I recently split a side of beef with my parents. There was an order sheet where I selected how I wanted the side cut. I didn’t know what to do with the ribs so I selected “Long (Full Rack)” with no idea what that meant. This is what it meant:
What could we possibly do with that?
I decided we should cook them up when family is at the cabin. When I queried how to best cook these, smoking was at the top of the list. So… that meant reviving my long-dead highly customised Bradley smoker. Years ago I bought the cheapest Bradley smoker available. It couldn’t keep a steady temperature. I built a custom controller for the heating element that could hold a temperature better. I also used the technology available at the time to add WiFi so I could monitor it remotely. Sadly, that module was a piece of junk and it frustrated me so much I stopped trying to smoke things after a few tries.
So, fast forward to now. ESP32s are cheap and abundant and relatively easy to program. The smoker still had an SSR installed with a wire snaked out to the controller. This would be a simple project. I wired up a MAX31855 Thermocouple to Digital module, and the rest was firmware. With a little help from my bot named Claude (okay, it was actually 100% vibe coded) I got the thing working great in time for our weekend at the lake. I did a 3lb Blade Roast as a test. It turned out great.
So, with a small amount of confidence, I prepared a rub, packed up the smoker and some wood pucks, and headed to the cabin.
I dry brined the ribs with 1% (by weight) coarse sea salt. That sat in the fridge for ~18 hours. At 5AM the day of the cook I got up to get the smoker up to temperature. I applied the rub, and put the ribs in about 6am.
I used smoke for the first 4 hours, then wrapped the ribs in butcher paper for the remainder. I was aiming for 205F internal, but the thickest piece only made it to 192F by 6pm. I didn’t really have a choice. I pulled them out, wrapped in towels, and put in a cooler for about 1/2 hour while we set the table.
They turned out great! (And there were leftovers.)