This was just my second cook on the PBC. Warning: this is primarily a story about what not to do! I started with 4.5 lbs of Choice beef boneless short ribs, about 10 strips 3/4 to 1" thick. I trimmed them up, and used the PBC Beef & Game rub just before hanging. I put the hooks through the width of the strips, two strips on some hooks.
Looking at my log, it's obvious I got a poor light: the peak temperature initially was just 329 and then it started falling fast. At 30 minutes I cracked the lid and got it back up to 360. It then fell back to reasonable, if somewhat low, levels. After about 2:15 I checked the meat with a probe thermometer. It was hard to get consistent readings, some points were 190, others 160, but there seemed to be a good bark developing. I probably should have stopped here, at least tasted a piece and wrapped if necessary. A half hour later, some of the meat measured 176 deg, so I continued the cook.
After 3.5 hours, I wrapped the strips and put them on the grate until I got 200 deg in some parts at least. I took the meat out after 4 hours. Four hours! What was I thinking? I guess I was thinking that many comments on the short rib page said that you needed high temps to get tender meat. I forgot that MH says he uses this meat for beef stir-fry, a quick sear.
The meat was almost all bark (burned ends), almost like beef jerky (or charcoal). It was very dry and hard. We managed to eat some with a sauce, but it wasn't easy. So what to do?
The good news is that it made some of the best chili I've ever made! I used a recipe similar to the one on this site. The long simmer tenderized and moisturized the meat, and the bark flavored everything. This was a problem cook for sure, proving, if nothing else, that boneless short ribs need to be treated differently than bone-in ribs. But I'm almost tempted to do it again for the chili, but not a 4 hour cook.
Looking at my log, it's obvious I got a poor light: the peak temperature initially was just 329 and then it started falling fast. At 30 minutes I cracked the lid and got it back up to 360. It then fell back to reasonable, if somewhat low, levels. After about 2:15 I checked the meat with a probe thermometer. It was hard to get consistent readings, some points were 190, others 160, but there seemed to be a good bark developing. I probably should have stopped here, at least tasted a piece and wrapped if necessary. A half hour later, some of the meat measured 176 deg, so I continued the cook.
The meat was almost all bark (burned ends), almost like beef jerky (or charcoal). It was very dry and hard. We managed to eat some with a sauce, but it wasn't easy. So what to do?
The good news is that it made some of the best chili I've ever made! I used a recipe similar to the one on this site. The long simmer tenderized and moisturized the meat, and the bark flavored everything. This was a problem cook for sure, proving, if nothing else, that boneless short ribs need to be treated differently than bone-in ribs. But I'm almost tempted to do it again for the chili, but not a 4 hour cook.
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