First Cook - Results (warts 'n all!) - with pics

[Guitarbloke]

So today I took advantage of the dry weather and attempted my first cook on my Broil King gas grill. 

 

The idea was to do a track of babyback ribs for me and some salmon for Mrs Guitarbloke.  I also wanted to try making some cornbread to go with it. 

 

First thing that struck me was just how small the cooking area is!  I hadn't realised when I bought it, but for cooking indirect there's not much room left once a rack of ribs goes on!

 

Anyway, I cranked it up to 500f and gave it a good scrub beforehand, making sure to get shot of all the cobwebs and spider eggs (yum!).

 

After spending an age prepping my ribs (note to self, do all the legwork the night before...) I finally got them on the grill at about 2pm.  Half an hour later I realised I'd forgotten to add the box of woodchips which had been soaking for a couple of hours... so I threw that in there and whacked up the burner to get then smoking.  Once they started to smoke I turned it back down to 250f and let the ribs do their thing for 2 hours (spritzing every 20mins or so).

 

After 2 hours,  I pulled them out and added some apple juice to the makeshift tray (I couldn't find a big enough foil tray anywhere so made a scrappy one out of strong tin foil).  I covered them over with foil and let them cook for another hour before glazing and putting them back.

 

At this point I added the salmon - the recipe I was following said 2hours at 250f, however after an hour the internal temp on the salmon was 160f which is quite a bit over where it should have been. It didn't seem to be drying out so I reduced the heat and left it there, but keeping close watch.

 

The ribs still needed another hour (according to the recipe) but they were starting to look a little dry. Internal temp was 195f at this stage.   I cut the heat entirely and let everything sit in the bbq for a other 20mins while I went and did the cornbread. 

 

I then took everything out of the bbq to rest.  The internal temps seemed to have settled at 195f (ribs) and 160f (salmon).

 

End result was... ok. The ribs weren't chewy and they weren't dry either, but they needed a bit if a bit to pull from the bone. I did a marinade, a rub and a glaze and the flavour from the three really was delicious. 

 

The salmon despite having reached 160f nearly an hour too soon was fine, not dry at all - possibly even a little too wet as 'er indoors prefers her fish a little overdone.

 

Issues:

The main issues I ran into were controlling the temperatures - any advice would be appreciated!

 

When opening to spritz, the temp would drop from 250ish to about 225f and I had to crank up the burner high to get it back up again, this meant wildly fluctuating temps on occasion of up to 268f (when this happened, I had to open the lid to drop the temperature back down).  It was bit of a juggling act!

 

Generally, if I was not touching the grill at all, the inkbird wireless probes showed that the temp in the grill was flitting between 246f and 256f.  I was aiming for 250f, but couldn't really keep it consistent. 

 

Overall, it needed a lot of babysitting to maintain a temperature of close to 250f. There must be an easier way?

 

I only used 1 of my three burners -  adding a second burner even on the lowest heat made the temps go up way more than desired.

 

Salmon should have taken 2 hours.  Hit 160f internal after less than an hour which threw off everything else timing wise... arrgh!

I noticed that the temps became much more difficult to control once both items added to grill. 

 

 

Anyway, here are some pics of the finished articles.  Far from perfect sadly, but a learning experience if nothing else!

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by Guitarbloke
Added detail

[Icefever]

7 hours ago, Guitarbloke said:

attempted my first cook on my Broil King gas grill.

You have it all there,  it was your first attempt.  we've all been there it's just a learning curve....it will get better and easier.  Last Sunday mine was a dream,  yesterday I was in & out like a fiddlers elbow,  trying to maintain an even temp.
The more you run her the more you will get to know the best setup. From the photos, it all looks ok and as long as you enjoyed it that's what it's all about....well done.

Ice. 

[Guitarbloke]

Thanks @Icefever I definitely enjoyed the experience – Next time, I think I’ll prep the night before though – I spent a lot of time faffing about making glazes, rubs and marinades!

 

I might have another go this week after work - although it’d need to be a hot and fast cook or else I’ll be eating at midnight! 

 

The lack of space on the grill has got me toying with the idea of a WSM now though…

[Mick]

Hi, great first effort.

When you are cooking ribs don't overly worry about temperature fluctuations, you want 250f anything around that is fine, if it drops to 225 don't worry, when you wrap your ribs try wrapping individual racks in double foil and then cook meat side down, I add lots of sugar, apple juice, honey and butter in the wrap. Good luck

[Guitarbloke]

Thanks @Mick!  I'll give that wrapping trick a try this weekend.

I kept mine bone side down, and I didn't really wrap them properly - I just covered the tray with some foil.  Should it be a tight wrap?

[Simon]

We all make mistakes. First time I ever tried pulled pork I just couldn’t keep the temperature down. As long as the first attempt is edible then you are winning. I hope the next attempt is better. 

[ExclusiveBBQ]

I'm early days myself, but I did notice a couple of things.

A lot of people (competition level) like to cook ribs at around 275F and they run them for about 2 hours before wrapping. Then they cook them wrapped for about an hour and then go by feel, sight and internal temp. If you pick them up and they're 'floppy', they're done but that also seems to be with an internal temp of over 200F and you mentioned that yours were about 195F so could have been the issue.

Not sure if that helps!

[Mick]

20 hours ago, Guitarbloke said:

Thanks @Mick!  I'll give that wrapping trick a try this weekend.

I kept mine bone side down, and I didn't really wrap them properly - I just covered the tray with some foil.  Should it be a tight wrap?

If you are going to wrap them wrap them tightly but try different ways, I love baby backs on the rotisserie, just rub then cook till done