It's a beef rib kinda day

[DaveD]

Do we need yet another step-by-step rundown of a short (EDIT: mistakenly labeled chuck initially) rib cook? Yes. Yes, we do. It's Veterans Day, first of all, and I'm keeping top of mind the sacrifices of my fellow Americans who have served in the military. Deepest respect to you and your families.

So happened to have a plate of beef [short] ribs ready to go today. Autumn has fully engaged after one last balmy week, with a cold front's arrival yesterday dropping temps from the high 70sF/mid 20sC to about 50F/10C in a matter of hours. Today is a classic autumn day, with the lawn carpeted with leaves, the sun low in the sky, a russet feel to the overall color palette, and streaky high clouds in the calm sky. Got the SnS kettle fired up with B&B coals and some mesquite.



USDA Choice rack from Wild Fork, weighing in at 7.3lb/3.3kg, and I trimmed about 11oz/300g from the fat cap. Dry brined overnight, and hit with Henrik Hank's Bona Fide (salt-free) half an hour before showtime.





Got it on the kettle by a few minutes after 8am, nominal so far, already picking up some great color after only one hour. Planning sides, probably some roasted taters and a veggie, nothing fancy...

[texastweeter]

Man looks good. Serve that with some cheese grits and green beans; I'd be in heaven. You could get fancy and call it "Smoke roasted short rib with polenta and haricot verts".

[Draznnl]

Oh boy! Another DaveD cook-a-thon to follow along with. Those ribs look great Dave. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

[GolfGeezer]

heh-heh - We Vets have to stick together! Just prepped some prime beef ribs from Costco. Dry brined, onion power, garlic powder fresh pepper and some Big Poppa's Money rub. Goin on to the MAK at 250-260* shortly.

[DaveD]

Yeah man!! Those look great.

[DaveD]

And hey, just now noticing, if you're implying that I'm also a veteran, I don't qualify there. I have not served in the military. But I'm a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of those who have

[GolfGeezer]

DaveD Yes, I noticed my mistake when I re-read your OP. But, heck, we’re all veterans of something! Appreciate your support as well!

[Jim White]

Wow. That's some impressive marbling for choice grade. Enjoy!

[Jfrosty27]

Oh my. I am in beef heaven right now. I have a rack in the freezer. Time to get them out!

[DaveD]

Everything is nominal AF, just a gorgeous day here in the NoVA. Ribs are cruising along, kinda stalling, so I just deployed the foil boat. Lots of juice coming off these babies... probably not surprising given the marbling. Kettle is behaving well today too, it hasn't drifted much at all. When I boated, I adjusted the placement of the probes, the meat pullback was messing with one of them for sure. You can see the sudden T drop in the trace that was higher temp than the other at the most recent perturbation on the plot.



Three hours in, ITs around 160F/70C.


T+4 and a bit. Lots more juice in the foil below, and looked ready to boat...




ITs now in mid 170s F/80ish C. Keeeeeeeeeeeeeep going...

[DaveD]

After a couple of solid hours stalling at about 180F/82C, temps have lifted off again and are now in the high 180sF/mid-80sC. The analysis function in the Fireboard app (recognizing it is a very imperfect estimate) says about 90 minutes to hit target temp, so I'll start probing for tenderness before then. I'll fire up the Pit Boss pellet rig for hold/rest phase, since I need the kitchen oven for Them Taters.

[DaveD]

Deliverables! Outstanding results, simply scrumptious.

Temps were reaching the high 190sF/low 90sC and probing very tender in most spots, so I fired up the Pit Boss, initially to 200F/93C but then backed off to 175F/80C as I transferred the ribs in there. Covered the foil boat with a layer of foil while things rested.




Final temp profile:

Pretty much smack on my typical 10 hour cook duration for beef ribs.



A simple tug and each bone slid right out of the meat, like Arthur's Excalibur out of the legendary stone.


Just sawed it up into slabs.





Service! Plated with zucchini and Them Taters.



A fine culmination of today's cook. Thanks for riding along

[Oak Smoke]

I’d be very proud to serve that to anyone. That’s gorgeous Dave!

[RlsRls]

How long did it take from putting he ribs on the grill to putting the ribs in your mouth!! Looks delish....!

[DaveD]

Easy to miss the line in between the data plot and the finished ribs pic: "Pretty much smack on my typical 10 hour cook duration for beef ribs." It was just about exactly ten hours from meat on the kettle to meat in the mouth

[Henrik]

Wow, there’s so much goodness in this thread. First off, nice to see the SnS kettle. Also: the marbling! The meat looks spectacular! And specifying deg F vs deg C in all posts, love it! It makes reading the post and following along much easier.

A great cook overall, and those ribs look amazing. Well done (pun intended), thanks for posting 👌

[DaveD]

I wish my fellow Americans would figure out how superior the metric system is! All you have to remember is that a litre of water weighs 1 kg, water freezes at zero, and be able to divide/multiply by ten. But alas...!

[Mosca]

I really liked this cook-along, with the added delight of GolfGeezer coincidentally running a parallel cook! I like writing cook-alongs, and I like reading them, too.

This is going to motivate me to pull out the plate ribs that have been in the bottom of the freezer for… too long. At least a few years. They’ve been at a constant -20° or so, I’m not worried about them; rather, I’m embarrassed that I haven’t cooked them yet.

[DaveD]

Go for it Mosca!!