My first cook - baby back ribs- UPDATE Pulled Pork

BBQbadge · April 2010

I finally was convinced by some friends and all you "eggheads" to get a BGE. I picked it up this week, assembled it today, and fired it up. I'm still waiting for my table (being made by a friend), but had to get it going.

I've done a lot of smoking with my WSM and ProQ smokers, but got tired of the constant tinkering with the temperature, water pan/sand, fuel reloads during cooking, etc.

Though I'm still a rookie with the BGE, you guys have helped me a lot in understanding how to setup, fire-up, and control the temperature.

I ran down to Sam's Club this AM to pick up some baby backs ($2.98/lb here in NC). I got 3 racks and cooked just 1.5 today (enough dinner for the family). Here's a pic of the "rubbed" ribs waiting to go on:

I put about 8# of lump (Royal Oak from Walmart) and started it off with my BGE electric starter. My 7 year old wanted to pose next to it:

I followed WessB's instructions (THANKS WESS!) and put these in a my rib rack for 3 hours at around 260 dome temp. After 3 hours, I wrapped in aluminum foil with some apple juice and put them back on for another 2 hours (they weren't quite ready after 90 mins) and then unwrapped and sauced them up:

After about 45 mins. with sauce (25 mins on top, 20 mins flipped). They were ready to take off. Another 15 minutes of resting, and they were perfect! Nice and tender, but still a slight tug on the bone.

I have a pork shoulder on tonight, so hopefully that will turn out just as well!

So far, I'm really impressed with the initial results and just some minor tinkering of the "daisy wheel" was all it needed to maintain a nice temp throughout the 5+ hours!

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UPDATE:
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After the ribs finished, I put the pork shoulder (about 7.5 lbs.) on (indirect with a couple cups of apple juice in the drip pan) around 7pm expecting it to be done around 1pm (18 hrs). I was targeting a dome temp of around 250. Here's a shot after putting it on:

Of course it had to rain overnight, but I placed a big patio umbrella over my egg, etc. to make sure "she" stayed dry. I woke up around 2am (not intentionally) and checked and the temp had dropped to around 225, not too bad for 7 hrs in (actually about 16 hrs since I started the fire for my ribs) and with the rain, etc. I opened the top dampers just a bit more and within about 15 minutes it was back up to around 250. I went back to bed and woke up around 6am and checked it and it was maintaining nicely around 240-250. Around 12:30pm it reached the magical 200F and I pulled it off. I wrapped it in foil, a towel, and placed it in my small cooler for dinner later.

In the meantime, I was hungry and removed the plate setter for some direct heat chicken wings. I cooked these around 320 dome temp for about 75 minutes, saucing after an hours. They were awesome, with a nice crunch and just a slightly smoky flavor. My son and I ate most of these for lunch!

Around 6pm I pulled the shoulder out of the cooler and it was still nice and hot! I pulled it and added some "Carolina Red" sauce (from the Smoke and Spice cookbook), and had pork BBQ sandwiches!

Still lots left for lunches this week!

All-in-all it was a great 1st cook(s)! I still have some learning to do about temperature control, etc. but I'm sure with all the great advice here, it'll come with time.

Thanks for reading and the great comments!

Ryan

BENTE · April 2010

congrats on your first egg.. it looks like your first cook was a realy sucess! it only gets better from here..

welcome to the forum!!

cookn biker · April 2010

Welcome!! Nice ribs and post pics of that shoulder!

Car Wash Mike · April 2010

Very nice start, great looking ribbies. Congrats on your egg.

Mike

Fluffyb · April 2010

Wow, that is an ambitious first cook. Congratulations! The ribs look great and can't wait to hear about the pork shoulder. Your boy is so cute! A future egger for sure.