The wife's birthday is this weekend, and she wants to have her friends over for her favorite dinner, beef stroganoff. This was a trial run to see if I could smoke beef short ribs to make the stuff.
I asked the butcher for 3 lean beef short ribs. I got two great ones and one semi-lean one (the middle one).
.
This shows you the approximate thickness, length, and marbling.
Salt and pepper, that's it.
Drawing from my experience with pork ribs, I went for the 2-2-1 method, smoking at 275. I like 275 over 225 because I think it renders the fat better. Here they are after the first two hours.
I doubled-wrapped them in heavy duty foil and sent them back into the smoker. No additional braising liquid or seasoning was added.
While this was going on, I went about making the broth. I used Better Than Boullion, a white onion, a large carrot, and some garlic.
I cut the vegetables into large "mirepoix" sized chunks, and also rounded up some fresh thyme from my garden and a bay leaf.
I sauteed the onion and carrots for a few minutes until they just started to brown.
Then I added the garlic, bay leaf, and thyme and sauteed for one minute.
Then I added the beef stock, brought to a boil, and simmered for about an hour.
Make sure to cover the stock so that you don't lose too much liquid!
Here are the ribs after 2 hours in foil. As you can see, they provided their own braising liquid. I love the fat rendering of 275.
I strained the vegetables from the stock. You can keep them if you want, but I prefer not to.
For the last hour of smoking, I just opened the foil. This way they were still open and exposed to the smoke directly, but also still were lightly braised. Here they are, all done!
Shredded goodness!
The shredded goodness was added to the stock.
s
At this point you now have beef soup. Time to thicken it up! I use corn starch and water to make a slurry (learned this from Alton Brown). I like to use 1 Tablespoon of corn starch to 1 tablespoon of water for the slurry, using as many tablespoons of cornstarch as there are cups of stock.
Here's my slurry, which I will add to the stock. This prevents nasty clumps.
Hard to tell from the picture, but this has thickened up beautifully, and is gorgeously velvety.
At this stage you have amazing beef stew. Now it's time to make it stroganoff. All you need is sour cream. Add this to taste, and I also like to add a spoonful of Dijon mustard for an extra layer of flavor.
Serve over buttered noodles!
The details:
Smoker: MES40 with AMNPS
Wood: Pitmaster's Choice pellets
Smoking Temperature: 275
Duration: 5 hours, using the 2-2-1 method (2 hours unfoiled, 2 hours foiled, 1 hour unfoiled)
Ambient temperature: 45 degrees or so
This was awesome!
I asked the butcher for 3 lean beef short ribs. I got two great ones and one semi-lean one (the middle one).
.
This shows you the approximate thickness, length, and marbling.
Salt and pepper, that's it.
Drawing from my experience with pork ribs, I went for the 2-2-1 method, smoking at 275. I like 275 over 225 because I think it renders the fat better. Here they are after the first two hours.
I doubled-wrapped them in heavy duty foil and sent them back into the smoker. No additional braising liquid or seasoning was added.
While this was going on, I went about making the broth. I used Better Than Boullion, a white onion, a large carrot, and some garlic.
I cut the vegetables into large "mirepoix" sized chunks, and also rounded up some fresh thyme from my garden and a bay leaf.
I sauteed the onion and carrots for a few minutes until they just started to brown.
Then I added the garlic, bay leaf, and thyme and sauteed for one minute.
Then I added the beef stock, brought to a boil, and simmered for about an hour.
Make sure to cover the stock so that you don't lose too much liquid!
Here are the ribs after 2 hours in foil. As you can see, they provided their own braising liquid. I love the fat rendering of 275.
I strained the vegetables from the stock. You can keep them if you want, but I prefer not to.
For the last hour of smoking, I just opened the foil. This way they were still open and exposed to the smoke directly, but also still were lightly braised. Here they are, all done!
Shredded goodness!
The shredded goodness was added to the stock.
s
At this point you now have beef soup. Time to thicken it up! I use corn starch and water to make a slurry (learned this from Alton Brown). I like to use 1 Tablespoon of corn starch to 1 tablespoon of water for the slurry, using as many tablespoons of cornstarch as there are cups of stock.
Here's my slurry, which I will add to the stock. This prevents nasty clumps.
Hard to tell from the picture, but this has thickened up beautifully, and is gorgeously velvety.
At this stage you have amazing beef stew. Now it's time to make it stroganoff. All you need is sour cream. Add this to taste, and I also like to add a spoonful of Dijon mustard for an extra layer of flavor.
Serve over buttered noodles!
The details:
Smoker: MES40 with AMNPS
Wood: Pitmaster's Choice pellets
Smoking Temperature: 275
Duration: 5 hours, using the 2-2-1 method (2 hours unfoiled, 2 hours foiled, 1 hour unfoiled)
Ambient temperature: 45 degrees or so
This was awesome!
