Personally, beef short ribs are the zenith of BBQ for me. I just love them! I can knock them out on my weber, but I've just bought a PBC and wanted to see if I could get them working on it. I've not seen any commentary / videos on short ribs, so I thought I would share my adventure.
I've had a bit of trouble getting the PBC to stay in the zone. I wasn't getting the big spike at the start, so the PBC was plummeting to the low 200's each cook. This time I followed Jerod's instructions in the 'Lighting your PBC post', cracked the lid as soon as I saw the temp start to stall at 280, drove the temp to 370 (overshot the 360) then seated the lid. The temp then fell to the 300 and slowly trailed down through the cook exactly as Noah says it should.
First pic: I took a four rib short plate, cut it into two ribs (more bark per rib). Applied a dash of olive oil and coated in a pastrami type rub. (why not?!) This is typically very low salt (practically zero) and very low sugar. I do put a bit of both in, however. I then hung two hooks in each pair, between the bone. The bones then hung parallel to the rebar, as oppose to perpendicular too. I also left the membrane on. My thought being that both steps were insurance against the hooks tearing through or shrinkage dislodging them and it falling in the fire. No injecting or marinading.
Lit the PBC, added two cherry chunks. Hung the meat. Shut the lid. ​I just bought the IGrill2, so tracked the cook with graphs. As I mentioned, I saw the temp crest at 280, so cracked the lid and pushed it pretty hard. The Igrill exports a CSV file, so quick graph produced in excel. (There has to be a simpler way to graphically combine the meat and ambient temperature than VLOOKUP functions, but to discover it I would need to read the manual.)
Couple of notes on the graph. The meat probe was in the smaller cut, I had a Thermoworks in the thicker cut and that is the one I was watching. It wasn't in the deepest part of the meat, so take off 10 to 15 degrees for the first couple of hours - there was pronounced stall at the 180 - 190 range. In the graph, it's all the time spent just under 200. The total cooking time is accurate, and the curve pretty close. I lifted the lid two or three times to check, only once to spritz (water) and one stirring of the coals (4pm) .
No wrapping, just a straight cook as I wanted to really see if I could get a good ring and bark. I would expect these ribs to take 7-8 hours to get to the magic 203 on my weber, these were done in 4.5 hours. We were aiming to eat at 7.30 (!), so I wrapped in paper, heated a cooler with hot water, drained it and created a faux cambro.
Apologies for the strong shadow. Texas sun. Anyway, lucky for the two hooks because the bones were very loose. The meat looked good, felt right with the temp probe tip. It broke easily, and smoke ring was there. The biggest issue was trying to get the hooks out. Hot and awkward!
After sitting a cooler for 3.5 hours, finally got to eat them. The pic really doesn't do justice, I think it makes them look dry, and nothing could be further from the truth. I'm a pretty harsh critic of my own cooking, but these were right on. The PBC just nailed it. Everything you would want them to be. Soft, juicy, decent smoke - bizarrely even the membrane was almost edible.
One rib per adult, here are the leftovers:
Strongly recommend giving these a go. Really was very easy - no injection, no wrap. Just a set and forget. Hope that helps! Matt
I've had a bit of trouble getting the PBC to stay in the zone. I wasn't getting the big spike at the start, so the PBC was plummeting to the low 200's each cook. This time I followed Jerod's instructions in the 'Lighting your PBC post', cracked the lid as soon as I saw the temp start to stall at 280, drove the temp to 370 (overshot the 360) then seated the lid. The temp then fell to the 300 and slowly trailed down through the cook exactly as Noah says it should.
First pic: I took a four rib short plate, cut it into two ribs (more bark per rib). Applied a dash of olive oil and coated in a pastrami type rub. (why not?!) This is typically very low salt (practically zero) and very low sugar. I do put a bit of both in, however. I then hung two hooks in each pair, between the bone. The bones then hung parallel to the rebar, as oppose to perpendicular too. I also left the membrane on. My thought being that both steps were insurance against the hooks tearing through or shrinkage dislodging them and it falling in the fire. No injecting or marinading.
Lit the PBC, added two cherry chunks. Hung the meat. Shut the lid. ​I just bought the IGrill2, so tracked the cook with graphs. As I mentioned, I saw the temp crest at 280, so cracked the lid and pushed it pretty hard. The Igrill exports a CSV file, so quick graph produced in excel. (There has to be a simpler way to graphically combine the meat and ambient temperature than VLOOKUP functions, but to discover it I would need to read the manual.)
Couple of notes on the graph. The meat probe was in the smaller cut, I had a Thermoworks in the thicker cut and that is the one I was watching. It wasn't in the deepest part of the meat, so take off 10 to 15 degrees for the first couple of hours - there was pronounced stall at the 180 - 190 range. In the graph, it's all the time spent just under 200. The total cooking time is accurate, and the curve pretty close. I lifted the lid two or three times to check, only once to spritz (water) and one stirring of the coals (4pm) .
No wrapping, just a straight cook as I wanted to really see if I could get a good ring and bark. I would expect these ribs to take 7-8 hours to get to the magic 203 on my weber, these were done in 4.5 hours. We were aiming to eat at 7.30 (!), so I wrapped in paper, heated a cooler with hot water, drained it and created a faux cambro.
Apologies for the strong shadow. Texas sun. Anyway, lucky for the two hooks because the bones were very loose. The meat looked good, felt right with the temp probe tip. It broke easily, and smoke ring was there. The biggest issue was trying to get the hooks out. Hot and awkward!
After sitting a cooler for 3.5 hours, finally got to eat them. The pic really doesn't do justice, I think it makes them look dry, and nothing could be further from the truth. I'm a pretty harsh critic of my own cooking, but these were right on. The PBC just nailed it. Everything you would want them to be. Soft, juicy, decent smoke - bizarrely even the membrane was almost edible.
One rib per adult, here are the leftovers:
Strongly recommend giving these a go. Really was very easy - no injection, no wrap. Just a set and forget. Hope that helps! Matt
Comment