Since John (
chilerelleno
) posted his "Behemoth Beef Ribs" I've been on a quest to find them. It was an exhaustive search but finally found a source for them. I ordered a case of bone-in chuck short ribs and crossed my fingers that they were as awesome as the ones he posted. The ribs and the new Rec Tec were delivered Thursday. Total weight of the ribs was 50.56# and there were 48 ribs in the case. That means each rib averaged just over 1# in weight. I got the grill put together on Friday, set up on the patio, and did the burn in run so it'd be ready for yesterday. There were three friends / SMF members coming for dinner. They were:
@Matt_Tex
snakehead
@TXRick
Matt has a BGE also and we thought it may be fun to do two different flavor profiles on two different cookers. Since he's familiar with the BGE he chose that as his weapon of choice and I was gonna use the Rec Tec for it's inaugural run. He had the edge because he was already familiar with the Egg but I've always loved the challenge of trying a new cooker that I'd never used before and hoping to turn out some decent food. Please note that this is a competition between grills, not between Matt and I. Matt came down about 9:00 yesterday morning to get his ribs prepped. Mine were already done so I got the Egg fired up while he was working on his ribs and I lit up the Rec Tec. Both went on at 9:30 running 225*. The anticipation was to have dinner ready by 4:00 because Gerald had a function downtown at 6:00 he wanted to be at, which I think was part of the ACL show. Well....with no further adieu, here we go:
Here are the ribs:
Mine seasoned with a new rub I put together Thursday afternoon but had never used before. turned out great!!
Matt's seasoned with a horseradish based Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper
Mine on the Rec Tec. See? Never been used before :-)
Matt's on the Egg
Both of them chugging along side by side
3 hours in. Mine first
Matt's
Everything cooks faster on a BEG than any other cooker, even at the same temp. It must be from the radiant, convection style of heating generated by the design. His finished up well before mine did. They got wrapped and went into the cooler
Mine about done. These are looking great!!
Gerald made some amazing Hatch green chili Mac & Cheese. It's on to warm up
Got out some veggies that have been in the brine for a while and tasting fantastic!! From left to right is spicy cauliflower, jalapenos, cucumber spears, red onions, and spicy garlic
Mine all done and in the house. To put the size of these into perspective, those are not small digits at the end of my arm. Those are XXXL hands
Both side by side
Close-ups. Mine then Matt's.
Mine sliced. Super juicy, succulent, and a gorgeous smoke ring!!
Here is a top view just to give you a better idea of the enormity of these things
The others sliced
Mac & cheese all done. This was THE BEST I've ever had without a doubt!!
Have monster rib, will travel
Dinner all laid out
Money shot of course. My dinner plate. I noticed that everybody was scared of that largest rib. Since I was last in line, I got stuck with it....oh well, the tragedies we must endure :-)
Now to dessert. I was gonna make pecan pie per Foamheart but just got the bourbon peach cobbler into my head and could not get rid of it. This recipe is posted in the Desserts forum.
Peaches and bourbon all mixed up and into the cast iron skillet on the grill with a quarter pound of butter
Peach mixture heated so add the dough
Done and ready to serve
Dessert is served with some top shelf vanilla ice cream
Well folks, this turned into another epic meal. It was absolutely spectacular. Both ribs were nothing short of incredible. The best any of us have ever had but at the end f the day, the Rec Tec won out by a small margin. Folks liked the light charcoal flavor of the Egg but the RT 700 had a deeper, richer smoke flavor and that gorgeous smoke ring that you just can't overlook when eating BBQ. In all fairness to the Egg though, the ribs were not cooking as long as they were on the Rec Tec so they had less time to develop the smokiness. Overall, I think the Rec Tec is a good grill but there were a couple crucial aspects that I was extremely disappointed with. I can make adjustments and overcome those and turn out some great food but with a grill of that caliber I just don't feel that I should have to make those adjustments. I'll call tech support and see if there is a way to re-program the controller to dial it in better but outside of that, I can still adjust. All the documentation states that the controller is "precision calibrated at the factory". Well, if that's their perception of "precision", I'm sure glad they aren't making airplanes
I know that I'm still gonna love the grill and yesterday was a great learning experience breaking it in. As with all meals served here, everybody was in a total food coma after finishing dinner. The only problem is that now Matt hates me because of the cobbler. I told him before I put it on that was gonna happen, and I was right. Now he wants it every day and it's gonna wreak havoc on his waistline Oh well...this has gone long enough. I gotta run. Tracy is on the road coming home from Wichita and I have a few chores I need to wrap up....like scrubbing a CI skillet that a certain cobbler was cooked in
Thanks for dropping in and sorry to have taken up so much of your time. Y'all have a great day!!
