smoking a whole boneless ribeye

[gerygaub]

I’ve smoked a whole ribeye before but don’t remember what I did. I want to get the meat up to 135 degrees f. and then wrap in aluminum foil. After that I want to place it into an ice chess for a few hours then slice thin and make sandwiches. This is going to be done on SUnday for the LSU football game. Problem is, I am not sure where to start the smoking temperature or what kind of wood to use. I’m thinking hickory so that the flavor will get into the ribeye. Not sure if I need to put water in the water pan for this or not. I viewed videos that put the smoker at 275 to start with but I’m worried that the meat will dry out at that temp. ANy ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

[Jonathon]

gerygaub When you say the Whole Ribeye I am assuming you are talking about the entire subprimal cut? If so then I would set your smoker at around 215°, 275° is way too hot in my mind, any dissenting thoughts on this? Since you are going to put it in an ice chest and slice it for sandwiches the crust isn’t really that big of a concern so I wouldn’t even bother searing it for a few minutes afterward, just let the internal temp come to 125° and pull it. A big subprimal like a whole ribeye will continue to transfer heat from the outside to the inside after you pull it off the grill and raise the temp about 5° or so.

As for what wood to use it all depends on how much smoky you want it. Hickory and Mesquite both give a stronger smoke and will work well with a whole ribeye. I would probably still use a milder smoke like Pecan Wood but that is a personal preference!

Good luck, I’m sure the sandwiches will come out great!

I can’t believe we are getting ready for College Football to start!

[tarp]

gerygaub
If you want boiled meat then add water except for maybe a cup to keep it moist. Covered in a foil pan and tin foil top. 275 will work if you need extra time for beer lol. I would just wrap it and smoke it till medium rare.
Good luck Tarp.

[Jonathon]

tarp You don’t think 275 is too high? I’d fear at that temp that the outside would start to dry before he got the internal temp to his goal. Honest question, not arguing just wondering what your (or anyone else’s) thoughts are!

[raider2119]

Jonathon, I have to agree that 275 is too hot… If you have the time I’d shoot for 225, but if it needs to be “done”, then 250 would be the max I would do…

I have always filled the water pan for everything I smoke… 2 reasons, first it does tend to add moisture during the long cook thus keeping the bark from turning to shoe leather… and second because the water pan acts as a heat sink and helps maintain the temperature (in my vertical propane smoker) a bit more accurately… I’ve heard folks tout using apple juice in the water pan to impart a sweeter flavor, but I’ve never tried it…

On the other hand, my dad smoked for years, mostly in a converted fridge with an electric hotplate in the bottom… he never used a water pan and never had an issue with dry meat…

As for the type of wood to use, that’s just a trial and error, personal preference thing… I happen to like steaks cooked with oak… that may be too strong a flavor for your taste (my GF hates it)… Recently I have been using a lot of maple for NC bbq, chicken and even cheese… I like the maple for the meats, but next batch of cheese will go back to the hickory / cherry mix that I was using…

[Jonathon]

raider2119 I’ve never used apple cider either. It might well work but I would think spraying it from a spritzer bottle occasionally onto your meat would be more effective.

I’ve changed to Pecan for almost everything, its a little too mild for some people but I think it is the most versatile of them all. Never had a problem with Beef, Pork, Chicken or veggies!

And raider2119 thanks for joining us for our livestream last night, it was a good time and we will be doing more of them!

[Parksider]

gerygaub
If your girlfriend doesn’t like oak she will hate mesquite. Typically the sweeter fruit woods have a milder taste, cherry, apple, birch…i use hickory for everything, very common, easy to find. I use oak sometime i think it’s a very light wood-I’ll throw a stick on the charcoal while I’m grilling burgers and stuff like that. If you are using like a Weber Smokey Mountain or something like that you can always just use charcoal and very little wood, it will give it a good flavor that won’t overpower the flavor of the meat. I’d throw that on my WSM at 200-225, pull it at 130 internal temp and rest. It will be great, you got this!

[tarp]

Jonathon I just reread my old post .Not sure what I was drinking but 275• is way to high !
All my brickets I shoot for 215 to 225 max . Just did a 20# one for13 hrs wrapped it after about 8hrs
Its was moist and as tender as my heart.lol
Remember like we say about smoking "if your looking you ain’t cooking " No peaking!

[Jonathon]

tarp Okay, that makes more sense! Keyboards are imperfect mediums still and we all mistype things from time to time!

[gerygaub]

Jonathon I did i t. We smoked the whole boneless ribeye and it was awesome. We seasoned with a bit of everything. Wrapped in foil Saturday all day until Sunday around noon. We put the ribeye in the smoker, with water in the water pan. We kept the fire as close to 225-250 as we could. We used hickory and some pecan wood. We let the internal temp get to 127 and removed the meat from the smoker. We wrapped in foil and placed in a small ice chess for about 2 and a half hours. We removed unrapped and sliced. We had a nice bark and the flavor was great. THe meat was juicy and had picked up just the right amount of smoke. This is a do-over. (ALL WAS GREAT FOR THE GAME) GEAUX TIGERS!!!

[Jonathon]

gerygaub That’s so awesome! I’m so happy that you finally got a chance to do this and that it turned out well! I really love seeing you trying all this stuff out and not letting anything keeping you from trying new things!