Super acrid smokey ribs!

[AndyHull]

Hi all,

I've not been on for a good while due to family and other comitments but all sorted now.

I have a question, i bought a Webber B kettle grill last weekend and put some ribs on it last night.

I put a rub on them and left them 24hrs ish and then got the grill going for the first time.

I lit the lumpwood coals in a chimney starter and then poured them out at one side of the grill for indirect grilling with a drip pan of boiling water inder the oposite side.

I cooked them between 230c and 260c for around 4,1/2 hours and basted them with OJ evry hour for the first 3 hours then for the last 1,1/2 hours i basted them with a bbq sauce every 1/2 hour.

After an hour i placed a handfull of soaked hickory chips in a foil parcel onto the coals to add some smoke then after about 3 hours i poured some more unlit charcoal onto the lit coals as the temp began dropping, that was my grilling rgime for the 4,1/2 hours of cooking.

What i ended up with was 2 racks of ribs that IMO wern't as tender as when i've done them in the oven "but" the main isue is that they tasted WAY too smokey to the point that they tasted like the smell of an old ashtray.
That is no exageration, SWMBO said it reminded her of smoking a cigarette and thats most certainly not what i was after

So to sumarise , my ribs stank and tasted of stale cigarettes.

What could have caused this as i don't want to end up with the same end result as i had last night as SWMBO will take away my BBQing rights

Sorry for the long post but i wanted to give as much info as possible so you could hopefully answer my question

Andy

[Swindon_Ed]

It sounds like the fire wasn't burning cleanly either before you put the ribs on or when you added more coals.

Normally i'll build a bed of unlit coals on one side and then put some lit coals on top or at one end of the pile and then wait 30 mins-45 mins for the fire to settle and then this will give me enough heat for the first part of the cook. Add the chips when you place the ribs on and then after 3hrs wrap the ribs in foil and then you'll be safe to add more unlit coals as otherwise these can give off an nasty smoke which will taint your food.

[AndyHull]

and then after 3hrs wrap the ribs in foil and then you'll be safe to add more unlit coals as otherwise these can give off an nasty smoke which will taint your food.

Ahh, so the unlit coals gave the acrid taste to the meat as i never covered them!

Would the same have happened if i'd have added lit coals?

It was like a creasote kind of smell/taste!

Andy

[Swindon_Ed]

Ahh, so the unlit coals gave the acrid taste to the meat as i never covered them!Would the same have happened if i'd have added lit coals?It was like a creasote kind of smell/taste!Andy

It won't happen if you add lit coals, although another question i should have asked would have been about how were you controlling the temp?

As in were you using the bottom vents or the vent on the lid? The reason i ask is closing the vent on the lid can also choke the fire which will also cause the fire to burn badly.

[AndyHull]

I have read up extensively about how to use the webber kettle grill so had the top vent open completely

I was controlling the temp with the bottom vent bellow the coals and had the 2 other bottom vents closed!

Im returning it to B&Q and buying a one touch premium from partriges for £157.99 delivered.

[Swindon_Ed]

It might also be worth pooring your charcoal into a chimney starter before pouring it into the BBQ to get any additional dust off the charcoal as if you're using charcoal from B&Q or a super market this dust can also make the fire burn dirty.

[AndyHull]

It is B&Q charcoal

Im very disapointed in it's structure too, the 7kg bag is made up of possibly 6 to 7 large lumps (too large) and the rest is made up of tiny bits and allot of dust.

I won't be using this again, im going to buy brickets i thought "none" instant light lumpwood was suposed to be the best.
I lit it in a chimney starter using news paper not fire lighters.

Andy.

[tommo666]

Hi,
You could try this: http://www.logsdirect.co.uk/Lumpwood-Ba ... ct-62.aspx
Resturant coal should be bigger lumps..

[AndyHull]

that is a good price but wouldn't it be too big for a weber 57cm grill?

[Pecker]

So many variables! I'm not sure it's any of these, but it's a few things to think about.

I'd start off cooking with the wood, rather than waiting an hour. Most people feel that the meat takes on the smoke flavour at the start of the cooking, and not very much (if anything at all) after the outside is cooked/sealed (lots of debate about this). If that's at all true, then introducing the wood after an hour would mean you're ultimately smoking the sauce, not the meat.

Secondly, the correct answer is often (though not always) the obvious one. If your ribs are too smoky there may have been too much smoke! And that probably means too much wood. I think I've seen this said so many times, start off with just a little bit of wood, then add a bit next time if you want more.

Thirdly, you appear to have had the barbecue sauce for the last 90 minutes, which is maybe too long. Depending on the contents, the sugar might burn, and that gives a quite bitter flavour.

Fourthly, there’s smoke and there’s smoke. There’s the lovely smell of smoke from burning wood (which is what we all want) and then there’s dust/ash/residue/soot, whatever you want to call it. Poor fuel? Windy day blowing the ash on the food? Just a thought.

If I'm going to guess, I think what you have is ribs with a sauce that's smoky and bitter because the sauce is overcooked and full of smoke.

My personal feeling on any sort of cooking is to get each constituent part right before moving on to the next. Cook ribs with just s&p to start with. When you have them right, experiment with rubs. Then smoke. Then sauces. Doesn't have to be exactly like that, or in that order, but you get the idea.

Don't try everything at once, otherwise you end up with a problem (like this) and you're looking at 10 different things that might have caused it. Take one step at a time and when a problem occurs you know it’s because of something in that last step.

Steve W