen Commander]

So far the ooooze &  awwwwz from everyone tell I've gotten it right so far.

KC those are great to get aren't they!  Makes all the "hard" work worthwhile.

Yessir indeed!  I cook as a hobby.  A hobby I have fun with and take somewhat seriously.  I got the smoker and started  smoking as another way to prepare great meals for my family.  There's nothing more gratifying for me, than to hear my wife and son rant about a meal I've prepared for them.  My wife actually went so far as to tell me I've become a better cook than her.  I played the safe card and told her "No way baby, you're still the best cook in this house".  Eventually I'll get pretty good at smoking too.  Until then, I'll keep learning from everyone here. 

[KyNola]

Yessir indeed!  I cook as a hobby.  A hobby I have fun with and take somewhat seriously.  I got the smoker and started  smoking as another way to prepare great meals for my family.  There's nothing more gratifying for me, than to hear my wife and son rant about a meal I've prepared for them.

And that KC, is all that matters.

[hal4uk]

Somewhere...
Over the rainbow...
Skies turn smoky blue...

I love pigs that are smokey...
Don't.... uuuuuuuu... toooo?

Kumbaya, and here's to cinder block pits!
Those guys with funny hats win trophies too!

Awrighten.
Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrp.

[TedEbear]

Ted, let me start by saying to you I am not pounding you.  I have judged more than one BBQ competition and those trophies mean one thing.

KyNola, you weren't the one I was referring to in my reply. 

As far as the BBQ guru I keep bringing up I bought a slab of his $20 ribs because I wanted to see what an award-winning method tasted like compared to my little back yard OBS efforts.  As I mentioned in another thread, I wasn't all that impressed by his ribs or any of the handful of other things I tried at various booths that day (brats, pulled pork, chicken breast, funnel cake...well, actually I was impressed by that but it's hard to get a funnel cake wrong).  I thought the taste of the ribs was pretty good as far as the smoke flavor but they were not as tender as what I have been able to do on my own.  Perhaps since he was cooking them sort of assembly line fashion for the thousands of people who were at the cookoff he couldn't put as much TLC and time into it as the ones that got sent to the judges.

My family likes some of my smoked ribs and pulled pork so much that they requested that last year for Thanksgiving instead of turkey.  I'm going to smoke a turkey this year so maybe I'll meet them halfway.  I don't think I'll ever enter a BBQ contest but as long as I enjoy doing it and others like the results that's all that matters to me.

[Tenpoint5]

If it wasn't Caney and it wasn't KyNola then it must have been me!! Although I appreciate the compliment I aint a BBQ Guru by any means I aint even a rib guru. My comment about helping a lot of folks with their ribs is s direct reflection to the comments I have received from a thread I started just for fun and to help others see what we have been trying to tell them. It's just an average thread with almost 25,000 views. You can look at it Here