Ribs & Wings Memorial Day Cook! - the AFTER pics...

KiterTodd

Part one of this cook is HERE.

Well, the cook went well.  Everyone devoured the ribs and said they were the best they've had.  I sauced 4 racks and kept 2 racks dry.  Both were enjoyed.

When I took the ribs off, I put the wings on.  I rubbed them with Swamp Venom and served them with a very spicy sauce.  My thought was I could "only" fit about 50 wings on the BGE so I'd make them spicy so they wouldn't go too fast.  That worked.  Everyone's lips were burning.  Maybe I should back off on the heat a little next time.    BUT, they received raves as well.   More details...

Okay, the LBGE can definitely fit 6 large racks.   I did seem to increase the cooking time as the parts of the meat that were clear to the air cooked faster than the parts that were touching each other.  Everything came out alright and nothing seemed over or undercooked.  So it was a success in that regard.  I opened at 4 hours and did the bend test.  Then I checked every 30-45 minutes after that.  In the end I think it took about 6 hours.  I took off 2 to keep dry for FTC and then I put some home made root beer BBQ sauce on the other 4.  I FTC'd those as well, while I got the wings ready.  

All told they were probably only in the cooler 30-40 minutes, but everything was moist.
Some pics below and then one critical cook questions I have below those...

Here are the 6 racks, close to being done.  I was surprised how much the meat pulled back from the bone ends after 4 hours or so, but they were clearly not passing the bend test yet (so I'm glad I didn't take them off).


Saucing 4 racks;


A kind of blurry pic of the dry ribs;


A much better picture of the sauced ribs!  (I'm getting hungry again)



Here are the wings after an hour.  I think they went another 30 minutes after this.  I took the smaller ones off first which as you can see cooked a little faster than the others.


Here are the wings tossed in home made sauce and ready to serve.  These were pretty damn good;



OKAY, It was a good cook and I'm glad I tried both.  I don't think I'll do this much cooking during a party any time soon, though, as it ended up being more work at the end than I had in mind (checking, foiling, saucing, cutting, etc.) when I would have rather spent time with our guests.  I think I'm more in favor of cooking ahead and reheating, even though I probably sold a couple eggs!  People enjoyed seeing the process.   My question...

I used FOGO lump.  And for the first time I put tin foil on my plate setter and also on 3 edges of the grate.  Foil on the plate setter to keep it clean.  Foil on the grate to shield the ribs from charcoal.  I thought both ribs and wings had a faint chemical taste to them in the background.  Nobody else noticed, I asked two people.  BUT, to me it was that taste like when you go over someone's house and they don't let all the lighter fluid burn off before throwing the meat on.  I of course didn't use any fluid.  The only thing different was the foil and I'm still new to the FOGO.   I asked my sister about it and she said it was just a strong smoke flavor.

Has anyone gotten this before?  As I tasted it in both the pork and the chicken, I know the taste came from something in the egg.  I'm not sure if it was from the lump or the tin foil burned and gassed something out?  Of course there was a lot of dripping from the meat.    I also had a few chunks of hikory that I put on top of the FOGO.  Haven't used that before on the egg.   So, 3 new thinkgs for me...FOGO, aluminum, hickory.  Thoughts?

Thanks for all the feedback on this and other cooks.  Much appreciate the community here!

KiterTodd

Well, when I was cutting the ribs apart Sunday afternoon I set a few bones aside for the cook to try later.  I heated them up yesterday to see how they tasted...sober.     Everything above still holds.  Cooked well, loved the flavor...faint taste in the background that I think only someone sensitive to it would notice. 

Maybe I need to mess with some other kinds of wood if I can pick up on flavor differences.  Still also not sure if it is a slight acrid flavor from fat coated tin foil burning or just the lump.  If I like more of a sweet smoky taste, what would you recommend using?

GATABITES

Fruit wood has a subtle smoky flavor. I like cherry and peach.

KiterTodd

Thanks, GB.  I'll try that.

The FOGO got rave reviews, which is why I bought it (it certainly burns nice) but does anyone who like it prefer fogo for one type of cook vs. another?   Maybe I'll try BGE lump again for my next cook and see if there is a difference.  Thinking...for short cooks (steak, seafood, pizza) the actual smoke flavor will be less of an impact than when you have something on all day.

KenfromMI

They gave me two bags of BGE lump when I made my purchase. I taste the same taste you explain but my wife doesn't. I always used Kingsford Competition prior to this in my WSM and never had an off flavor. So far I'm impressed with the lump for little ash but I still think that my Kingsford Competition smells way better and tastes way better than at least the BGE Lump. I bought a High Que grate to try the Kingsford in my egg so the ash can fall through. Guys can beat me up all they want on here but regardless how long I let that lump heat up I taste that off taste even if its barely there and others don't.

KiterTodd

Thanks, Ken.  Glad to know I'm not going nuts.  I actually feel better that it might be from lump and not that there was some reaction with the foil I didn't expect. 

I'll still try a drip pan next time to see if that helps.  On the off chance that drippings are burning and creating the flavor.

KenfromMI

I just can't see how to avoid that flavor for L&S using lump. When I keep my egg at low temps the lump still spews that chemical smell after an hour of warm up. Only time I don't get it is on high heat pizza cooks after about an hour warm up. Maybe it's just the BGE lump. That's all I have so far as it was free. 

KiterTodd

KenfromMI said:

I just can't see how to avoid that flavor for L&S using lump. When I keep my egg at low temps the lump still spews that chemical smell after an hour of warm up. Only time I don't get it is on high heat pizza cooks after about an hour warm up. Maybe it's just the BGE lump. That's all I have so far as it was free. 

Hmmmm...I don't smell anything like that.  My egg has that lovely lump smell that reminds me of an island bbq...BUT, it reads like we are talking about the same background taste in the meat.

I don't think I noticed it with BGE charcoal, but, I'm still new to the egg.  I've been through 1 bag of BGE and I'm halfway through a 35lbs of FOGO.

I may have to smoke a brisket this weekend just to see if a drip pan or different warm up times alleviate this.  Plus...I was looking for a reason to cook a brisket. 

KenfromMI

I'll see if my second bag of BGE charcoal is any better. I know I won't be putting it on my list of charcoals to buy when it's gone though. Going to try Rockwood or Fogo I think. What do you think about the Fogo? Some have told me that's the best out there.

KiterTodd

Ken, I'm relatively new to the egg and those are the only two I've tried.  If you haven't come across it yet, check out the reviews on the naked whiz.  Pretty impressive array of reviews on dozens of lumps;  whiz lump reviews.

In my limited experience, I was very happy with the BGE lump, I used the entire large bag. 
The FOGO is great also.  It can be a little harder to light or relight (I thought that was just me but the whiz reviews confirmed it) but burns a very long time, with little ash, and leaves a lot leftover to be re-used. 
I haven't done a side by side cook comparison to see how the meat flavor would compare between the two on a L&S cook.   The questions in this thread were the first that had me scratching my head...

KenfromMI

I'm new to the egg as well. Just got it as a gift in April. I have about 9 years under my belt on the WSM though.