I picked up this 6 lb pack of beef back ribs from Costco 2 days ago and they are in need of cooking suggestions. I am definitely going to put them on my Copperhead 5 pellet smoker which will be its maiden voyage. I have never prepped or cooked beef back ribs so the field is wide open in terms of suggestions. I plan to dry brine them later today and cook them off tomorrow sometime.
Before I scroll through the beef channels, give me some suggestions pitmasters, and I will do my best as a club member in fair standing to do these ribs justice.
I keep it simple with beef ribs. I use Meathead’s red meat rub to dry brine overnight. Then on the Recteq at 250 until probing tender all over. Rest in my oven set on “keep warm”, wrapped in butcher paper, for a minimum of one hour. Preferably 2-3 hours though. That’s it. Yum.
After doing a little research online, I found several methods for smoking beef back ribs. One source was from Traeger, another from Hey Grill Hey and yet another from Smoked Meat Sunday. Suggested smoker temps run from 225F - 275F and cook times from 5 - 10 hours. One uses mustard as a binder and the other two oil. I've never used mustard before and since these ribs are already separated, I may try it on some of them. Mustard on beef just doesn't sound appealing but I'm willing to be flexible. I do eat mustard on brats, so there are exceptions. I'll mix up a batch of MH's BBBR tomorrow morning and prepare to smoke. The only other decision is what kind of pellets to use. One of the sites used cherry and another post oak and another apple. I've got apple pellets so that would prevent a trip to the store.
I've yet to use a binder on anything, fwiw. Doesn't really seem necessary to me, stuff stays on the meat just fine.
Those ribs are likely to take a lot less than ten hours to cook given that they're already cut up. The 3-bone mini rack of back ribs I did yesterday got to temp in about five hours, but yours appear significantly larger. Still, wouldn't expect a huge long time for 'em.
But I'm in the "simple" camp... run 'em at the temps you are already targeting and rest them for a while after they get probe tender. Good luck!
I don't think there is any benefit at all to putting anything but water in the pan... will be interesting to see if you reckon you can pick anything up.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
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I gotta try those. I love any food and wine that is even remotely associated with Tuscany. Those are the chuck ribs you used, right? I'm still on training wheels when it comes to rib speak.
Chuck ribs or any meaty and fatty ribs that I find. All work well. Drain the oil before you braise with the tomato puree but save it for other uses such as stir fry, roasted taters, etc
Fully cooked ribs in the same order, left to right, as described above.
Mari Jo made Duchess potatoes to accompany the ribs. The first one we tried was with mustard binder and MH’s BBBR. Outstanding. Next we had one with the Montreal seasoning. OK. Last, we had the ribs with SPOG. Winner!
We paired this deliciousness with a Sonoma County Seghesio Zin, one of my favorite CA zins.
The boneyard says it all. The only thing I would change is to add a little more moisture to the ribs as they cook. The water pan alone wasn’t quite enough.
Overall, this was a fantastic way to break in my PB vertical smoker. We rated the ribs thusly: EVOO+SPOG was number one, followed closely by EVOO+MH BBBR and mustard+MH BBBR. Y’all are right, can’t really taste a difference in the binders. The ribs with EVOO+Montreal were OK but nothing to write home about. We’ll try the remaining ones as leftovers.
Truffles enjoyed the bones.
Last edited by WayneT; October 24, 2022, 05:34 AM.
Beef ribs are great. AKA Brisket on a Stick! I think I prefer the ribs over a brisket due ease and speed of the rib cook vrs the long ordeal of a brisket cook.
DaveD It was a great break-in for the Copperhead 5. Do you notice fine ash on top of your smoker around the stack after a cook? I’m guessing it is deposited there through the stack after becoming airborne from the fire pot. It wasn’t a lot, just a very light dusting. Is that normal?
Looking forward to seeing your prep and cook. I really enjoyed the all-around bark on these, but that wasn’t by design. These ribs were bought already sliced individually.
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