Brisket and Ribs on the Weber Ranch Kettle

A while back, I purchased a couple of those “prime” full packer cut briskets from Costco and hadn’t cooked one yet and I also had a couple of nice brisket flats to cook from and for a neighbor so a cook was born. And since I am always looking for an excuse to use the Ranch Kettle, I decided to just add a slab of ribs to kinda fill it up a little and give it a go. 

I trimmed the briskets and then injected them and added a rub and placed them into bags for an overnight stay in the fridge. 

Early the next morning at about 5:00am, I got the meat out of the bags, and then prepped a slab of St. Louis cut spares, and placed it all on the kettle.

Was a cold and rainy day for most of the cook and the Ranch Kettle did a fine job with this smaller load of meat. 

Wrapped the ribs at about 3-1/2 hours into the cook. I also wrapped the briskets with Rick’s Sinful Marinade as soon as they were ready and completed the cook in about 8-1/4 hours. 

The results of the cook and it did come out quite well. That cooker is a blast to run!!

Ribs on the Weber Ranch Kettle

This cook was done on my Ranch Kettle and consisted of a mixed bag of pork ribs. I had two of those great big Kroger “Bronto” spare ribs which I cut down to a St. Louis cut, one slab of loin backs, two slabs of St. Louis cut spares and to make this a full cook, one slab of 2.25 and down St. Louis cut spare ribs out of a new case I just purchased a couple of days ago. This is a total of 8 pieces which did include those rather large rib tip scraps from the Bronto ribs.  



I prepped the ribs and then sprinkled on a generous amount of Smokin’ Guns Hot and then some Cimarron Doc’s rub. 



Rolled the kettle out and got the covers off and then prepped it for a big rib cook. 



I used four of the Weber charcoal rails or fences on two side of the cooker as this setup will give me a very even cook as I don’t like to have to more my meat all around the grill to get even cooking. I then added a half chimney of cold Stubb’s briquets to each side of the cooker. 



I added two full size pans and poured in a little over a cup of water to each to help prevent any drippings from burning. Placed the cooking grid back on the cooker and fired it up with about a 1/3 chimney of hot charcoal to each side of the cooker. I then added a couple chunks of hickory to each side of my fire and I was ready for the ribs. 



Loaded my meat and started the cook. Ran the kettle with the top vent wide open and just used one of the lower vents to control my temperature. Got it dialed in at about 250 degrees measured on the cooking grid. 



At about three hours into the cook, I wrapped my ribs with some goodies which included a little apple juice, some agave syrup, some clover honey, and some brown sugar. I am trying to keep the calories down on this cook!

With this mixed bag of ribs and the different thicknesses, I didn’t expect all of them to get done at the same time and they didn’t.  I had ribs in the foil, ribs out of the foil and getting glazed all at the same time on the cooker.  Kinda kept the old fellow pretty busy at the end of the cook. 



My ribs just off the kettle.



Pulled rib meat from the rib tips from my Bronto spares.  This is my treat from this cook as it is my favorite with some cole slaw on a sandwich.

I sure enjoy cooking on the Ranch Kettle.

Scratch Corned & Pastramied Brisket / Weber Ranch Kettle

This is my recipe and method of corned and pastramied beef brisket and the cooking and smoking process was done on my Weber Ranch Kettle.



The meat was four beef brisket flats and the average weight was 7.1 pounds each. The four bowls contain my corning rub which is a blend of Morton Tender Quick, brown sugar, fresh ground black pepper, dried parsley, dehydrated onion, sea salt, pickling spice, and ground cloves. The mesh bag contains 2 pounds of garlic. The four quart containers are filled with the brine which is made up with water, Morton’s Tender Quick, brown sugar, and garlic powder. 



I trim the fat off of each brisket flat and then cut each flat in half for my process. 



Next step is to inject about 3.0 oz. of the brine into each pound of meat. 





This is the two pounds of garlic which I have put thru the Suzy and you can’t really have too much of this great seasoning. I will use 1/2 pound of the garlic on each brisket flat.  





