My smoker has been dormant for too long. Far too long. This weekend I jumped at the tiniest chance to fire it up, and smoked some ribs for Tamar, Andrew, and Rachel. Once again, all I could get at the local butcher were the gourmet back ribs, which (as I’ve said many times before) aren’t my absolute favorite. These were decently meaty, though, and had a good amount of fat.

I followed the usual routine – rubbed ‘em the night before with my usual mix of salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, paprika, brown sugar, celery seed. Into the fridge, out of the fridge, on at around 9:30, off at around 2:30. A good amount of time for ribs this size.

Everyone agreed these were the best ribs I’ve ever made. You can see from the pics below that they got a wonderful crust and the pink… well, it was all smoke ring. Booya. Flavorful, juicy, smoky, and falling off the bone. Literally.

Actually, it was kind of a problem for me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved ‘em. But part of the rib eating experience is picking it up and gnawing it off. On a good rib, you don’t have to work hard, and the meat just slides off the bone.

With these, I couldn’t even chop up the rack without most of the meat falling off. No one else seemed to think this was a problem. If I had it to do again, though, I’d take them off 30 minutes earlier, hoping they’d basically be just as tender and wonderful, but stay on the bone.

Oh how I love my wife Tamar. She bought me a brand new smoking rig for Christmas. I’m so happy I could cry. It’s the Char-Broil Silver Smoker – smoker, bbq, and grill. What a beast. This thing is made of solid cast iron – it weighs a ton. It seems very well put together – very robust fittings, ceramic coated cooking grates. The legs seem a bit wobbly considering how heavy it is, but we’ll see. Note that there should be a shelf on the front of it, but we decided to water seal the planks first because Tamar read some complains about mold and rot. The key feature here is the offset firebox. Basically, light a fire in the smaller chamber on the left, add wood chunks, and fill the smoker chamber with meaty goodness. The indirect heat is just what you want, and the chimney on the opposite side draws smoke through past the meat. Of course, I could just light a fire in the main chamber and grill normally. And did I mention this thing is BIG? I could fit 3 or 4 giant briskets, maybe 10 racks of ribs, a whole pig, 3 turkeys, a giant salmon, the largest block of tofu ever made. You name it. I’m giddy.

So, of course I had to try it out. As Tamar reminded me, becoming a great smoker is mostly about getting in tune with your equipment, so I didn’t have high expectations for the first time. I bought a nice, meaty rack of gourmet back ribs from Ver Brugge for the occasion. I gave ‘em a dry rub, sat ‘em in there for about 3 hours under mesquite smoke. Every now and then I spritz’d them with a special recipe made mostly from Worstershire sauce. While cooking I had the joy of opening the smoker chamber to spritz my ribs, only to find that I couldn’t actually see the ribs because the smoke was so thick. YES!

Anyway, they turned out amazing. Tamar thinks the best tasting ribs I’ve ever made. Very smoky, tender and juicy. I could have left them on for another hour or two – the meatiest part of the rack in the middle was not as tender as the ends. I also should have trimmed the fat a bit better. I like to leave a good amount of fat on – it’s what makes the meat juicy and tender, and imparts a ton of flavor. If you smoke it right, a lot of the fat should render off. But there was a big thick layer of it along one part of the ribs, and I should have trimmed it. Oh well.

Unfortunately, the smoker doesn’t come with a thermometer for the main chamber – it’s an added accessory for $9.99. Well worth the price, I think. I had to call Char-Broil directly to mail order it, but it wasn’t a hassle.

This is a really nice smoker to work with. The whole thing is heavy cast iron, retains heat very well. Light a batch of coals in the bottom tray, and they’ll last for at least 4 hours. We added soaked mesquite wood chunks every now and then. The really brilliant part of this smoker design is the heavy cast iron water tray that slides in just above the fire. Fill it with water (and later on beer, wine, etc.) and it’ll temper the heat perfectly for the racks above. The lowest rack stays at a near perfect 250 degrees, while the two above average 225 and 200 respectively. Of course, after hours of collecting drippings, the liquid that’s left in the pan also makes for an ideal sauce base.

Check out the smoke ring on this beautiful tri-tip that Darren smoked. One interesting thing Darren does – he sears the steak on the grill for a few minutes before putting it in the smoker. I think this is a good idea for beef especially, since it helps to seal in the juices. When I do a pork shoulder, I like to keep the fire at 350 or so for the first 30 minutes, which accomplishes a similar thing – crusty brown outside to seal juices.

