Beef Short Rib tips?

[Steven A.C]

Im planning on making both pork spare ribs and beef short ribs for memorial day. Im going to a friends house, so i dont necessarily need to feed a dozen people since he will be cooking other things. Im planning on making 2 slabs of spares, but what would be the equivilent of beef short ribs? Ive never made them before so i have no idea as to how much to serve per person. I figure a slab of ribs feed 2-3 people. Im guessing a half a pound per person?

 

[Aram C]

Are you sure you want to smoke them? Those are best braised. If you haven't already bought them, don't. Get beef spare ribs instead. There's too much connective membrane in short ribs to grill well, unless you have them cut super thin, Korean style (like 1/2" thick at most).

The beef spare ribs are what would normally be on the prime rib, so they're super tender. But watch out for flare ups! Even indirect cooking makes a ton of fat that ignites easily. I do them over a pan of water for that reason.

As for the question of how many, if the short ribs are all you're serving, I would use more like a lb/person because of all the bone. But 1/2 lb is plenty with all the other food.

I just did a party of 40 people earlier this month and had 1 22# turkey, 40 sausages, 2 chickens and two slabs of beef spare ribs. First thing to get eaten up were the ribs! No surprise there!

 

[Steven A.C]

i was actually going to try a 3-2-1 method with the short ribs, since ive read they are beter braised, but ive also read they can be smoked with good success if foiled a bit, so im going to see what happens.

 

[J Graz]

Steven,
I do short ribs all the time. The key is to get them uncut. Most meat department cut them to the smaller pieces for braising. If you ask I bet they have them whole. By me they are usually 4 per rack, and they are big, 6+ inces long and 1-2 inches thick. They do great in the smoke. one of my favorite things to do for myself. Do a search for dino ribs in the fourm and you'll get a few posts.

 

[Noe]

Steven i agree 100% with with Graz, i try to get short ribs cut just one time in half, makes a perfect size serving per person, short ribs have a lot more meat than spares do, short ribs are full of natural flavor, braising the short ribs imo is a criminal act, smoke the short ribs and you will be amazed. Cooking the short ribs along side the spares should be no problem at all.
I never foil ribs Steven, i just spritz the ribs about once every hr just to control the bark formation, i do not like super hard bark or burnt bark. Nothing wrong with foiling just do not over do it or you will get pulled beef.

 

[Steven A.C]

Sorry i have no pictures to post, but everything came out great. By accident, the weber ran hotter than normal, but the end result was better than i thought. Ended up keeping the short ribs on for 4 hours at about 250, and the spares for 5 hours. I only foiled about 4 ribs as a test and they ended up getting lost in the shuffle, so I couldn't tell the difference.