I'm attempting beef ribs for the first time


 
And , they were good, in fact, very good. I would do this again. Flavor is somewhere between brisket and chuck roast. These weren't as dry as the pics, they had good moisture. The tenderness was OK, there was a small tug. I did not get much of a smoke ring. I would like to have spritzed them with apple juice, I did not know they would be done so fast.

The Franklin ribs with the Louisiana hot sauce had a small amount of heat, barely noticeable. It was less heat than the Holy Cow. Both were good. My wife had the Holy Cow and I took the salt/pepper, would do either one again.

Now , I just gotta refine the cook. I used the Minion method, with a full charcoal bowl of Kingsford, but added a full chimney of lit to start the cook. I think next time, I lower my cooking temp target, maybe to 250 / 260* .


The Franklin method

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And MeatChurch Holy Cow , this wasn't as pink as appears ..

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Lynn Dollar said:
Every time I think I've got beef ribs figured out, I find out there is more :)
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Yah, well after reading through this thread, I figured out that I will never buy beef ribs at Walmart again. The ones they sell there are all stripped of meat. They skim all the meat off the outside of the bones and even gouge out between the ribs. The ribs in the pictures and videos on this thread all have up to an inch if nice read meat on the outer edge of the racks. The ribs were pretty tasty, but I had to eat at least 6 or 7 of them to feel like I got a meal out of them. I'm gonna be looking for a better source for my beef ribs from now on.
 
Bruce, you most likely had beef back ribs and they mostly suck in general. There's more money in selling the ribeye attached to them.

There are exceptions. Salt Lick has killer beef backs.
 
I went back and looked at this episode of BBQ With Franklin. Its pretty much covers beef ribs. And I think the ribs I bought were cut for grilling, according to the conversation Franklin has with the butcher at about the 18 minute mark. Mine weren't nearly thick enough for a long smoke, they were a thinner cut.

This answered all my questions except for the diff between chuck plate ribs and why some are slabs are three bone and some four bone ? In the Cooking Topics of this site, Chris cooks both plate short ribs and chuck short ribs. This still confuses me, as to what to ask for at the butcher.


http://www.pbs.org/video/bbq-franklin-episode-9-pickin-beef/
 
You want them from the plate, before they cut them into the short beef ribs they usually package up. You want a whole plate and cook them whole before slicing into individual bones.
 
W_Stewart said:
You want them from the plate, before they cut them into the short beef ribs they usually package up. You want a whole plate and cook them whole before slicing into individual bones.
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That's what I asked for yesterday, I get they are from the plate. But in Chris's Cooking Topics, he cooked plate ribs cut from the rib eye and then did a chuck plate rib cook.
 
This whole rib cut thing makes my head spin. It seems it is like naming fish. One person from one area calls a fish a "Drum", another person in the next state calls it a "Sheepshead". Same with Brim and Sunfish. ETC... THey are the same thing, just different name.

Plate rib, short rib, st louis cut, back rib, baby back rib, center cut rib....what the he11 is going on out there?
 
Re: cooking time. I had a similar issue at Christmas when I smoked a rib roast and learned the key is not how many pounds of meat you have but how far into the meat the heat has to penetrate to reach the center. I had a recipe for a 5-6 pound roast the said X minutes per pound and I went with that when estimating the time. Problem is, the center of a 6 pound roast is the same distance from the outer perimeter as is the center of a 10 pound roast. The 10 pound roast is just longer. My roast was done a good two hours before I expected.

It's clearly the same with the ribs. Separate them into individual ribs and the heat has easy access from all sides. Leave them in a slab of four and the heat can only approach the center ribs from front and back, not from the sides.

Re: smoke ring. If you're doing individual ribs, next time you might want to do an hour or so at 225F and then kick it up to 275F. That should give them a bit more time in the smoke.

Re: names of cuts. A friend and I just had a long discussion on this topic. A store local to him was having a big sale on "New York strip steaks". They were bone in, which, in my experience, means they're "Kansas City strip steaks". The store also had some labeled "top loin" that were clearly exactly the same cut. I'm of the opinion they use all these names simply to confuse people.
 
Yes, I think Chris has defined " short ribs " in his two cooks ...

Beef Chuck Ribs

Alternatively, find a good butcher shop (which are few and far between these days) and ask for 3-bone slabs of beef chuck short ribs, known as IMPS #130. Chuck short ribs come from ribs 2 through 5 and are cut just above the brisket.
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Beef Plate Ribs

. Alternatively, find a good butcher shop (which are few and far between these days) and ask for 3- or 4-bone slabs of beef plate short ribs, known as IMPS #123A. Plate short ribs come from ribs 6, 7 and 8 and are cut just below the ribeye.
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But when ya go to butcher shop or the talk to the butcher in the supermarket, they either don' have a clue what you're asking for , or they've got their own nomenclature, or they just want to make it dam confusing ( excuse the language, just using my inner Myron Mixon )

I got a good idea of what I want, but conveying that and getting the butcher to deliver that, is the hard part.

And I'll edit this, to be real honest, I think the butcher shop where I bought my " short ribs " was " short changing " the customer with those single ribs. They were cut real thin, that's another part of the reason they were done so soon, and the butcher shop was selling mostly bone and fat, for $6 a pound. These ribs I cooked, compared to pics I've seen on the net, were scrawny.
 
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Boy, real butchers are getting as scarce as hens teeth, I’m lucky, I have a small family shop about a mile and a half from home and have gotten to know the guys so, if I walk in and ask for something specific, they understand. The old guy who was at the small grocery store was really talented too but, sadly, he retired in January! The new guy speaks “box” and not terribly fluently there yet, he might learn but he might not last. Real butchers are getting almost as rare as real watchmakers!
 
You guys got me thinking when you mentioned the scarcity of real butchers. This photo is of my Grandfather and a Girl I am not sure of, but his family owned the meat market for years.

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I smoke these ribs as often as possible. The membrane is a bear to remove, but well worth it. I do them with Salt pepper and garlic or Billy Bones beefmaster. 250* approximately 6 hours. The ones I get look like your picture, except there are 3 together. My wife prefers these over pork ribs
 
Well Lynn, I couldn't get those pictures out of my mind, so I re-checked the weather and it looked like most of the worst stuff was going to say went & north of Charlotte, so I pulled a couple racks of Chuck Ribs out of the Freezer to thaw on Friday night. Saturday afternoon, I gave them a good coating of Rod Gray's Most Powerful Stuff.

Looks like the rain is still holding off as they went on the 26er.

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More to come . . .





BD
 
Yes, I get them at Restaurant Depot, four racks to a package. I usually cook two and freeze two for later.

Also, yes, I do +95% of my cooking on the 26er. I could've done it with a snake, but the Slow 'n Sear is really nice.

I still have one of my 22.5 WSMs, but don't use it nearly as much since I've stopped competing. It gets pulled 4-5 times a year for big family events (like July 4th) or when I cook BBQ for charity events. I even have 22.5 OTG, but it hasn't seen use in years.





BD
 
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Dustin Dorsey said:
Maybe they are cooking faster separated like that. They look good so far! I've had them take 10 hours but I believe I was cooking a lot lower.
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I smoked a four bone rack of beef ribs last weekend. Took 6 1/2 hours with my 18" WSM at same temps as the above cook. I think your right, when separated they cooked faster.

Nice thing about buying them separate, however, is I got to pick out the meatiest ribs. As opposed to taking what I get with a rack.
 
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