A few days later we smoked again, this time pork ribs and a lamb shoulder. The ribs were quite good – nicely smokey, very tender. We got them from Darren and Christine’s friend Cooper who runs a pig farm. This pork is so tender, flavorful, and nicely marbled. Check out Cooper’s operation, Sweet Briar Farms – you can order all kinds of pork products over the web. If you live around Eugene, also keep an eye out for them at local farmers markets.

The lamb shoulder was interesting. (unfortunately, no pictures) We rubbed it with salt, pepper, a little cumin. Then we cut little slits in the meat and shoved about 20 garlic gloves in there. We smoked it for about 6 hours, which wasn’t quite enough, but it shredded nicely and made some tasty, tasty sandwiches. The smoking tempered that gamey lamb flavor, but it was still there. Very interesting.

The Nutshell

The best cooked ribs in town, and everything else is good but not great. Don’t expect much from the side dishes.

The Place

KC’s, on San Pablo just South of Dwight, looks from the outside like a hole in the wall. Inside, though, it has more character than any other BBQ place around. The large and rustic dining room is chock full (inexplicably) with vintage stoves, washing machines and the like, and there’s a giant wagon cart in the middle. Its really a great place to sit, though – Jane’s thinking of having a party there.

The Meat

Ribs are the thing at KC, so of course I’m happy. Andrew and I agree that KC’s smokes the best ribs of anywhere in town. The meat is obviously very high quality – tender but dense and good to bite into, nicely marbled but not fatty, very little gristle. They must take a lot of care smoking these ribs to pink perfection, though they wouldn’t give away any of their secrets.

The Sauce

Better than average, for sure, but not as good as Flint’s sauce, which remains our favorite by far. It’s a good consistency, fairly tomato-ey but with a bit of dark molasses sweetness to match. Usually they ask you to pick the spicyness, though this last time we were there they didn’t ask. If they do, get the medium – it’s not too spicy, but it builds a little over time.

The Sides

Your entree will come with beans and potato salad but don’t get too excited about either. The beans are almost certainly canned, and the potato salad tastes like an upsettingly sweet dill pickle.

The Nutshell

Lilly’s makes a darn good rib – meaty and tender, but with inconsistent smokiness. Their sauce is high quality, though a little thin for our tastes. The sides are very good. It’s also a great value, but plan to do take-out. Some websites say they have seating, but there’s really only about two tables shoved to the side in a waiting area.

The Spot

We heard that Lilly’s, at the corner of Divisadero and 7th, made some of the best BBQ in San Francisco, so as part of my birthday celebration this past weekend we went over there after a few hours of drinking bourbon and other fancy concotions at Bourbon & Branch (which I highly recommend, but go early). Driving down Divisadero we knew we were close, and I knew we were in for some good BBQ because I could smell the smoke a block away. Extra bonus for Lilly’s: they’ve got their own parking lot.

We intended to stay and eat, but there’s really only a few tables there, and they were full of people watching the de la Hoya / Merryweather fight, so we took our food to go. The employees were nice enough, helped us choose the right amount of food, which turned out to be the perfect amount.

The Ribs

We had ribs. Specifically 1.5 slabs for 5 people. The ribs were meaty, medium tender, not too fatty. There was some disagreement about the smoke flavor – Andrew thought they were ‘some of the smokiest ribs he’s had’, but I didn’t think they had particularly good smoke. This leads us to one of the only knock’s on Lilly’s – inconsistency. Some of my ribs were tough, some were bland, some were all bone. Others, though, were wonderfully tender and meaty with a wonderful pink smoke-ring.

We had the ‘medium’ sauce, which had a nice flavor and a good amount of spice. I noticed that medium was accomplished by splashing the ribs with half mild and half spicy – it worked out though. The reddish sauce was a little too thin for my tastes, but we can’t really knock ‘em for that – to each their own on sauce.

The Sides

The sides at Lilly’s were a pleasant surprise. Their baked beans were nice and sweet with brown sugar and molassas. Just my style, though honestly not better than a number of canned varieties (maybe they were canned?). Their potato salad had a nice balance of mustard, onion, and pickle relish. It was almost smooth, though, like mashed potatoes. The slaw was nicely seasoned, which I’ve founded to be a rarity around here.

