When we got married our good friend, Ryan, gave us a smoker as a wedding gift. I think it was, secretly, a joke on me and an ENORMOUS blessing on Drew. See, I usually can't stand smoked food. I told Drew this and he kept telling me that I might like it if the right wood was used to smoke the food. I have, honestly, been very skeptical in the past about this. My biggest problem with certain woods is that it smells like a giant cigarette. yuck-o. That cigarette smell wafts its way into the house and then...well, you get the idea. A few years ago a storm knocked over an apple tree in Drew's sister's back yard. AND, if you know much about smoking meat, like my lovin' hubby does, you know that fruit woods are the best to smoke with. So, we then went over and harvested all the apple wood that we could get. Drew has been slowly making smoked foods with it ever since. About a month ago, I came home and he had been smoking ribs for the greater portion of the day. When he brought them in, I really, REALLY wanted to try them. I did and thought that I had died and gone to heaven! They were so tender and I couldn't even really taste the smoky flavor. YUMMMMMM... Earlier this week I bought some spare ribs at the grocery for him and specifically asked that he smoke them this weekend and, ya'll, today's the day! Whoo Hooo... we (by we I mean he) are smoking the yummy ribs all day and will be eating them tonight. Maybe I will post pictures for ya! Are you drooling yet?
UPDATE WITH PICTURES!
These are all the parts of the Smoker. You have the base with the heating element, the main part, the lid, the grates, and the water.
First, you have to soak the wood in water so that it doesn't catch fire in the smoker. (you want to SMOKE the food, not char it.)
Next, you put the wet wood around the heating element, but not ON the heating element or it will ruin the electric element.
Place the meat (in our case, ribs) in the smoker and put the lid on top. Check the time and DON'T mess with it for about...mmm...4-5 hours.
This is what you get if you let it alone for a while. Yummmm. We took them off the smoker, added BBQ sauce, and warmed the sauce in the oven (350 degrees for 10 minutes.) You can just add the sauce while they are still on the smoker if you want.
This is what the ribs looked like cut open. Can you see the juices? Can you see how tender they
were?????
This is our dinner. As you can see, we had corn, watermelon, and smoked ribs. It was so good and I highly recommend it!
5 comments:
To be honest with you, I'm not a huge fan of the whole "smoking" thing, either. But, I AM a huge fan of grilling and being outside in general, so it sounds like y'all are preparing for a fantastic supper! And, it's even more special that Drew's going to an extra special effort - it's the secret ingredient. :) Enjoy!
I have to say we've never smoked food in our lives, so I can't really relate. I think I would like it though...the ribs sound good. Sounds like Drew puts in a lot of work to do it. I wouldn't like my house smelling like cigarette smoke either, but sounds like you're starting to like this way of cooking better!
That looks FANTASTIC! Darn, it just made me hungry!
I loved this blog. I showed it to Andy, and when we got to the part with the pictures and the instructions, I said, "Does she sound like a teacher?? Naahhh". You are so adorable. ANd your meal looks scrumdidlyuptious.
Yummy! First Mexican food, now smoked meat. What's next??
Amy C
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