I smoked a pork butt the first time around, as I heard it was the toughest one to mess up haha. I still enjoy doing them for larger groups, as they don't take up as much space for the amount of food you end up with, and they are way cheaper per person than other cuts. They are also a little more forgiving in that less surface area is exposed to the smoke, so you can't really "oversmoke" one. I suppose you could, but it's more difficult than most others. And since it's such a high fat content, they are way more forgiving with moisture content.

I've never done ribs for a group, because frankly, they're too expensive for me. 12 people = 6 full racks. On average, the regular price (at least around these parts) is just a hair south of $15/rack. Sometimes they have them on sale for 1.99/lb, but they are definitely not baby back ribs. They label them "Pork loin back ribs" and are considerably larger bone with less meat.

I try to keep my smoker around 225-250, I use natural lump coal, and - at least with pork - prefer apple wood chunks (not soaked). I shoot for a thin blue smoke out of the stack, as that seems to impart just enough smoke flavor to please everyone.

But I use a different smoker than the WSM. I use a horizontal barrel style smoker/grill combo. Currently in the market for another one though.

That's what I've found works great for my tastes. I know you didn't ask for my amateur advice, and I am by NO means an expert; just a guy who likes to cook slabs of animal flesh on the weekends with family, friends, and cigars. And let's not forget the beer :-)
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Ha, you're way ahead of me on the experience, so I appreciate the insight. I get the ribs at Costco and they're definitely not $15 per rack, but now I can't recall whether they say baby back or pork loin back. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I just read on the vitual bullet that ribs can be one of the hardest foods to get right, so I may not make such a large scale attempt as a first smoke. Maybe I'll do a couple of bacon explosions as appetizers so I can scatch my itch without ruining dinner.
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Colin, a lot of those guys compete, so "right" to them can have scoring connotations. "Right" to the home cook is much easier. Just look up the "tear test" for ribs, it's really not as hard as some might make it sound. Nothing wrong with spares or St. Louis ribs either, they taste the same, cost less and you get more meat but they take a little bit longer to cook. You might need a rib rack to get a few slabs in the cooker though, since they don't roll up easily like bbrs.
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Thanks for the encouragement. I picked up a couple of rib racks, so I'll hopefully be ok there. I may just go ahead with the ribs. I'm not a total noobie to ribs, just have never used a smoker before. I appreciate all the help in here.
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Picking up a couple of cases of butts tomorrow for little picnic the park this weekend.
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Colin, my ribs improved enormously when I realized they were easy to "over smoke" which created a really dark bark. Go for a clean burn with the thin blue smoke like Peter said. The other tip that really helped me was 3-2-1 for spares. That is 3 hours in the smoker at 225-235, two hours on the smoker but wrapped in foil with a little apple juice added, then one hour with the foil opened back up to reset the bark. Of course you will find you adjust that some according to how you cook, but it is a good rule of thumb.

I have found I usually go a little more than three hours before I foil. I get them to the color I want which is usually more like 3.5 hours. The last hour I check them frequently to get them right where I want them tenderness wise. It is usually more like 30 minutes or so.

For babybacks the times are shorter. I still do about three hours for the first segment, but start checking them after about 1.5 hours in the foil. Once they are a little more tender than I want them I take them out of the smoker, open the foil, and let them rest a bit to firm up the bark. The meat firms up as well.
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Thanks, Gator. I'm glad to hear the endorsement of 3-2-1. I've read about a few different techniques and wasn't sure what to go with. I'll give it a shot and be mindful of oversmoking. I think I'll use apple wood and see how it goes.

And thanks to everyone for the wisdom. There is obviously a lot of knowledge here - I appreciate how willingly it is shared.
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last weekends adventures



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I like what Peter and Brent said about over-smoking. If you taste your ribs and they taste like they have been
in a house fire, you know you failed the over-smoke test. Thin, blue smoke is the only way to go.
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Smoker is lit, meat is getting rubbed, cigars and bourbon standing by...
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I'm gettin in the car!! :-)

Sounds like the way to spend the weekend.
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Looking forward to seeing you again Jason!

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16 butts and a mess of beans to get things started...
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I knew I smelled something heavenly Steve!!! A guy has an 84 for sale in G'ville, but I am still looking for a 60.
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how shiiiite Steve :-):-) I would love to be standing in front of a smoker like that! Hope all went well and turned out fantastic
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Just pulled 3 pork butts off the smoker. doing 3 more tomorrow. Got a big tailgate party on Tuesday.
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16 butts wrapped and resting Saturday night...

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All that was left Sunday afternoon

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Normally I would never cut the ribs apart before cooking nor leave the membrane on the back (inside), but these came that way and I wasn't going to pass up organic grass feed & finished beef ribs from Eel River Ranch for $1.50/lb.

Used it as an opportunity to test a few different glazes, had some interesting results. A mix of apricot jam, sriracha sauce, apple cider vinegar and a dash of oyster sauce seemed to be the winner with the plum/cherry/oak smoke.

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My mouth waters when I look at this thread:-)
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Ok made the roast instead of the sausage learned I need to split the roast deeper for the spices and stuffing to affect the whole roast instead of the top half.

Pics will be up tonight of the results. All in all it was still delicious thanks for the ideas on how to make it.
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Haha, Adam, it looks like you bought those Piggly Wiggly beef ribs I used to get, where they flanken cut all
the meat off for another product, leave you with giant shiners, and they charge you a crazy per pound rate
for basically bones....and still have the nerve to call it 'beef ribs'. I had to stop buying them. They used to
be in the reduced rack all the time, but again, heavy bones were not something I was interested in buying
after I was told not to give the guard dog any more bones. I even got tired of the flavor.
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