Short Ribs - Long, Strange Trip

[GolfGeezer]

This cook definitely reminded me of the Grateful Dead's "Truckin'"... I finally got around to smoking a rack of plate ribs I had from WildFork. It was labelled as "Aged prime Beef", just under 5 lbs. Dry brined with kosher salt for about 24 hours, and I added coarse ground pepper, onion powder and garlic powder just before going to sleep the night before.



Pre-heated the MAK to 250* and put the ribs on at 7:30 AM yesterday. My plan was to boat it once it hit the stall, which I figured would be in the 3-4 hour range. I thought that would help it past the stall, with a target of 6 hours total cook time. Then I would wrap it and into a 170* oven to hold for several hours. Sure enough, IT got to 170*-ish after 3.5 hours, so into the boat. I thought I had taken a pic of it in the boat, but I guess senior moment lost it.



Now the weird part. And the Long, Strange Trip! That rack stayed below 180* IT for 4 hours!! I even bumped the smoker temp to 275*, but the IT barely moved into the 180* range, and it was now 2 PM, 7+ hours into the cook. I've never had a stall go over 3 hours, and this was now closer to 5 hours sitting there. So, I fully wrapped in foil at 2 PM. It finally got to 197* IT at 4 PM, so I pulled it and into the warm oven for an hour.

The final result was amazingly tender and moist, maybe cooked too much as it basically shredded liked pulled chuck or butt. My target temp was 203* - I should have started probing it at 185* to test for doneness instead of just relying on IT temp, but there you go. I ate one rib and the rest will go into a pot of Texas Red chili tomorrow (yup, no beans!).

The final product - I was also surprised by the relatively small amount of actual beef there was after the shrinkage. I've done a number of these beef ribs and the yield of edible beef was fairly low (after removing gristle, fat and bones). Tasty as all get out, but below expectations in yield.



PS. There were actually 3 bones, but the center one fell off. You can see how little beef there is on the one on the right.

[Panhead John]

Looks great to me GolfGeezer ! Very nice looking!
quote…..”rib and the rest will go into a pot of Texas Red chili tomorrow (yup, no beans!).“
By the power vested in me, I hereby don you an honorary Texan for the weekend! 👍

[GolfGeezer]

Oh God, the last time I spent any time in Texas, some demented Sargeant (whose actual name was Bizarro - I kid you not!), ran my a$$ over that sandy pit they named Fort Bliss (what a misnomer that was!) and White Sands. Not to mention the unsavory parts of El Paso....maybe I can last a weekend. 😎🏇👢🫘 (oops on that last one!)

[Jerod Broussard]

I'll likely never smoke another rack of beef ribs. Tried enough of the high dollar and the not-so-high dollar to know my dollar can go to something else.

[jfmorris]

You know, it seems every piece of meat is different when it comes to the stall, at least in my experience. Sometimes I have no stall, sometimes one in the 150's, and a second stall in the 170's, sometimes just the low or just the high stall.

They look great, but I have to agree that for the time and effort involved, the ribs I've done often had very low yield of actual meat, and often too much fat. I've got a couple of beef plate ribs in the freezer, but will likely keep my rib purchases to pork ribs going forward, for more bang for the buck, and focus my beef cooks on brisket or other more cost effective cuts of beef.

[RonB]

You may have had problems, but I'd eat those.

[HawkerXP]

+1

[GolfGeezer]

RonB There were/are good eats> Just was a strange cook.

[ecowper]

Fine looking outcome there! I love beef ribs. Just hate the price per pound :-)

[DaveD]

I've cooked several of those very racks from WF, love 'em!! (Got one out in the chestie right now in fact.) Your experience is what I have had every time, it's always about a ten hour process. I'm sure that part of it is the shape - flat and horizontal, so the juice pooling on the top surface can sit there and buffer the temp for hours. But that's when the magic happens! I've never fully wrapped though, only boated.

Seems a shame to spend that beautiful meat on chili, to me anyway...! And I've also seen the shrinkage you did, although I've never been disappointed. Back ribs, different story - those can shrink away to damn near nothing.

[GolfGeezer]

DaveD Don't get me wrong - I still love these ribs and I really like WF. I just was thrown based on my previous cooks of beef short ribs, some from Creekstone, and others from several local butchers. As for using the leftovers in chili - well, I LOVE chili and since that cook is in the plan for this weekend, and since my beautiful bride does not eat smoked meat (directly that is), I think I'll take the shame. 😁

[DaveD]

I will readily admit that after reading about the plan to use the leftover rib meat in chili, I started drooling and envisioning doing exactly the same!! So gimme some o'that shame!

[Jfrosty27]

I also get these from WF. And, I also see the long stall every time. 9 hours give or take to get them just right. But soooooo good. Worth the wait. I actually just received a rack in my WF order a few days ago. I’ll be queueing them up very soon.

[Uncle Bob]

I've done 8, maybe 10, of those plate ribs from WF and they usually run around that 5# range and take typically 8 hours before hold time. Occasionally that third bone gets a tapered, thin edge to it. I've also gotten plates from HEB and Click Akaushi when they were shipping. I've always felt the WF were better value because they trim the top fat cap fairly close compared to the others that had half to a full inch of fat cap that was paid for but wasted on me. Some might think the more fat cap the better, but to my tastes these are so laced with intramuscular fat that the cap is extraneous. I know the final product never suffered for a lack of fatty, rich (!!!), rendered moisture inside.

[GolfGeezer]

I happen to be fortunate that there is a WF store near me. That allows me to paw through the bins to make my own selection. So I can see the grade, price, shape, the trim, and decide by direct comparison of products.

[Troutman]

I'd eat those. I'd also fully wrap next time, I've never had a beef rib stall taking that approach.

Good job Geezer regardless

[Bob K]

If they’re prime or better, I smoke at 275 until I like the color, then boat. Usually the stall is a minor speed bump and there’s so much intramuscular fat that needs rendering, it works out well.

[GolfGeezer]

Just to complete this trip, here's the pot of chili I made yesterday. I based this on Troutman 's recipe for Texas Red. Modified to use some on-hand ingredients like Shelby's chili mix (I only used the spices packet, not the cayenne or masa), used some Fosters lager for the beer part, and of course, the leftover short rib meat (plus some extra chuck, red and green bell peppers sweated with onions and roasted chopped chili pods). Nice kick to it!

PS - this pic is at the beginning of simmering. I got distracted, so no photos of the finished chili.

[Panhead John]

Can you add some beans to that for me? I might need to steal a few pics, depending on how Dallas does tonight. 🥸

Beautiful! 👍

[DaveD]

I'm a huge fan of the Shelby chili mix too, and like you, use just the main packet. I generally add red chile powder instead of the cayenne, and have never needed to thicken with the masa. Stuff is excellent! That chili looks great.

[radiodome21]

I love beef ribs. I actually smoked some short ribs last night for some chili I’m making today. Keep forgetting about WF. I’ve only made the ones that Costco sells.

[GolfGeezer]

Panhead John I'm here for you Bro!