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Rack 'Em Up!
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Rack 'Em Up!
It was Thanksgiving morning and it was 15 degrees F. outside and we had twelve racks of baby-back ribs to smoke. Oh, did I forget to mention that the wind was blowing? Kathy was certain that we were in trouble. In the past, if it was that cold and the wind was blowing, I would have been doing ribs in the oven (I am sorry, but that was the only way we could have cooked ribs under those conditions). I was quite a bit more optimistic about getting the ribs done, but it was very cold and I still had my concerns. I fired up my Smoke Vault, and within 10 minutes it was heated up to 375 degrees. That's too hot for ribs, but I knew it would hold at 225 degrees with no problem.
Was the outside temperature my only problem? No. The racks of ribs that we bought were over 24 inches long. After cutting them in half, I had 24 foot-long racks of baby-back ribs to fit in my Smoke Vault. The solution was to use three rib racks, and what a solution it was! I was able to place eight half racks of ribs per rack, and the racks worked perfectly.
Before I got the rib racks for my Smoke Vault, I have placed ribs on the smoker's shelves and turned them. I would put a bunch of ribs on each shelf and move them and move them and move them (you get the idea). In the end, there were always a few ribs that didn't get their share of smoke. With the rib racks, I simply loaded it up and went into a nice warm house. I checked the Smoke Vault and ribs from time to time, but I never had to do any rearranging. The temperature in the smoker appeared to be evenly distributed. I don't believe we could have placed another rack of ribs in the 18-by-18 smoker, but we had enough ribs for 24 people, even if they only ate ribs.
Why ribs on Thanksgiving? I am just not a huge turkey fan. Will I smoke a turkey? Kathy wants to, and I am sure we will write an article about smoking a bird in the future; but it just isn't my favorite food. If I am going to be thankful for what I am overeating, I want it to be something I really like. And ribs are my favorite. I am a firm believer that the pilgrims couldn't find any pigs the day before Thanksgiving, so they just ate turkey.
So how were the ribs? Perfect. I won't say I am a great cook, but if you do something as often as we do ribs, then they had better be dang good. Two of my nephews ate nothing but ribs for their Thanksgiving dinner. They are obviously my biggest supporters. Well, until next time, I hope you will be able to enjoy some smoking – ribs, that is.
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