My SmokeFire is on the "too cold to cook list" for probably the rest of the Winter so I thought it would be fun to have a friendly beef plank short rib competition with two old friends. I bought these prime beef ribs from Cattle and Cream which is a small meat market and ice cream shop in Cherry Valley. The marbling in these was awesome.
My friends showed up about 9am ready to start smoking.
On the left is my 18” WSM that I bought in 2012 and who has performed flawlessly in heat, cold, rain, snow, etc. On the right is my 22” Weber Kettle that I bought as a Christmas present for my Dad in 1975 and am proud to have received it when he passed. I removed the original top vent cover with the patent number on it and am displaying it in my shop. Also added a thermometer but rarely even look at it.
I preheated both grills to 250 and neither had any problems reaching temperature quickly. Added some cherry wood chunks, added the ribs and didn't take a look for next 3 hours.
From then on I spritzed them with beef broth and red wine every hour but that was it. Decided not to wrap them but just see how the bark would develop. The ribs on the Kettle were done first after about 7 hours which I expected because it was fluctuating between 250 and 275 the entire cook. The bark was beautiful and the Thermapen slid in just like it would in room temperature butter. The ribs on the WSM were probably an hour from done but I went ahead and pulled and wrapped both. I'll save the ribs from the WSM for tomorrow and braise them in red wine with vegetables then make gravy from the stock and serve it with mashed potatoes. It always turns out amazing.
Here's the ribs after they rested for about and hour. Ribs in front are from the Kettle and the ones in the back from the WSM. Nothing goes better with beef ribs than homemade crusty bread.
Served the Kettle ribs and bread with cheesy potatoes and beans and everything was awesome. There was even enough for our 12 Labradors to have a bite or two.
I know this got too long but here are the takeaways from today's cook:
My friends showed up about 9am ready to start smoking.
On the left is my 18” WSM that I bought in 2012 and who has performed flawlessly in heat, cold, rain, snow, etc. On the right is my 22” Weber Kettle that I bought as a Christmas present for my Dad in 1975 and am proud to have received it when he passed. I removed the original top vent cover with the patent number on it and am displaying it in my shop. Also added a thermometer but rarely even look at it.
I preheated both grills to 250 and neither had any problems reaching temperature quickly. Added some cherry wood chunks, added the ribs and didn't take a look for next 3 hours.
From then on I spritzed them with beef broth and red wine every hour but that was it. Decided not to wrap them but just see how the bark would develop. The ribs on the Kettle were done first after about 7 hours which I expected because it was fluctuating between 250 and 275 the entire cook. The bark was beautiful and the Thermapen slid in just like it would in room temperature butter. The ribs on the WSM were probably an hour from done but I went ahead and pulled and wrapped both. I'll save the ribs from the WSM for tomorrow and braise them in red wine with vegetables then make gravy from the stock and serve it with mashed potatoes. It always turns out amazing.
Here's the ribs after they rested for about and hour. Ribs in front are from the Kettle and the ones in the back from the WSM. Nothing goes better with beef ribs than homemade crusty bread.
Served the Kettle ribs and bread with cheesy potatoes and beans and everything was awesome. There was even enough for our 12 Labradors to have a bite or two.
I know this got too long but here are the takeaways from today's cook:
- Although we couldn't declare a winner it was clear that my wife and I were the winners. We got great food that was done when I promised.
- Neither grill quit during the cook or gave me any problems.
- I will never get rid of either of these grills.
- These grills along with my Weber gasser are my everyday go to grills again and that isn’t going to ever change.
- It takes a long time to grow old friends.
The ribs look great, and I have to agree on the crusty homemade bread thing. Pretty much what we had going on here yesterday! I hope Weber gets things sorted on YOUR SF, but looks like you won't be starving in the meantime! Nice work!