Still comatose,
Robert
chilerelleno
) posted his "Behemoth Beef Ribs" I've been on a quest to find them. It was an exhaustive search but finally found a source for them. I ordered a case of bone-in chuck short ribs and crossed my fingers that they were as awesome as the ones he posted. The ribs and the new Rec Tec were delivered Thursday. Total weight of the ribs was 50.56# and there were 48 ribs in the case. That means each rib averaged just over 1# in weight. I got the grill put together on Friday, set up on the patio, and did the burn in run so it'd be ready for yesterday. There were three friends / SMF members coming for dinner. They were:@Matt_Tex
snakehead
@TXRick
Matt has a BGE also and we thought it may be fun to do two different flavor profiles on two different cookers. Since he's familiar with the BGE he chose that as his weapon of choice and I was gonna use the Rec Tec for it's inaugural run. He had the edge because he was already familiar with the Egg but I've always loved the challenge of trying a new cooker that I'd never used before and hoping to turn out some decent food. Please note that this is a competition between grills, not between Matt and I. Matt came down about 9:00 yesterday morning to get his ribs prepped. Mine were already done so I got the Egg fired up while he was working on his ribs and I lit up the Rec Tec. Both went on at 9:30 running 225*. The anticipation was to have dinner ready by 4:00 because Gerald had a function downtown at 6:00 he wanted to be at, which I think was part of the ACL show. Well....with no further adieu, here we go:
Here are the ribs:
Mine seasoned with a new rub I put together Thursday afternoon but had never used before. turned out great!!
Matt's seasoned with a horseradish based Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper
Mine on the Rec Tec. See? Never been used before :-)
Matt's on the Egg
Both of them chugging along side by side
3 hours in. Mine first
Matt's
Everything cooks faster on a BEG than any other cooker, even at the same temp. It must be from the radiant, convection style of heating generated by the design. His finished up well before mine did. They got wrapped and went into the cooler
Mine about done. These are looking great!!
Gerald made some amazing Hatch green chili Mac & Cheese. It's on to warm up
Got out some veggies that have been in the brine for a while and tasting fantastic!! From left to right is spicy cauliflower, jalapenos, cucumber spears, red onions, and spicy garlic
Mine all done and in the house. To put the size of these into perspective, those are not small digits at the end of my arm. Those are XXXL hands
Both side by side
Close-ups. Mine then Matt's.
Mine sliced. Super juicy, succulent, and a gorgeous smoke ring!!
Here is a top view just to give you a better idea of the enormity of these things
The others sliced
Mac & cheese all done. This was THE BEST I've ever had without a doubt!!
Have monster rib, will travel
Dinner all laid out
Money shot of course. My dinner plate. I noticed that everybody was scared of that largest rib. Since I was last in line, I got stuck with it....oh well, the tragedies we must endure :-)
Now to dessert. I was gonna make pecan pie per Foamheart but just got the bourbon peach cobbler into my head and could not get rid of it. This recipe is posted in the Desserts forum.
Peaches and bourbon all mixed up and into the cast iron skillet on the grill with a quarter pound of butter
Peach mixture heated so add the dough
Done and ready to serve
Dessert is served with some top shelf vanilla ice cream
Well folks, this turned into another epic meal. It was absolutely spectacular. Both ribs were nothing short of incredible. The best any of us have ever had but at the end f the day, the Rec Tec won out by a small margin. Folks liked the light charcoal flavor of the Egg but the RT 700 had a deeper, richer smoke flavor and that gorgeous smoke ring that you just can't overlook when eating BBQ. In all fairness to the Egg though, the ribs were not cooking as long as they were on the Rec Tec so they had less time to develop the smokiness. Overall, I think the Rec Tec is a good grill but there were a couple crucial aspects that I was extremely disappointed with. I can make adjustments and overcome those and turn out some great food but with a grill of that caliber I just don't feel that I should have to make those adjustments. I'll call tech support and see if there is a way to re-program the controller to dial it in better but outside of that, I can still adjust. All the documentation states that the controller is "precision calibrated at the factory". Well, if that's their perception of "precision", I'm sure glad they aren't making airplanes
I know that I'm still gonna love the grill and yesterday was a great learning experience breaking it in. As with all meals served here, everybody was in a total food coma after finishing dinner. The only problem is that now Matt hates me because of the cobbler. I told him before I put it on that was gonna happen, and I was right. Now he wants it every day and it's gonna wreak havoc on his waistline Oh well...this has gone long enough. I gotta run. Tracy is on the road coming home from Wichita and I have a few chores I need to wrap up....like scrubbing a CI skillet that a certain cobbler was cooked in Thanks for dropping in and sorry to have taken up so much of your time. Y'all have a great day!!
Still comatose,
Robert
Last edited:
