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A
"Spin" on Christmas Dinner
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In the recent
past, we've gone bone-in rib roast with the ribs cut and tied
back on for Christmas dinner. We've cooked it on a
22.5" WSM, indirect, top grate at about 225°F until
we hit an internal temp of about 125°F at which time we
pull it and let it rest. This year we did something a
little different.
We went boneless but that's not all.
We have a OneGrill Performer rotisserie basket that allows
us to spin the meat without having to use prongs to hold
the meat in place or have the spit rod run through the
roast. We also have a 22.5" Cajun Bandit rotisserie
ring for our WSM so we can still use that as our cooker.
And, just to add a bit more flavor to the cook, we removed
the water pan and spun the roast directly over the coals!
Can the flavor of a rotisserie rib roast with fat dripping
onto the fire, vaporizing and then settling back on to the
meat be any better?
We submit that it cannot!
We started off with a
choice boneless roast that weighed in at about 8 lbs and
was about 9 inches long. The seasoning we used was
something we picked up from our buddy, Ray Lampe, and it
really let's the flavor of the meat shine through. On
Christmas Eve, we tied up the roast to help it maintain
shape while it cooked and then poured on some
Worcestershire sauce and rubbed it in. Then we sprinkled
on a healthy coating of granulated garlic followed but
good ol' Montreal Steak seasoning and gently pressed it
into the meat. We then bagged it up and placed it into the
refrigerator until we were ready to cook it this
afternoon. We've used that simple seasoning combination
for a number of years now and have never been let down.
Thanks for the great tip, Ray! Always trust your doctor,
especially when it's Dr. BBQ!
About an hour or so before it was to go into the cooker,
we placed the roast into the Performer rotisserie
basket...
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...positioned
the adjustable grates to hold in place in the center of
the basket, inserted a probe into dead center of the roast
and let it rest on the counter.
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In the
meantime, I set up the WSM with a small fire, let the
cooker come up to temperature and stabilize and then put
the roast into the cooker. In the picture below, you can
see how I improvised a small monitor to spin along with
the meat. If you look at where the rod goes through the
ring, you'll see a metal collar. Before I assembled the
basket, I threaded a probe wire through the collar which
protected it while the spit turned throughout the cook.
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I wanted to
run the cooker at 225°F but it wasn't having any of that
and made it very clear that it preferred to run at 275°F.
Remember, this was a direct cook over the coals. I wasn't
in the mood to fight it so that was where it ran. It took
a little over 2 hours to reach the target temperature of
125°F internal at which point it came back into the house
and rested...
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...while the
carryover process began. The internal temperature ended up
reaching 136°F during the 20 minute rest period.
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It then came
out of the basket and onto the cutting board...
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...was
sliced...
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...and then
marveled at for a moment or two!
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The end
result was spectacular!
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