First time short ribs - alot of fat

[tecje]

Dear members,

After some trial and error with baby backs I wanted to try short ribs. I got these and they seem different from what I see online. There is a lot of fat.
Are they usable and/or do they need to be trimmed?

 

[jcam222]

I’ve never trimmed mine, these look a tad fattier tjan the ones I’ve done. That said I’d just smoke to 200 ish and tender thst far down.

 

[Brokenhandle]

^^^^ I'm with him! And I think he said "cook to 200 and render that fat down" he types like me

Ryan

 

[tecje]

Ha ha thanks, I will dry brine them overnight and give them a go tomorrow :)

 

[bregent]

I remove almost all of the top layer of fat so you can get a good amount of rub on it - it also wont render well. I don't worry about IT and just cook till tender.

 

[texomakid]

I agree - I don't trim beef ribs but I do cook them until they're HOT. I take mine to 200 deg IT. They are a high fat cut. Let us know how they turn out - pics or it never happened

 

[JLeonard]

Yep me and texomakid think alike as far as pics go. I'm a totally voyeur for food porn!

 

[Teal101]

Some can be very fatty. I cook these a lot, love them. I always trim the top cap of fat off to get rub straight on the meat. May trim a little more if its extra fatty. Cook low and slow till 203* and then go by feel from there. I wait till they're jello. Fantastic. Actually doing four right now!

 

[tallbm]

I agree with just smoking them as is.
I have a slightly different approach on the IT of 200F. I cook beef ribs until they are tender so I would suggest when the ribs hit 200F u check for tenderness by stabbing the meat with a tooth pick all over and especially where the meat and the bone come together. If not like tender like butter when u stab it then keep it going until it passes the tenderness test in the meat... the fat will be soft no matter what lol.

Thats my 2 cents that is in line with the others but with a little deviation.

 

[tecje]

Thanks for all the replies! I will only use pepper tomorrow and see how it goes. I probably got the ribs from the ribeye site, because the meat is more inbetween the bones. The bones are also cut in half, so will see how much meet will be left.
Won't use this butcher in the future, but for a first time, it can only go up after ;-) I will try to remember to take pictures. Probably will smoke for 3 hours and then wrap to get all the fat rendered.

 

[jcam222]

^^^^ I'm with him! And I think he said "cook to 200 and render that fat down" he types like me

Ryan

Lol yep, first post of the day I can’t type.

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for all the replies! I will only use pepper tomorrow and see how it goes. I probably got the ribs from the ribeye site, because the meat is more inbetween the bones. The bones are also cut in half, so will see how much meet will be left.
Won't use this butcher in the future, but for a first time, it can only go up after ;-) I will try to remember to take pictures. Probably will smoke for 3 hours and then wrap to get all the fat rendered.

The most proper beef ribs to smoke are Plate ribs. So if u are asking and looking those are the best ones to use. Keep that in mind when searching in the future :)

 

[tecje]

The most proper beef ribs to smoke are Plate ribs. So if u are asking and looking those are the best ones to use. Keep that in mind when searching in the future :)

Its an online butcher and the picture looked like plate ribs, its always hard to find the equivalent Dutch word for the English terms. But lesson learned, I will ask first before ordering online ;)

 

[tecje]

Smoking steadily at 240F. It's too much tinkering to get it stable at 225, and it's only 8 degrees Celcius from the 225F.
After an hour the ribs are already at 140, small ribs ofcourse.
These are them after dry brine and pepper rub
Edit: and after 2,5 hrs of smoking, I wont wrap as they go pretty fast.
Edit 2: Final result, i was pleased with the taste but the result ofcourse was very little meat and alot of fat. Fat tasted good ofcourse but you can only eat so much of it ;-)

 

[jcam222]

Its hard to tell for sure but those are really thick and look like individual plate ribs to me.

 

[tecje]

Its hard to tell for sure but those are really thick and look like individual plate ribs to me.

