Beef Back Ribs using 3-2-1


 
H

Howard Warren

TVWBB Fan
With all the supply chain upheavals, I've been BBQ-ing the meats that are in my freezer. I was surprised to see beef back ribs at my Kroger this week. I've only done back ribs one other time, about 11 years ago, and they were horrible. But after working from home for a month, being cooped up made me adventurous and I bought them.

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I took my "normal" rub and modified it a bit. This rub had equal amounts of sea salt, black pepper and sweet Spanish paprika, with smaller amounts of onion powder and garlic powder. I put on a light coat of French's mustard to hold the rub in place. I let the ribs rest in the fridge overnight.

I did not pull off the bottom membrane before cooking. I tried a little bit, but it just wouldn't come off. And given how thin the meat is compared to the thickness of the bone, I thought (hoped) the membrane would hold the ribs together better if I overcooked them.


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Cook time! I built a normal Minion ring in my WSM. There is a brick wrapped in aluminum to make sure the fire burns in the direction I want. Besides the KBB, there are two big chunks of peach from Fruita Wood. (The cloth you see is a welder's blanket I put down under the WSM. I'm cooking on my wood deck.)


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Let the happy times begin... I was able to keep the WSM dialed into 240 degrees for 3 hours with at most 3 degrees variance. Not bad for an uninsulated smoker! (As a side note, below the ribs you'll see my pan and a 14" clay saucer, both wrapped.)


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And three hours later...

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At this point (3 hours) I took a toothpick to see how far along the the ribs were in doneness. I wrapped the ribs individually in foil, meat side down, with a nice amount of Land-o-Lakes spreadable butter. Based on my experience with pork baby back ribs, I decided to shorten the wrap time to 1.5 hours.

When the ribs came out of the wrap, I checked again with a toothpick and they were done! No need for much more smoker time. I took the ribs from the wrap and left them on the smoker for about 15 minutes to let the butter settle, then took them inside.


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I'm sorry to admit, but I didn't get any photos of the plated dinner. My girlfriend and my mother dug into the ribs and if I wanted to eat anything myself, I had to put the camera down! But I did have enough leftovers to make a small sammie today:


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Thanks, Jim! Yes, much more successful this time. But I think I'll stay with pork ribs going forward. Not enough meat on the beef back ribs for the effort.
 
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