Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

[jacksyee]

I think I have Pork Ribs down. Got my rub, heat/technique etc - after about tenth batch feel like im all set.

but

I'm from Texas and we often do beef ribs. Ihave never done them before - I have 5 KGs of beef ribs coming this Friday and I am going to work on them Saturday. Anything different? I would normally do dry rub 3-2-1 at 225-250f.

Anything I need to think about for Beef ribs vs Pork? Longer cook time? More/less foiling?

drooling........

[tnt]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

I have never tried beef ribs on the grill but I am very interested in your experiment....

Please let us know how it goes..

Tony

[Syzygies]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

We frequently do St. Louis pork spare ribs, and less frequently, beef short ribs. To a first approximation, the beef ribs cook exactly the same, with only total cooking time depending on the ribs.

However, we never foil, till the ribs come off and wait toweled in a cooler for the meal. They wait briefly, or if we're bringing ribs to a party half an hour away that never eats on time, hours can be ok.

We tried lots of experiments at first, went to a few cookoffs, and concluded that foiling and a great sauce makes the best of truly indifferent meat, while a dry, unfoiled cook makes the best of remarkable meat that can stand on its own. As BBQ originates as a kind of cucina povera, one should have great respect for the former, but that needn't include actually eating that way! Our household debate is usually whether to rub with just salt and pepper, or also with pan-roasted chiles. That and the smoke is as elaborate as we ever get, for either pork or beef ribs.

My favorite way to buy beef short ribs is as a rack. My butcher can find these racks in back, if I ask. As they cook, shrinkage is much more of a geometric distortion than with pork ribs; the big bones can end up resembling pot roast popsicles. Not to fear, short ribs are one of the singularly best cuts to use for beef stew, up there with using shanks for lamb stew. And they make a mean hamburger component (with e.g. brisket).

[jacksyee]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

Thanks for that. I foil to get the meat falling off the bone. If I want it firmed up I finish without foil. In this case I did 3 racks of BACK ribs that my butcher didn't trim. It takes longer to get the membrane off than it does on pork spare ribs but other than that no difference.

I did about 3.5 hours at 225 with smoke. I then removed the racks and foiled them (Shiny side in, of course) added a store bought suace to the dry rubbed ribs (Stubbs) and then put them back on for 3 more hours.

When I tooke them off there was a bit of juice in each one for whatc ame later.

I took two racks, one fore each of my neighbors, and ate them. Delicious. The third rack was actually the reason i wanted beef ribs.

I removed the meat from the bones (Simple) and chopped the meat up into 1/4 inch squares. I took the juice from the foil, added red wine, mushrooms and onions along with a very little water and made a sauce.

I then aded the meat to the sauce at the end for a few minutes to get hot and then spread over paperdelle pasta for a Beef Bourgogne type meal. Was very very good.

[Syzygies]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

I then aded the meat to the sauce at the end for a few minutes to get hot and then spread over paperdelle pasta ...

Wow, now you're talking. I was going to come by, but I see you're not all that local.

In the same vein, I just made "Pesce Spada alla Ghiotta" from a new Calabrian cookbook, My Calabria. It was great, perhaps my best dinner in weeks, but it reminded me of visiting the "fisherman's table" on Alicudi. There, he would have started the local variant on swordfish over charcoal, then his wife would finish with a sauce not unlike this recipe. Made me wish I was on the same coast as my Komodo.

[Keytickler]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

I picked up 4 slabs of beef ribs from member primemeats to grill on July 4th this week. This was my first crack at beef ribs. I used Steven Raichlin's guidelines for the cook: indirect, medium heat (320-350F), 1.5 - 2 hours, hickory chunks for smoke. The rub was a Memphis style dry rub I mixed up and put on the meat in the morning. I began the cook at 3 pm. The ribs came off the KK sometime between 4:30 and 5:00 pm. I wrapped each slab in foil to rest, as I do with pork ribs, as I needed to change things up and cook some other things using direct heat on the KK.

Use a drip pan with beef ribs!

Before serving I dusted each slab with some leftover rub, and mopped each slab with a white vinegar, salt, dry rub sauce.

Delicious!!!! Easy to prep, relatively fast to cook, and I'll definitely do this again. All of our guests loved them.

Keytickler

[MadMedik]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

I have done several times with trial and error and ended up with very close to the way you did them. Beef ribs are great on KK and easy to do. Best beef ribs I ever had have been from KK

[Hephaestus]

Re: Beef Ribs vs Pork Ribs

I just did beef ribs this past weekend. I simply followed the recipe in Webers smoke. They turned out delicious. Our friends who had never had beef ribs before, thought they were amazing.