The bones have been cut in half and there is very little meat above the bones. Mostly next to it.
After 4 hours smoking there was a small stall between 70 and 80 Celcius (about 180F) so i decided to wrap them with foil, as my paper order didnt came in yet. So far not unhappy:)

 

[tallbm]

The bones have been cut in half and there is very little meat above the bones. Mostly next to it.
After 4 hours smoking there was a small stall between 70 and 80 Celcius (about 180F) so i decided to wrap them with foil, as my paper order didnt came in yet. So far not unhappy:)

Wow those are looking amazing!!!
In the United States (maybe in more countries) I believe there are standardized numbers that identify different cuts of meat on a cow. Butchers know these numbers but the average person does not. If you have a similar system in your country you can find out where the plate ribs are on a cow and match that up to a cow butchering diagram that has numbers or just point to the area of the cow the plat ribs come from and tell the butcher to give you that number so you know it for the future... and don't let him be lazy and just give you a random rib cut number. Be sure he proves its the plat ribs and not short ribs or chuck ribs or whatever other ribs are on a cow :)

Beef ribs do not care what temp they are smoked at so you are OK if the smoker does not want to stabilize at a lower temp. I smoke mine at 275F.

They will be done when they are tender and you just wait and test until that time comes. '
What wood are you using?

 

[tecje]

Wow those are looking amazing!!!
In the United States (maybe in more countries) I believe there are standardized numbers that identify different cuts of meat on a cow. Butchers know these numbers but the average person does not. If you have a similar system in your country you can find out where the plate ribs are on a cow and match that up to a cow butchering diagram that has numbers or just point to the area of the cow the plat ribs come from and tell the butcher to give you that number so you know it for the future... and don't let him be lazy and just give you a random rib cut number. Be sure he proves its the plat ribs and not short ribs or chuck ribs or whatever other ribs are on a cow :)

Beef ribs do not care what temp they are smoked at so you are OK if the smoker does not want to stabilize at a lower temp. I smoke mine at 275F.

They will be done when they are tender and you just wait and test until that time comes. '
What wood are you using?

Thank you :)
Im using cherry and apple, those are strong enough for me. My wife didn't like them though, bit too fatty for her taste so guess pork butt is next;) I also have some baby backs still in the freezer.
First time I used those fire bricks, made an alot of difference in managing temperature, only had to adjust the air once every hour or so.
I saw I put the final pictures with a previous post instead my last, oh well too lazy to adjust;)

 

[bass]

Hi - I did a smoke today along the same lines of this: Beef Ribs from Shoprite.
Not trying to hijack a thread but this one seemed to be died out and I thoguth it wold be better than starting a new one to discuss same thing.

I wanted to buy pork ribs but the store had none, but they had several nice sized packs of beef ribs so I figured why not. I've had beef short ribs in restaurants and from caterer's before that were awesome.

I did a dry brine of Jeff's Classic Rub for about 3 hours, resting at room temperature on a plate. I had 3 1/2 lbs of ribs.
Smoked at 220 on my WSM, I use Kingsford traditional blue and used Hickory smoke wood. Smoked for 3 hours on the top grate, pulled them, wrapped in butchers paper and put back on for another 2 1/2 hours.

the flavor was decent, ribs were tender but the meat to bone / fat content was pretty disappointing. I'm glad I didnt make these for guests.

Now to fix this - what should we be looking for when buying ribs ? I dont know how to tell by looking at the package in the grocery store.
Maybe need to find a good butcher?

 

[tallbm]

Hi - I did a smoke today along the same lines of this: Beef Ribs from Shoprite.
Not trying to hijack a thread but this one seemed to be died out and I thoguth it wold be better than starting a new one to discuss same thing.

I wanted to buy pork ribs but the store had none, but they had several nice sized packs of beef ribs so I figured why not. I've had beef short ribs in restaurants and from caterer's before that were awesome.

I did a dry brine of Jeff's Classic Rub for about 3 hours, resting at room temperature on a plate. I had 3 1/2 lbs of ribs.
Smoked at 220 on my WSM, I use Kingsford traditional blue and used Hickory smoke wood. Smoked for 3 hours on the top grate, pulled them, wrapped in butchers paper and put back on for another 2 1/2 hours.

the flavor was decent, ribs were tender but the meat to bone / fat content was pretty disappointing. I'm glad I didnt make these for guests.

Now to fix this - what should we be looking for when buying ribs ? I dont know how to tell by looking at the package in the grocery store.
Maybe need to find a good butcher?

You are wanting "Beef Plate Ribs" those are the best. I would say to not even waste time with Beef Back Ribs, what a scam with those boney meatless things.