After the meat is injected, I pack on the garlic to both sides of the meat and spread it around being very careful to not push any of the brine out of the meat. I then add my corning rub to all sides of the meat. 



The meat goes into Zip-Lock bags and then into the fridge for 4-5 days. I turn the meat over about twice each day. 



On smoking day, I take the meat out of the bag and then wash all the rubs and garlic off each piece under a running sink faucet. The meat then goes into a pan of water to soak for about an hour. 



The meat comes out of the pan of water and then is dried off with some paper towels and then placed on drying racks for about 40 minutes to finish drying.

At this point, we have some wonderful corned beef brisket.







The final rub is made up of gobs of fresh cracked black pepper, fresh cracked coriander seed, and brown sugar. I apply it to all sides of the meat before it goes onto the smoker. 



I set the Ranch Kettle up using four of the Weber charcoal fences with two on each side and then load about half a chimney of Stubb’s cold charcoal on each side. I then heat up about 2/3 of a charcoal chimney of  Stubb’s and pour about half of the chimney over each side of the cold coals. I then add some hickory chunks for my smoke and I am ready to cook. 



Place the meat on the Ranch Kettle and start the cook.



I did have to add a little charcoal once as the cook took about 9 hours to finish.



I smoked the brisket flat pieces to about 185 degrees internal and this is what they looked like when I started getting them off the kettle.

The meat was covered in foil and cooled for about an hour and then the meat went into the fridge overnight as I like to put the meat thru the slicer cold. However, I did slice enough off with a knife for a sandwich.





My first sandwich with this wonderful treat was about a half pound of the pastramied beef on rye bread with 4 slices of Swiss cheese and then a generous helping of horsey sauce over the top of the meat. Add a dill pickle spear and some chips and enjoy.





The next morning, we put the meat thru the slicer. Sure looked great. 





We then vacuum sealed the meat into one pound bags for the freezer.

My 28 pounds of brisket flats netted me 12-1/2 pounds of corned and pastramied meat. 





My second sandwich was a pastraimed Ruben made with about a half pound of the meat along with 4 slices of Swiss cheese, some fresh made kraut from a neighbor, and some Thousand Island dressing on a couple of pieces of buttered rye bread. I placed the sandwich into a hot cast iron skillet and fried it for a few minutes until done. Served with some garden tomatoes, a dill spear, and a pepper.

Now that is some good stuff!

For the folks that need my exact recipe for this wonderful treat, it can be found here:

http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/2012/09/corn-and-pastrami-beef-from-scratch_11.html

4th of July on the Ranch

I did this cook on my Weber Ranch Kettle yesterday and it came out quite well.



I made up a pan of green beans, new potatoes, onions, mushrooms, and seasoned it  with some country ham and bacon along with some fresh herbs.



I also cooked six very nice chuck roasts on this cook...these were so nice that I couldn’t find a thing to trim on any of them. The second meat on this cook was some very hot,  and insanely hot jerk chicken.

I split 4 pounds of cold briquets on two sides of the kettle and then added about 2 pounds of hot briquets over the top and then added a chunk of hickory for my smoke wood. 





I added one strip of a Grill Grate over the hot coals on one side of the cooker to sear up my jerk chicken.



The jerk chicken came off first and sure looked great.



I cooked the roasts to about 165 internal and then wrapped them in foil with some goodies to finish them up. I planned to make pulled beef out of all of the roasts. 



Roasts wrapped and ready to go back on the cooker.



My bean and new potato pan came off the cooker just before I wrapped my roasts.





I took the chuck roasts to about 210 internal and then took them off the cooker and let them rest for about 30 minutes. I then pulled the meat and added the juice from the foil back into the meat and it sure came out looking good. 



We kept about a pound out for some treats and then processed the balance for the freezer. 





Made up a slider bun with some of the pulled beef and added some caramelized onions and peppers and my sandwich was complete. I also added a piece of my insanely hot jerk chicken to my plate. With the addition of some pasta salad, my meal was complete.

Loving this kettle more every time I use it.