Grilling "How-To": Smoked Baby Back Ribs

My husband I both love the smoky taste barbecuing lends to foods. However, we've never tried to smoke something. We have a gas grill, and I have heard that you could do it, though I wasn't sure. I know that with charcoal grill you could, and if you had a designated smoker, it was obviously possible.

With a little help from a friend, I felt confident giving it a try. In order to smoke something, you have to use indirect heat/cooking method. With a gas grill, you have control over which burners/zones to use and how hot you want to make them, or whether you just want to keep them off.

Our grill has four burners, and I don't think it matters how many yours has, as long as you keep it even, half is designated to use as the direct heat, half designated as indirect heating.

Supplies Needed:

Wood Chips/Chunks (I used mesquite, experiment with other types of woods for different flavors)
Disposable cake or lasagna pan. Just make sure sure it fits in and on half of the grill.
Aluminum Foil
Roaster Pan
rack to fit inside roaster pan
Rack of Baby Back Ribs (recommended prep here)

Method: Soak the wood chips/chunks in water for about one hour, this is very important for a longer cooking methods like this. Once that is complete, scoop the wood out and place in disposable pan and cover disposable pan with foil. Poke generous size holes in the foil to allow all of that smoke to escape.



In the roaster pan, place an inch or two of water. Remove a good length of foil from the dispenser and ball it up, these acts as supports for the rack that fits inside roaster pan so the ribs do not sit in the cooking liquid.



Place the prepared ribs on the rack, that is sitting on the foil supports, that sit in the cooking liquid.

Move the wood chip filled pan to the grill area and preheat half of the grill to high heat, once the grill is preheated, put the wood chip filled pan on the half of the grill that is preheated over high heat and close the lid of the grill.

Allow the wood chips to start to smoke a little bit, about 5 minutes. Open the grill and place the pan with the rack of ribs on the half of the grill that is not directly heated. Close the grill cover. And leave it closed.



Once the wood chips/chunks have started to fully smoke, turn the heat down to low. You do not want the grills temperature to get too hot. This is supposed to be a longer cooking method, higher temperatures will cook the meat too fast. That will toughen the ribs, rather than leave them tender and juicy.



You can peak in there once or twice if you want, but in general, leave the grill closed. You need to keep all of the flavor inside the grill.

My cooking time was a little more than two hours on the grill. Once your ribs have finished cooking, let them rest for 10 minutes, this help to redistribute some of the juices in the meat, leaving it more juicy.

Slice the ribs, serve on a platter with homemade BBQ sauce and enjoy your feast!



**While cleaning up afterwards, make sure the wood chips/chunks are fully extinguished before moving them to the garbage. I used the chunks and a few hours later, some of them were still smoldering.

Grilled Chicken Legs

As summer gratefully draws closer and closer, I think most grill owners take advantage of the nice weather and fire it up! I want to do a how to on some basic's that are very easy, they are not rocket science, but if you do not grill often, it can be kind of daunting. I know, I've been there (sometimes I'm still kind of there I think :)

This how to can be applied to chicken legs as well as chicken breasts and thighs.

Fire up the grill, mine is a 4 burner. I usually turn on three of the four burners to medium high, the fourth one I leave off so later in the cooking process I can move the chicken to an area of indirect heat. Close the top of the grill, do not leave open.

Step One: Unwrap chicken

Step Two: Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with a seasoning or salt and pepper. I usually use Penzeys Poultry Seasoning or Penzeys BBQ 3000. Use whatever you'd like.

Step Three: Move outside to the grill and place the chicken, skin side down if grilling a breast or thigh, over direct heat. You really want to get some good color on the outside and some fancy grill marks on your chicken to make it look as tasty as it's going to taste! Close the top of the grill, do not leave open.

Step Four: Turn your chicken legs after a few minutes, and work on getting some good color on the other sides also. Close the top of the grill again.

Step Five: Once the outside looks golden and delicious, move the chicken to indirect heat (the side of the grill that does have the burners turned on.) Close the top of the grill again. Moving the chicken to indirect heat utilizes the heat of the grill, kind of like an oven. It keeps cooking without burning the outside of the meat.

Step Six: When in doubt, use a meat thermometer. The goal for chicken is 165 degrees. When you pierce the flesh, juices should run clear. But if the sunshine is bright outside, it may be hard to see, so try a thermometer.

Once you have achieved 165 degrees, pull your chicken off to your serving platter. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.

*This same process can be done on a charcoal grill, when moving the chicken to indirect heat, use the perimeter of the charcoal grill not the center where the direct heat is the most intense.

*If you are using a sauce like barbecue or other sweet sauce, baste your chicken with it towards the end of the cooking time. The sugars will burn if added to early.