Disappointing Beef Plate Ribs cook

[BruceB]

I had a pack of Costco plate ribs in the freezer and thought this last weekend would be a good time to cook them. 4 ribs with bones 10-12 inches long, Choice grade, and maybe a quarter-inch of fat cap on top of the rib meat. I trimmed all the fat off the top, and the remaining silver skin. I left the membrane on the back side, but scored it.
Overnight dry brined with the usual Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. When they came out the next morning, I added garlic powder and Ancho chili powder for some extra taste.

The ribs went on my Silverbac at 250F, and I left them alone while I enjoyed the Monaco F1 and Indy 500. After 4 or 5 hours, the meat had shrunk considerably, and looked like it was just perched on top of the bones. The meat temp was in the 180F range, so I turned the smoker down to 230F and let them go longer as we were nowhere close to eating time. When they were finally near 200F, I pulled them off, wrapped in HD foil and held them in a 180F oven until we were ready.

When I cut the first rib off, there was a large flat slithery layer of fat that was between the meat and bones. Pretty disgusting, actually! It didn't look like it would have rendered if I had let them cook longer. The meat was already borderline dry so extra cooking wouldn't have done much. The membrane around the bones was soft and loose.

Overall, not an enjoyable eating experience. The last ribs I did were from Wild Fork, and had none of these issues. Maybe just the Costco Choice quality to blame.

[LA Pork Butt]

I have limited experience with beef ribs, but I don’t recall having anything like your described experience. When cooking low and slow holding after the cook is important to the cook. I like holding wrapped for 2-4 hours. For me a one hour hold is an absolute minimum hold and two hours is ideal. How long did you hold them? Every piece of meat is unique, so you may have gotten an odd one. I doubt if it was a Costco verses Wild Fork.

[BruceB]

They were held for at least two hours.

[LA Pork Butt]

BruceB With a 2 hour hold I would chalk it up to just an odd piece of meat.

[Jfrosty27]

I did a rack of Wild Fork Prime grade plate ribs the weekend before last. As usual, the quality of the meat was perfect. The only thing I did differently than you was for the hold, I wrapped in butcher paper and held in the oven on “keep warm” which is about 150 degrees. Delish every time.
I have cooked the Costco plares a couple of times. They’ve not been as good as the WF.

[GolfGeezer]

I have also experienced this issue with plate ribs, although not with the ones from Costco. I think it is "luck of the draw" because you cannot see that layer of fat that is sandwiched in the middle of the rubs, between bone and top of rack. There is no way that rendering will eliminate it.

[BruceB]

Yes, you described it perfectly. Good thing Costco ribs weren't all that expensive!

[Uncle Bob]

I don't recall the last time I had Costco beef ribs, but I suspect you just got a not good hunk of meat. When I first started beef ribs I did prime grade, they were cooked well, but the fat, while rendered, was just too cloying for my tastes. I've since switched to choice grade as my preference, still pretty fatty, but not as much as the prime. While we're on our Texas Meat Ups we get to talk to a lot of BBQ experts and I've come to learn that nearly all of them choose choice grade ribs for much the same reasons as I have. So I doubt your problem is with grade level. I usually get mine at Sam's, which have never disappointed. I've also gotten the ones from Wild Fork and enjoyed them, but Sam's are usually a little cheaper and readily available.

[LA Pork Butt]

I saw a YouTube with Big Moe Cason. She said he wouldn’t go higher than choice on beef ribs because in his words prime was too rich.

[WI Bubba]

I could have just been a stubborn cow and there is no way of knowing that before hand. The question I have is did you only cook them by temp or did you probe the meat to determine when they were done? I've had beef ribs probe tender at 195 and some not be ready until 205 or so. The reason I ask is that even choice grade ribs are going to have a lot of internal fat and connective tissue in them. They should be almost impossible to dry out if your eating them the same day. I'm almost thinking that they weren't ready yet when you pulled them. But again, it could have just been the cow had lousy ribs.

[BruceB]

Yes, there was a lot of probe testing. No wired temp probe, but I live by my Thermapens!

[WI Bubba]

BruceB By probe testing I'm referring to checking how the meat feels when you push a wooden skewer or something similar into the meat to see how it feels. I don't use my Thermapen for this because in my opinion the point is too sharp and the probe too skinny to give you a good idea of where the meat is at. I'm sure others disagree, but that's just me. I go with what I learned from watching Harry Soo on YT, and look for the creamy peanut butter feeling. To me temp is only one indicator.

[Sweaty Paul]

I've cooked quite a few of the plate ribs in the past. I've had some that are better than others, however, I've only had Prime grade from Creekstone Farms. That said, I have certainly had some plates that have been better than others, however, I haven't had any that had a similar layer of fat between meat and bone. Like others, I suspect you got a bad cow. Sadly, that has happened to me on a couple of brisket cooks.

I think I love beef plate ribs best of all. Love cooking them and eating them too. Bummed you had a suboptimal cook.

[negolien]

I'd chalk it up to bad meat it happens and yes WF is fantastic :<)

[captainlee]

One thought, 180 degrees is high on the holding temp. Food will begin to cook at 180. Maybe let it rest a while to cool down then hold at a lower temp. That still won't fix uncooperative meat.