So…

Lilly’s is good. Very good ribs, if inconsistent. Good sides. It’s cheap – 5 of us ate very well for about $35. I’m not sure if I’d say they’re the best BBQ in San Francisco though. I’ve certainly had better ribs in the East Bay. Andrew and I agreed that Flint’s ribs are meatier, more consistent, and with better sauce. KC BBQ’s ribs are also superior in my mind.

But I’d go back for sure if I was in the neighborhood. I want to try the brisket (which they were out of) and the chicken, which looked pretty darn good.

(Andrew took some nice pics with my camera, but unfortunately I’d accidentally turned off the auto-focus, so they turned out all blurry. No pork porn this time…)

Ina did get one thing right, though. She didn’t use Babyback ribs, but decided on ‘Country’ or ‘Country-style’ ribs. I like her direction, but I’m not a fan of Country-style. Hers looked almost exactly like spare ribs, but the Country-style ribs I can get are more like thin-cut pork with some bone in there somewhere. Usually it doesn’t go all the way through, and so you’re not getting the flavor benefits that you otherwise would. My advice: avoid Country-style in favor of spare ribs or ‘Gourmet’ babybacks.

He packed them less densely than last time, when we learned that too many ribs plus too little room for air to circulate equals raw pork, even after six to eight hours over hickory chips. This time, they came out nice and flavorful, though they could have been a bit more tender. These certainly weren’t tough, but the meat wasn’t falling off the bone, either.

Want to know whether your ribs were smoked, as they should be, or boiled, as some cooks do to save time at the expense of flavor? Look for the telltale pink edging along the outside of the meat. Smoking creates it; boiling doesn’t. You can see it on Judd’s ribs here:

Want to know more about smoking meat? Check out this Lexington Collection guide; it focuses on pork shoulders rather than ribs, but the principles are the same. If you’ve got a grill, you can smoke meat at home with some hickory chips and a little patience (and maybe some inexpensive grill modifications like Judd’s). The hardcore among you might consider commercial or homegrown dedicated smoking devices, but those aren’t necessary unless you’re serving a large crowd. You can smoke some delicious pig without a lot of investment. In summary:

The Meat

I went to Ver Brugge looking for spare ribs, but unfortunately they didn’t have any. Spare ribs come from further down on the rib and they’re thicker and meatier. I think the flavor and texture are far superior to the more common (thanks to Chilis) babyback ribs. I think some people prefer the tougher and less meaty babyback’s because they say the flavor is more delicate and good. I disagree. But then again, I’ll take a flank steak over a fliet mignon most days too, so maybe that says something. The butcher offered to cut me some country style ribs, but I don’t like them. They’re basically pork loin with some bone in – not the right thing for smoking. I ended up with some nice looking ‘Gourmet’ babybacks, which are thicker and meatier. We’ll see how they do.

The Rub

Any smoked pork deserves a night in the fridge with a rub. I just put ‘em on a half sheet pan and sprinkle generously. Don’t forget the sides. Even the bone side gets a light dusting so that it’ll caramelize up nice on the grill. I use a simple 4-1-1 dry rub as follows:

• 4 parts brown sugar
• 1+ part salt
• 1+ part spices

My spice mixture tends to include the following: black pepper, cumin, clove, garlic powder, onion powder, light cayenne, heavy paprika, especially if you can get that awesome Spanish smoked paprika.

The smoker

I smoke in a good ‘ol Weber kettle grill. The basic setup is simple. Take either a disposable aluminum pan or cover a baking pan in tin foil, put it in the center of the bottom coal section of the grill. Fill it halfway with water. Pile a handful of coals, not many, on either side. When you put the cooking grating on, make sure you align the larger holes on the sides with the two piles so you can slip in more coals as necessary during smoking.

That’s it. I try to keep the temp down below 250, but it’s not a problem if it gets a little hot at first. I think it’s good to caramelize the rub, seal in the juices. But then let the heat get nice and low. I regulate with spritzers of water and the two airflow controls.

I’ve also made one modification to my grill that I’m very proud of. I’ve fashioned a height extension out of a 4″ stovepipe so the body of the grill has more height. This is essential for circulation. I keep meaning to post some pictures and a how-to so you can make your own. Weber sells a similar thing that will extend the height of the grill by about 8-10″, but it costs something like $60. Do it my way, you’ll pay $6. Keep your eyes peeled for the tutorial.

One of the side benefits of the height extension is that you can cook even big slabs of ribs upright in a rib rack. Just don’t crowd them in – I did this once and ended up with some ribs cooked perfectly, others almost raw.

The Results?

Check back tomorrow.