British BBQ Society Forums

A couple of weeks ago I tried cooking beef ribs for the first time. Butcher didn't give me quite the correct cut as I got a fair size lump of brisket on top of the ribs.

Anyway the cook was a complete diseaster. The word tough doesn't quite do justice to the end results. The leather on my sofa is softer. They were super chewy, probably perfect as a diet food as you could chew all night and not be in a position to swallow anything. Suffice to say they ended up in the bin, I wouldn't wish them on a dog. Probably my biggest BBQ diseaster and I hung my head in shame. They were way underdone and I knew it.

Yesterday I was doing a 4th July themed cook for a relatively small gathering. I had another set of these beef ribs in the freezer and thought I would sling them on the smoker though I planned the rest of the menu on the basis that they may turn out to be a diseaster.

Started them way ahead of the baby backs and just left them on the bottom grate of the 57cm WSM. Didn't foil, didn't baste basically ignored them.

Took them off after 7 hours and for me they were the highlight of the cook. Super moist, super tender with crunchy bits on the outside. A hit with everyone who tasted them. Having had my arse kicked 1st time around I felt it was a pretty good showing - there will need to be another rematch to see that it wasn't a fluke.

I've also found beef ribs a bit of a dissapointment compared to how i'd like them to be, so congrats on getting them good.

I got the chance to speak with the guys from Bodeans at the weekend and beef ribs is a speciality of theirs. They told me what they do is to cook them with a dry rub on @ 225f for 11hrs, then wrap in foil to rest for an hr and you'll end up with lovely & tender ribs. I tried theirs which they cooked in a WSM and they were much better than what i've cooked in the past, sadly i just haven't got the time to try this myself at the moment

Thanks for this - I'm picking some up next week, along with brisket & some feather steak. Good to know that they need a really long cook - although the downside is I'll have to get up damn early to have a hope in getting them ready for tea!

I've also cooked them for 4 hours in the 140-150deg C range and they were awesome, even better than my 110-120deg C 6-7 hours beef ribs.
One of my favourite cuts ever, I love how tender and moist they are.
Best tip is picking ones with the right amount of fat, have had some overly fatty ones that needed a lot longer.
Good job on giving them a go again, it's how we all learn and improve.
Got any pics?
Cheers
Marcus

KamadoSimon wrote:although the downside is I'll have to get up damn early to have a hope in getting them ready for tea!

Sadly i've not managed to come up with a remote bbq lighter ...yet

Minesamojito wrote:Good job on giving them a go again, it's how we all learn and improve.

I do tend to repeat things when the fail is obviously mine. I'm not a huge beef fan tbh but these are definitely worth doing again. Photos: sorry devoured too quickly

What cut did you ask the butcher for?

I asked for Jacobs ladder. He understand perfectly what i was after but in this instance he had to order specifically in and what came back was not what he asked for. To be fair I got them at a good price and I'll stick with this guy as he has been good to me in the past and does have an active interest in what I do with the meat that I purchase from him.

So I have shopped around and tried a few places but was completely underwhelmed by what I could get. But these were out of the park amazing. My guests literally wet themselves (actually I think I did leave a little puddle on the kitchen floor when I tasted them). Cooked for about 5-6hrs @ 250, used a beefy style rub - ie very light on the sugar (garlic powder,paprika,cayenne, onion, celery salt, salt & pepper). I glazed with Cowtown Night of the living dead bbq sauce (as its got a nice bit of heat). They stood about 2" proud and one bone had enough meat on it for a single portion, as I am a piggy I had 2. So 1 Slab is good enough for 2-3ppl. £11 for about 1.3kgs, they were stuffing amazing and had next day delivery -

http://www.godfreys.co/free-range-beef- ... s-20-p.asp

Such a great cut of beef, I guess it's the equivalent of bone in belly pork.
I've just had an 8 rib dexter rack put aside to dry age by my smallholder friends, question is can I fit it in my frontier or will I have to split down to 2x4 rib racks....
cheers
Marcus