Beef Ribs: Slow Cook not always necessary

[MadMedik]

Hello All,

Well , my wife enjoys beef ribs. Have cooked a lot on regular BBQ (gas and weber). I wanted to do some Ribs with the KK but most recipes called for low and slow at least 4 hours. Well, i did not have that time so I wanted to try a cook with a shorter duration. My goal was for "about 2 hours" at a temp that would not burn the ribs or require constant turning and watching, like a tradition Weber grill.

So I decided to have KK at 310-320, use the "smaller" pan that came with the KK as a deflector, but more of a Steam Tray.... i put about 5 to 6 cups of apple juice and water (half and half) in the pan, set the pan on the handles of coal basket which barely fit (more later) and then put 3 small slabs of beef ribs on highest rack, 2 small slabs on the main grill.

I fired her up, smoked it with some apple chunks, and they came out beautiful looking, tasting, soft, moist, and were very satisfying.

Total cook time was 1 1/2 hours at the 320ish temp range with steam.

Now the rest of the story... About 30 minutes in to the cook, my first chunk of wood burned out so i wanted to add another fairly large chunk of apple wood. I opened the lid, lift the "moveable portion" of the man grill, and dropped the wood chunk in to hopefully rest in the hot coals....no problem, right? Well, as it would happen, the chunk hit the "Steam Pan/Deflector" that was very full and precariously sitting on the handles of the coal basket. And i do mean precariously, as any movement or shaking of grill would likely cause it to fall off and spill its contents.... YUP, the chunk hits pan, pan spilled just over half of it contents....about 3 cups or so....an immediate STEAM Cloud erupted, warmed me to say the least, and then spilled out from the lower vent and ash vent and spilled on to patio.

I thought OH MY GOD, i just put out the fire and ruined my dinner. The pan only shifted about 10 to 20 degrees thus allowing most of liquid out, not all of it. It was hanging on the lip of the pan now, not the bottom. So what to do....? Do i remove the food, check fire, remove steam, get the larger pan and put liquid in it and continue....or leave everything as is and see if fire goes out or not....

....i chose to watch and wait....the smoking started and continues with new wood added, heat temp start rising and all appeared ok. I then heard the boiling and bubbling of the liquid in pan, lots of steam coming out of the top with the smoke, and the cook continued....

Food was fine, the pan was completely empty and the sugarish apple juice had burned and charred and left quite a mess in pan...Obviously, did not plan for THIS.

KK was resilient, recovered, and cook was good. Would attempt this all again, only using bigger PAN, or put the heat stone on first then the small steam pan. I did not really want lots of deflection , rather i wanted the steam. Thought having the stone would make the cook cooler than i wanted....remember, i wanted it done in up to 2 hours...

Anyway, all is good. Got to check the ceramic to be sure not cracks from sudden water/steam/cooling....

MadMedik

[Firemonkey]

Re: Beef Ribs: Slow Cook not always necessary

You might not get as much steam as you want if you put the stone under steam pan. I sometimes do an indirect cook with no drip pan, and the top side of the deflector still has a bunch of grease on it when I am done*- especially at the temps you are using.

Maybe try the pan on the lower grate, centered above the fire and under the food, with no deflector on the basket handles? This would probably get you more steam.

You said you used the smaller pan that came with the KK - was that the liner of the heat deflector? If so, unless Dennis is making smaller deflectors, it should be a comfortable fit on the handles?

* Flipping the HD over each use will always burn one side clean, and keep it from being a greasy, nasty mess. Instead its a crusty, charred, mess